See how to make 10 easy Crockpot freezer meals with just a couple of hours of work. Get a shopping list, printable labels, recipes, and full instructions for getting slow cooker meals in the freezer.

crock pot on a counter.

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On Tuesday, we were all about the Instant Pot Freezer Meals. Today, it's the Crock Pot's turn!

Why use Crockpot freezer meals?

A Crockpot makes it super simple to cook freezer meals. I consider these the easiest kind of freezer meals you can find - true "dump and go" meals.

You'll freeze ingredients in a bag/freezer container, drop them in the slow cooker on the day you want to enjoy the meal, and come home to a delicious, easy, home-cooked dinner!

If you're looking for a hands-off way of preparing your freezer meals, the Crock Pot is the way to go. These recipes do take longer than something like the Instant Pot to prepare, but it's really simple to throw them in the slow cooker before work.

crock pot on a counter.

How long does it take to prepare the meals?

To prepare the meals in this post, I'd budget 2-3 hours. That includes chopping all of your veggies and meats, making sure your containers are labeled, and actually packing the freezer containers.

Let's break that down. Say you're on the upper end and take 3 hours to prepare your meals. That's 18 minutes per meal. How many home-cooked meals do you know of that take under 30 minutes to prep? Not that bad!

Check out more Crock Pot recipes on the blog! I've got you covered from soups (Basic Corn Chowder) to dessert (Pineapple Cherry Dump Cake).

Tips & Tricks for Freezer Meal Success

Use bag holders to keep freezer meal bags open while prepping.

freezer meal bag openers on a counter.

When you're adding the ingredients of your freezer meals to zip-top bags, chances are you aren't going to have a free hand to hold the bag open. These tong-like holders keep your bag open, making bulk meal prep so easy! Simply clip the bag into the top of the holder and slide off once ready to freeze.

Lay freezer meal bags flat while freezing.

freezer meals frozen flat in gallon plastic bags.

You will be able to store so many more freezer meals in a small space by laying the bags flat when freezing. This makes the bags thin, stackable, and even vertically fileable...my favorite way to store.

If you "plop" the meal on a flat surface for freezing, it takes up a ton of extra space! Just remember to lay the meal on a truly flat surface for freezing (not a grated surface, like the shelves of a deep freezer). You can put a cutting board or even a piece of cardboard under your meal to make it freeze flat if needed.

It also helps to squeeze as much air out of the freezer bag as possible.

Put printed freezer meal labels in plastic baggies.

freezer meal label in a plastic bag on top of a freezer container.

If you've ever added a printed label to a freezer meal, you probably know about the ink issue. The label will almost always collect condensation, making the ink run and the label curl. Not very pretty and usually kind of difficult to read!

An easy solution is to place your label in a small plastic baggie. This protects it from any kind of moisture that collects in the freezer. You could always laminate labels if you use them frequently, but that's a lot of time and work for just one use. It takes seconds to pop them in a baggie and they're really inexpensive! I simply attach these to my container with packing tape to keep them together.

Keep frozen meat frozen.

This is purely a safety rule, but is super important to know if you're making freezer meals.

If your meat is already frozen, it must stay frozen when you put in/with your meals. Thawing and re-freezing meat is a no-no! The exception to this would be if you're cooking the meat before re-freezing (that is fine). Yes, this makes combining ingredients a little more difficult, but nobody wants food poisoning.

Mix the contents of your meal before freezing.

This is another freezer meal hack that can help you in the safety department.

When placing the ingredients of your meal in the container (whether it is a bag or a plastic bowl), make sure your meal is stirred before freezing. Often, similar ingredients can clump together, making it more difficult to get denser ingredients (like meat) thoroughly cooked before serving.

By mixing your ingredients, the denser ingredients will be evenly distributed, allowing for more even cooking. This also ensures that flavors are evenly distributed throughout the meal.

Cook double the recipe and freeze the extra meal.

Sometimes, you don't even have to have a full freezer meal prep session to have a few backups in the freezer! One of my favorite ideas is to cook double what you'll need for a meal and freeze half. This is perfect for meals like soup, chili, sloppy joes, or curry.

I love using these Souper Cubes to make individual servings of meals. They are silicone trays that allow you to measure out just what you need for a single serving - that way, in a pinch, you can thaw just for one or two people. (Sidenote: These trays are also amazing for baking mini loaves of banana bread!)

Keep an inventory on your freezer.

While yes, you can search through your freezer to see what meals you have on hand, placing a simple printable on the door makes inventorying your stash a breeze! And I've got the perfect one for you today.

freezer meal inventory printable page.

You can hang it on your freezer and cross off/add meals as they come along - doesn't get easier than that! This is also a great way to make sure meals are used within a few months of preparation.

Now, let's get to making those Crockpot freezer meals!

Crockpot Freezer Meal Step 1: Gather supplies

You won't need nearly the amount of supplies that you needed for my IP boot camps! This is a much simpler process...chances are, you have most of the items in your kitchen already.

  • The most important thing, obviously, is your slow cooker. I have one of the simpler Crock Pot Models (similar here) and it works just fine. No complicated machines are needed!
  • You'll also need at least 11 gallon-sized freezer bags.
  • I absolutely love this bag holder for opening those freezer bags while you're putting in the ingredients! So much more convenient than trying to balance the bags yourself.
  • You'll be chopping quite a few veggies, so I recommend something like this vegetable chopper to make the process a little bit easier.
  • You'll need everything necessary to print my labels (see below)...printer (I use this one), paper, ink, and maybe even a paper cutter. I use packing tape to attach the labels to my bags.
  • And, before you start, make sure you have enough freezer space! I always recommend having a freezer clean-out week before you prep something like this. I also have a chest deep freezer that has been super helpful with my freezer meal prep days!

Crockpot Freezer Meal Step 2: Buy groceries

Don't worry...you don't even have to go through every recipe and make a list! I have that done for you.

screenshot of top of freezer meal grocery list.

You can grab the full grocery list in my printable collection for newsletter subscribers. It has everything you'll need to prepare your meals. It's totally free to join!

Once you sign up, access instructions will be in your email inbox within a few minutes.

One note on groceries: as long as you serve these freezer meals in a reasonable amount of time (a week or two), the items that you won't be freezing shouldn't go bad.

The only ones that have the potential for spoiling before their serve day are the salad that goes with the Creamy Chicken Mexican Pasta and the breads served with the Pulled BBQ Chicken, Broccoli Cheese Soup, and the Meatballs.

I would definitely serve those meals first if you're buying everything at once!

Where To Shop

I am a huge fan of using Walmart's Grocery Pickup service for bigger trips like this...just order your items online using the grocery list I have in the printable collection and pick them up from your local store at no extra charge. It's incredibly convenient and a great way to organize your groceries to ensure you get everything. Click here to get a $10 off coupon for trying it out!

Crockpot Freezer Meal Step 3: Prep freezer bags

I have all of the labels and recipe cards for this post ready to go as well!

screenshot of freezer meal labels.

The labels will go on your bags. They contain all of the info you'll need to prep the frozen meal on serve day, including side item suggestions and cook times.

screenshot of freezer meal recipe cards.

The recipe cards are a little more in-depth. They have contents of freezer meal bags too, just in case you want to replicate these freezer meals later on. These are to save for later and are totally optional to print right now!

Once your labels are printed, cut them out and go on and attach them to your freezer bags with packing tape.  The tape won't stick if you wait until your meals are frozen! This step makes the prep process so much easier.

I've also heard that some users have had success with the double-bag method...place your label in a bag and then place a second bag inside that first one (so you label is sandwiched between the bags). This makes it a little less likely that frost/condensation will fade your labels.

Crock Pot Freezer Meal Step 4: Prep Vegetables

Cutting and prepping your veggies before you assemble your meals will make the process so much easier!

Here's what you need to do:

  1.  Peel and dice 1 bag (1 pound) of carrots.
  2. Chop 3 large onions.
  3. Slice 1 large onion.
  4. Slice 1 large red onion.
  5. Mince 2 cloves garlic.
  6. Chop 1 cup of celery.
vegetables set up buffet style on a counter.

After you're done, set your veggies out buffet-style to make for easy bag preparation. (This picture is from another post, but kind of shows you how to put it out for easy assembly.)

Crock Pot Freezer Meal Step 5: Prep meat

I recommend doing this in a separate part of the kitchen if you can to prevent any unnecessary cross-contamination.

You'll need to...

  1. Chop 7 chicken breasts in half.
  2. Cut 2-3 chicken breasts into strips.
  3. Dice 2 chicken breasts into 1" chunks.
  4. Brown and drain 2 lbs of ground beef.
  5. Brown, drain, and crumble 1 pound of bacon.

Crockpot Freezer Meal Step 6: Assemble

If you've made it this far, you're to the easy part...no, really! The prep work is the most time-consuming thing you'll do. Assembly is easy.

Here's what you're going to put in each freezer meal bag:

Meal 1: Beef Stroganoff

In your freezer bag:

  • 1 lb stew beef
  • 14.5oz can beef broth
  • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
  • ¼c Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 pack brown gravy mix
  • 1 tablespoon pepper

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Cook meal on low in slow cooker for 8 hours.
  3. Stir in 16oz sour cream 30 minutes before serving.
  4. Cook egg noodles and toss with ½ tablespoon butter.
  5. Steam green beans in microwave with ½ cup water for 6-7 minutes. Toss with ½ tablespoon butter and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 16oz sour cream
  • 12oz bag egg noodles
  • 12oz bag frozen green beans

Side item: Buttered egg noodles, green beans

Meal 2: Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

In your freezer bag:

  • 2 jars Alfredo sauce
  • 1 14oz bag frozen broccoli
  • 2 chicken breasts (4 halves)
  • 1 cup chicken broth

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Cook meal on low in slow cooker for 6 hours.
  3. One hour before serving, shred chicken breasts. Prepare fettuccine and breadsticks according to package directions.
  4. Serve alfredo over fettuccine with breadsticks on the side.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 1lb fettuccine pasta
  • 6ct pack garlic breadsticks

Side item: fettuccine, garlic breadsticks

Meal 3: Pulled BBQ Chicken

In your freezer bag:

  • 1 bottle BBQ sauce
  • 2-3 chicken breasts (4-6 halves)
  • ½ cup chicken broth

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Cook meal on low in slow cooker for 4-6 hours.
  3. One hour before serving, shred chicken breasts. Prepare French fries according to package directions.
  4. Toast buns just prior to serving.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 8ct pack hamburger buns
  • 1 bag frozen French fries

Side item: French fries

Meal 4: Vegetable Beef Soup

In your freezer bag:

  • 1 15oz can whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 15oz can cut green beans, drained
  • 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1lb carrots, diced (all of the diced carrots)
  • 1 tablespoon Chicken Better than bouillon
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 tablespoon pepper
  • 2 pounds ground beef, cooked and drained (all of the cooked ground beef)
  • 1 large onion, chopped (⅓ of the chopped onion)

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add bottle of V8 juice and cook meal on low in slow cooker for 6-8 hours.
  3. Prepare cornbread according to package directions. Serve on side of soup.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 1 box cornbread mix (plus eggs/milk to prepare)
  • 1 46 oz bottle V8 (I used hot and spicy V8 for a little kick!)

Side item: Cornbread

Meal 5: Balsamic and Brown Sugar Pork Chops

In your freezer bag:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoon salt
  • ½ tablespoon dried thyme
  • ½ tablespoon dried parsley
  • 1 onion, sliced (all of the sliced onion)
  • 1.5 lbs bone-in pork chops

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add meal to slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
  3. Thirty minutes before serving, stir 2 tablespoon cornstarch into ½ cup of cooking liquid. Stir mixture back into slow cooker and cook on high until thickened.
  4. Serve mashed potatoes on the side.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 1 tub mashed potatoes
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch

Side item: Mashed potatoes

Meal 6: Creamy Mexican Chicken Pasta

In your freezer bag:

  • 15 ounce jar of alfredo sauce
  • 1 16-20 ounce jar salsa
  • 1 pack of taco seasoning
  • 2 chicken breasts (4 halves)

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add meal to slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
  3. Shred cooked chicken 5 hours into cooking. Cook pasta to al dente.
  4. Thirty minutes before serving, mix in pasta and top with cheddar cheese. Serve pasta with salad.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 16oz box rotini pasta
  • 8oz shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 bottle favorite dressing
  • 1 pack salad mix

Side item: Salad

Meal 7: Italian Meatballs

In your freezer bag:

  • 1 pack Italian sausage
  • 1lb ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • ½ sleeve saltines, crumbled
  • ¼c parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoon ketchup
  • 2 tablespoon dried Parsley
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • (Mix all ingredients above in a large bowl and roll into 1.5” balls.)
  • Top with 1 24oz jar spaghetti sauce

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add meal to slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
  3. Prepare pasta salad according to package directions.
  4. Serve meatballs on hoagie rolls, covered in tomato sauce, with salad on the side.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 6 pack hoagie rolls
  • 1 box pasta salad mix

Side item: Pasta salad

Meal 8: Hawaiian Chicken

In your freezer bag:

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 lbs chicken, cut into strips (all of the sliced chicken)
  • 1 can pineapple chunks
  • 1 large red onion, sliced (all of the red onion)
  • 1 bottle bbq sauce
  • 2 tablespoon minced garlic (all of the minced garlic)
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 16 ounce bag frozen stir fry

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add meal to slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
  3. Cook rice according to package directions.
  4. Serve chicken over rice.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 2 cups white rice

Side item: White rice

Meal 9: Pot Roast

In your freezer bag:

  • 1lb bag baby carrots
  • 1c chopped celery
  • 1c chopped onion (half of the remaining onion)
  • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 pack brown gravy mix
  • 1 tablespoon pepper
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 4lb chuck roast
  • Note: Depending on size, you might want to freeze the chuck roast in a separate bag.

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add meal to slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
  3. Serve with veggies and mashed potatoes on the side of shredded roast.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 1 tub mashed potatoes

Side item: Mashed potatoes

Meal 10: Broccoli Cheese Soup

In your freezer bag:

1 14 ounce bag frozen broccoli
1 large onion, chopped (all of the remaining chopped onion)
1 tablespoon flour
1 can evaporated milk

To Serve:

  1. Thaw meal just enough to remove from freezer bag.
  2. Add meal to slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  3. Remove half of the contents and (carefully) blend until smooth. Pour back into soup mixture.
  4. Add chunked pieces of Velveeta and stir until melted.
  5. Make grilled cheeses using the remaining ingredients. Serve with soup.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • ½ block (8oz) Velveeta cheese
  • 1 loaf bread
  • 1lb sliced turkey
  • 8oz sliced cheddar cheese
  • butter

Side item: Turkey & cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches

Meal 11: Chicken Florentine Crescent Ring

(Note: This is not a Crockpot freezer meal, but it's so easy to prepare I thought I'd include it! You're not going to have to put in much extra effort to make this one as you would with a slow cooker meal.)

In your freezer bag:

  • 2 chicken breasts, diced small (all of the diced chicken)
  • 1 pack bacon, cooked until crisp (all of the cooked bacon)
  • ⅔ cup mayo
  • 1 pack ranch dressing mix
  • 1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

To Serve:

  1. Thaw contents of bag.
  2. Make a sun shape out of crescent pieces on a pizza pan.
  3. Pour mixture evenly on the inside circle and fold outer edges of crescent roll pieces in.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cut into slices to serve.
  5. Serve potato wedges on the side.

Needed for Serve Day:

  • 16oz tube crescent rolls
  • 1 bag potato wedges

Side item: Potato wedges

And just like that, you're done with weeks of Crock Pot freezer meals!

Remember: All of your cooking directions can be found on your labels or on the recipe cards...click here to download the labels or click here to download the cards.

Crockpot Freezer Meals FAQs

This is a very debated topic. 🙂 Generally, it is recommended that you thaw a freezer meal in the refrigerator for 24 hours or so before cooking. However - it isn't required. You'll just want to add an hour or so to your cooking time if you put a meal in frozen. (My cook times are already adjusted for frozen meals!)

Crockpot freezer meals are good for up to 6 months in the freezer before the quality of the meal starts declining. Technically, you can eat it for a couple of months after that; it just might taste a little off.

This kind of depends on the meal. If you're cooking double of a meal to freeze one portion, it's totally fine to cook then freeze. To me, it's usually easier to freeze then cook (with consideration of any meats that need to be cooked before freezing).

freezer meal grocery list printable on a blue background.

If you're new to the site, I offer several premium freezer meal boot camp packs that include exclusive recipes and printables. These packs are digital downloads available as individual packs or in bundles at a low price. See my freezer meal line-up for more information!


More Freezer Meal Sessions


Happy cooking, friends! Let me see these Crockpot freezer meals in action 📸 - tag me on social media (@lambertslately) with your prep session pictures. You can also leave a review ⭐️ of the recipes below!

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28 Comments

  1. Michele Morin says:

    Pinning this to refer to later!

  2. Gentle Joy Homemaker says:

    Good ideas.... I have done a similar thing and put meals in the freezer.... so handy to have. Thank you.

  3. Have you ever used the slow cooker function on your IP? I bought the IP b/c I was in need of a new slow cooker. I figured two birds, one stone.

    1. I am actually going to start using it this week! I'm prepping my next FMBC for slow cookers tonight and planned on using the slow cooker function on my IP for these meals.

      1. Going to try some slow cook meals for campimg!

    2. My daughter had the same idea. With use and making observations we learned that the slowcooker feature was very slow. Add a couple hours slow. She ended up buying another crock pot.

  4. Sonny Baggett says:

    Do you have a 30 Day Meal Plan (like the Boot Camp Plans) for a Weight Watchers program or other Diet program?

    I look forward to your response.

    thanks,

    1. I don't right now. I've had a ton of requests for specialized diets and I'm hoping to get started on a few of those soon!

  5. Lisa Smith says:

    Any way to do a printer friendly (without graphics, comments, etc) printout of the steps above?

    1. I don't currently have a premium pack for this one. I am releasing 2 slow cooker boot camp packs at the end of this month though!

  6. Do you have an IP recipe conversion for the beef stroganoff? It's my all-time favorite recipe, sometimes just forget to get it in the crockpot in time.

    1. I have a stroganoff recipe in one of my boot camps that has a 4 minute cook time and requires that the noodles are cooked in the microwave and added at the end. That's with cooked meat to begin with though, so it might need to be edited as needed!

  7. Lisa Smith says:

    Question about the Chicken Florentine Ring. I followed the instructions by just combining the ingredients in my slow cooker. But the serving day instructions read "Side Item: potato wedges." Instructions for Step 2 says to cook 8-10 hours. Step 3 says serve with veggies and mashed potatoes on the side of the shredded roast. Then it says "Needed for serve day:" crescent rolls, and potato wedges. I was confused by this. What veggies and roast? And is it mashed potatoes or potato wedges? And what is the "ring" about?? I'm thinking typos here, but wanted to make a correction on my printout so that next time I won't be like... ??? Thank you so much. I absolutely love these freezer meals, They really have changed my life 🙂

    1. Oh goodness...sorry about that! It looks like that label ended up with the wrong instructions. I just updated the files in the post to reflect the right ones.

      1. Lisa Smith says:

        Ha, ha! It happens to the best of us! I blame all my slip ups on account of being a mom. I think some of my brain cells came out with the placenta 🙂

  8. Hi!
    I love the way you made the freezer labels and the recipe cards, great idea. I would love it even more if you would make your grocery list and each steps list printable. I really like the way you broke down the prep steps but I couldn't print it. I'm a newbie and anything to make it simple helps. Thanks jls

    1. Hi Joanna! You can find that printable grocery list in the printable collection for email subscribers - let me know if you need any help subscribing! As soon as you do, you'll get login instructions in your email inbox.

  9. Hi! Quick question. I am trying many of these for the first time this week and the first up is the Chicken Florentine Crescent Ring, which we are going to have tomorrow. On the instruction card the steps are to thaw the bagged ingredients and then spread them in the crescent roll "pizza," but I would assume that those ingredients have to be cooked first - am I wrong? There is no indication that you use a slow cooker at all on the card. Something I am just missing?!?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Jennifer! You'll be cooking the chicken (and other ingredients) in the oven as the crescent roll ring cooks, so no need to cook the chicken first - you could always cook it before freezing (or cook it in a saute pan before putting it in the crescent ring) if you're unsure. And yes, that it is the one meal in this set that doesn't use the slow cooker!

      1. Jennifer L Brake says:

        Thanks! We will give it a go this evening!

  10. You are a rock star! I have used your big instant pot freezer meal plan and just did this one tonight. My family of 5 has liked or loved almost every recipe (I just can't get them to embrace sweet potatoes - lol).

    When I was making the meatballs I saw that a sleeve of crushed saltines is called for in the recipe. Saltines aren't on the grocery list, but Panko bread crumbs are. I assumed that was the correct substitution?

    Also as I was prepping, I noticed that some of the recipes are the same or very similar to the instant pot recipies. It would be great to have a label with both cooking options...instant pot or crock pot...for the days when you remember to get something going in the morning and the ones when you don't. Just a thought. 🙂

    Thank you so much for the time you put into simplifying this process!! I have 3 teenagers playing basketball right now. Having easy dinners available around their practice times is going to be a life saver for us!

    1. Oh I'm so glad you're loving them! Sorry about that, yes, either one of those would work (and you shouldn't tell a huge difference).

  11. I'm going back to work (post maternity leave) in a few days.... this is SO helpful for that, and for the winter months ahead! THANK YOU!!!!

  12. Sara Wintermute says:

    Hi! I can not get the grocery list to be able to print it out. I have signed up for your printables and have accessed others. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

    1. Hi Sara! Could you email me at leslie at lambertslately . com? I'll be glad to help!

      1. Sara Wintermute says:

        Leslie,

        I figured it out! Thank you so much!

  13. I wanted to let you know. I didn’t see potato wedges on the grocery list. At the mom,ent that’s the only thing I see that was missed but I’ll keep an eye out.
    Thanks for the great recipes and printable, can’t wait to try them this two weeks 🙂

    1. Thanks so much for letting me know! I just updated that.