12 Frugal Freezer Meals in One Hour including Easy Freezer Meal Recipes
This article is by KM Logan of KMLogan.com
I’m what you might call a frustrated foodie. I love the process of cooking and creating culinary delights, but unfortunately in this season in life I don’t always have the time or the money.
So while the following recipes will probably never be featured in a Martha Stewart living magazine, they are fast, affordable, and might I add, tasty. Oh and you can prep two weeks worth of food in less than an hour, did I mention that?
There’s something incredibly satisfying about having a freezer full of 12 meals I don’t even need to think about. So Without Further ado, here are the recipes:
Unless otherwise noted combine raw ingredients in a freezer bag, then freeze. Thaw food for 24 hours in the refrigerator before cooking. If making 12 meals, double each recipe and divide between two bags.
12 Frugal Freezer Meals in One Hour including Easy Freezer Meal Recipes
Mexican Chicken
Season your chicken and cover with a jar of salsa. Add chopped peppers and onions. Cook 4-5 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high in a crockpot. Shred when done, serve over rice or as taco filling. The key to this recipe is to choose a salsa you really love.
Beef Stew
Combine chopped beef, frozen stew vegetables, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce. Season with garlic and pepper, wait until after the recipe is done to add salt. Canned ingredients tend to make a recipe too salty if you’re not careful. Cook 4-5 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high in a crockpot.
Cranberry Apple Turkey Breast
Combine a can of cranberry sauce (with or without berries) one chopped apple, and a turkey breast. Season to taste. Cook thawed in a crock pot 4-5 hours on high or 6-5 hours on low.
German Tomato Soup
The trick to this recipe is not to drain any fat, it adds a richness to the soup. Simply brown one pound of ground beef and combine with chopped onions, carrots, and celery and a can of chopped tomatoes (not drained). I like to buy a pre-chopped bag of frozen mirpoix mix, it works perfectly for this recipe. Season mixture heavily with garlic and pepper (wait to add salt until the end of cooking). If freezing for later store in a freezer bag, when ready to eat combine with about half a container of tomato or V8 juice. After the soup reaches a boil taste to see if it needs additional salt or seasonings.
Super Easy Sliders
Season 1 pound of ground beef as you normally would for hamburgers and press into the bottom of a pan. Top the meat with chopped onions. If you’re freezing this recipe wrap it very well. Cook for 30 minutes at 375 degrees if thawed or 45 minutes if frozen. Check for doneness and slice burgers to size.
Crockpot Barbecue Chicken
If you have some barbecue sauce and some chicken you can make this recipe. Just throw the chicken in the crockpot and cover with barbecue sauce. Cook about 5-6 hours on low or 4-5 on high. Then shred the chicken with a fork and serve on bread, eat plain, or serve over rice. It’s one of those stupid easy recipes that happens to be a family favorite.
Additional Recipe Notes
Why didn’t you list how much of a certain ingredient to use?
Crockpot cooking depends on the size of your crockpot. As a rule of thumb, don’t fill your crockpot more than 3/4’s of the way full. For me that means not to fill my freezer bag more than 3/4’s of the way full if I’m prepping ahead of time. For the most part if you use a little more or less of a certain ingredient for these recipes you should be fine.
Can I throw the food in the crockpot frozen?
No, technically you’re not supposed to because the center of your food may be too warm while cooking but not hot enough to kill bacteria. ?It’s much better to thaw the food in the refrigerator for 24 hours, but I have thrown partially frozen food in the crockpot when?I’v forgotten to thaw dinner. ?Use your best judgement and if you do throw frozen food in your crockpot, try to thaw it a bit under some running water (if you can), cook it on high, and increase the cook time.
How much did these recipes cost?
Less than $100 for sure. I lost my receipt unfortunately. I bought the bulk of the ingredients from Aldis, but purchased the stew vegetables and mirpoix mix from Kroger. Even though these recipes call for some prepackaged ingredients this is an extremely frugal meal plan.
Is it boring eating the same thing 2 weeks in a row?
Most of the time when I fill my freezer like this it takes me about a month to get through everything. I prepare “normal” dinners on my non-busy days and use my frozen ready to cook meals on days I know we’ll be busy. So while I have duplicate meals in my freezer my family isn’t eating the same thing two weeks in a row. And even if the entrees stayed the same for two weeks in a row I generally change up the side dishes for variety.
How do I keep the freezer bags from sticking to one another after they freeze?
Dry them very well before freezing, you can also put wax paper between them.
Where can I learn more about freezer cooking?
You can check out this article about how to freezer cook when you don’t know where to start, or you can get the book The ABC’s of Freezer Cooking. All the information is simply organized, and if you’re an Amazon Kindle Unlimited Member you can even read it for free.
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KMLogan
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$100 for 12 meals is not frugal in my book. Dinners need to cost at the very most $4, and preferably 2 or 3. I feed my family of 6 on less than $250/month.
Oh i would love to know how you do that. Please post!! 🙂
The first couple recipes on this page state – Cook 4-5 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high in the crockpot. Shouldn’t that be the other way around??
Carrie, please post how you are able to feed 6 on $250 a month on whole foods. I am trying to cut my food budget for our family of 6 as well.
Thank you so much for sharing with us. Your recipes are so easy. Finding recipes that are quick and easy as well as healthy is the first goal. Then finding those items at the cheapest you can is the second. These recipes could be made cheaper by watching sales, markdowns or even gardening etc. I agree with Suzy we would like to see Carries recipes too.
These recipes all seem to be gluten free as well.
K.M. I can’t wait to try these recipes. Be Blessed.
Sure Carrie, please post any tips you have 🙂 I’ve fed my family of seven for around $400 per month in the past. You can read about that here –> https://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/feeding-a-big-family-for-400-per-month-on-money-saving-mom-more-faqs/ Thanks for stopping by!
I’d love to hear her tips as well. Hopefully she’ll chime back in. Here’s how I fed my family of seven for $400 per month. https://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/feeding-a-big-family-for-400-per-month-on-money-saving-mom-more-faqs/
We eat clean, so whole foods, nothing processed. I don’t buy anything boxed or that has multiple ingredients. None of our recipes use canned goods ($$$) or condiments/dressings of any kind.
Breakfast is usually eggs or oatmeal. Lunch is a salad (instead of dressing we use avocado or olive oil), soup, sandwiches, quesadillas, or leftovers. Dinner is something in the crockpot or a casserole. Snacks are usually fruits, vegetables, hard boiled eggs, cheese, homemade granola bars, and occasionally popcorn.
I make everything from scratch (tortillas, bread, etc) using ingredients that I buy in bulk.
Tips to save money:
-we get all of our vegetables from our own garden. It costs about $10/year in seeds to grow them.
-we get fruit from a local farmers co-op. We paid a fee at the beginning of the year but it averages out to under $20/month.
-we buy meat from local farmers as well, buying a 1/2 cow at a time or lots of chicken. It’s local, organic, grass-fed, and cheap.
-I buy most of my groceries in bulk at a restaurant supply store (Gordon Food Service). You can get very cheap deals on brown rice, spices, dry beans, eggs, cheese, etc.
-For the rest of my fill-in groceries (milk and other misc) I buy at Walmart and price match & use their savings catcher app.