It’s important to know that we’re feeding our families healthy meals, but with busy schedules, we just can’t afford to spend hours in the kitchen! The Freezer and the Slow Cooker are the best inventions for busy parents, aren’t they?!
About once per quarter, I buy chicken breasts and ground beef in bulk (when they’re on sale), and make up meals to store in our freezer for busy weeknights. Recently, I made 2 Baked Zitis and 1 Lasagna. Sometimes, I make up chicken enchiladas, tex-mex chicken, and poppyseed chicken. I use disposable pans from the dollar store to minimize clean-up and so I’m not using all of my dishes in the freezer. I label them with the name and date, so I know what’s in there. It makes life SOO much easier during busy times of the year. Knowing that I have a real meal waiting in the freezer keeps us from eating out all the time, helps us stay on budget, and is just comforting!
If I have leftover ground beef, I might also make up chili or go ahead and season and cook the ground beef and then freeze in a Ziploc freezer bag (with the date and title) to mix with spaghetti sauce for a quick spaghetti night later on.
For the chicken, the easiest thing to do is to put chicken breasts in the crock pot with a jar of salsa emptied on top. Let that slow cook all day, and then you have great pull-apart meat for your chicken enchiladas and also for any other Mexican dish you might have. You can freeze the chicken meat in a Ziploc bag in good portion sizes for your family with the name and date on the bag.
A few of my favorite freezer-friendly recipes:
Find your new favorite freezer recipes on our Pinterest page!
