Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Freezer Crockpot Meals - NAILED IT

A week or so ago, a colleague of mine recommended a website with a set of freezer/crockpot meals, and a few of us at work decided we would all give it a try. Kelly from New Leaf Wellness has done a lot of the legwork for us in that she has grouped recipes together and included a consolidated shopping list for the whole bunch. The idea is simple:
-          Do all your shopping and prep on a weekend
-          Freeze everything in large Ziploc bags
-          Throw your chosen meal in the crockpot on a weekday morning
-          Enjoy stress-free meals all week long

Sounds GREAT to me! I printed out a whole schwack of recipes, then checked my freezer and pantry to see what ingredients I already had on hand. I also looked at every single local grocery store’s weekly flyer to see what meat might be on sale (answer: nothing I needed, dammit).

The website promises that you can prep eight freezer meals in an hour, but in reality I can’t even get the shopping done in an hour. Even so, I think this was still a time saver. I spent 50 minutes in Superstore where I was able to get every ingredient on my list except for two. I also bought several other items for our breakfasts and lunches. My total bill came to $60, of which approximately $25 was for the crockpot meal experiment and $35 was for other food.


My husband then went to Save on Foods to get the two items I hadn’t found at Superstore, which included “two bone-in pork shoulders, often called Boston butts or pork butts”. Apparently these were really hard to find; he couldn’t even get anyone to help him at Save on Foods, so ended up at local butcher Nesvog’s, who sold him the two shoulders at a total cost of $40. I felt this was hugely expensive and I probably wouldn’t have chosen to buy all this meat at full price. Oh well.

Then it was time to prep the meals. This was about an hour and a half of chopping and slicing. I am not very fast at this task, but I did cut some corners – for example, I used baby carrots instead of whole, so I could skip the whole washing-peeling-chopping chore there. I think a good food processor would be a real boon here, and I may try using mine next time.

The difference between these freezer-crockpot meals and those I have tried before is that Kelly recommends doing no pre-cooking of any ingredients – yes, even the meat. So when I made, for example, chicken fajitas, I chopped the chicken and all the vegetables, put them in the bag with spices and condiments, and then put the whole thing in the freezer. Very straightforward.  The snag, I realized, is that I tend to buy my chicken breasts by the case (on sale, whenever possible) – and they are already frozen. So I had to thaw the chicken just enough to be able to dice it, then put it in the bag to refreeze. Technically you are not supposed to refreeze raw meat that has already been thawed, so I guess if I make a habit of this I will have to start buying fresh chicken. I’m not sure how fresh chicken and frozen chicken compare, price-wise, but I guess I will find out.


It took me about 90 minutes to fill my freezer with the following meals:
One Balsamic Chicken with Pears
Two Chicken Fajitas
One Beef Roast & Carrots
Two Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Roasts

Though on the surface this looks like six meals, it will actually feed us for more than twice that. I have to assume that when a website says a meal will feed four, they are including two gigantic teenage boys. My teeny six year old doesn’t eat too much, so we always have loads left over for lunches and even full repeat dinners.


The website recommends thawing your meal in the refrigerator the night before you want to cook it, which is a great plan because then you don’t have to worry about cramming a gigantic frozen chunk of meat into your crockpot. We ate our first crockpot meal last night – Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork - and it was delicious! It was quite spicy and we were a little worried that Gwen wouldn’t eat it, but she loved it too. Both Chris and I ended up having a second pork sandwich after Gwen was in bed, and I’m looking forward to having another one for lunch today. Thumbs up, all around. And now we’ve learned that while the website recommended a 3.5 pound pork shoulder (remember that $20 cut of meat?) I could actually make two separate freezer meals with that much meat (just in case we get tired of eating pork every meal for the next week and a half). So that will be a cost savings next time around. 



By the numbers:
$65 in groceries
90 minutes prep time
10 full family meals plus extra lunches

So every meal is worth approximately $5 (I’m rounding down to account for lunch leftovers) and takes 6-8 minutes of preparation (I’m rounding up to account for actually putting the meal in the crockpot in the mornings).

Fully worth it, especially when you add in the intangible but invaluable worth of not having to worry about meal prep all week.

Yields: One gallon-sized freezer bag of slow cooker spicy pork

Ingredients
• 3-5lb bone-in pork shoulder (sometimes labeled as “Boston butt” or
“pork butt roast”)
• 1 small onion, peeled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1, 7oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 3 cups of Dr Pepper (2 cans) – I think you could also sub root beer or
cola *not needed until day of cooking*

Directions
1. Place pork shoulder in your slow cooker and add remaining
ingredients.
2. Cover, and cook on “low” setting for 8-12 hours (depending on the
size and strength of your slow cooker). You’ll know it’s done when
the meat easily falls off the bone.
3. Use a fork and knife to separate meat from the bone and shred
meat.
4. Strain remaining juice, onions, and peppers left in your slow cooker.
Discard what you catch in the strainer and keep the juice that
strains through.
5. Return juice and shredded pork to your slow cooker, and stir to
combine.
6. Serve on soft tortillas with your favorite taco toppings.

To Freeze

Combine all ingredients – except Dr. Pepper - in a gallon-sized plastic
freezer bag. Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to three
months. When ready to eat, thaw overnight in refrigerator. Add to slow
cooker with Dr. Pepper. Cook on “low” setting for 8-12 hours, or until meat
easily pulls apart with a fork. Shred meat and serve!

Check out New Leaf Wellness Freezer Crockpot Meals here:

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