If there is one habit that has rescued more of my weeknights than any other, it is keeping a few dinners bagged up in the freezer. Every recipe here goes together raw, with no browning or precooking, and then waits until you are ready for it.
Thaw a bag overnight, pour it into the crock pot in the morning, and come home to supper that made itself!
⭢ New to Freezer Meals? The short version is that raw ingredients go in a bag, the bag goes in the freezer, and the slow cooker handles the rest. I walk through exactly how to build and freeze a bag just below the recipes.
These are the meals I lean on hardest during the busiest stretches, like the start of the school year or those sleepless postpartum months. Once you see how little effort it takes to stock a few, you will want to keep the freezer full of them. Here is everything you need to get started.
⭢ Bag It, Shred It, Serve It
These are the bags I keep the most of, because not one of them ties you to a single supper. A pork shoulder or a few chicken breasts come out shredded and ready for sandwiches one night, tacos the next, and a pile of nachos after that.
Every one of them goes into the bag completely raw, so there is nothing to do now but season and freeze.
Mississippi Pork Roast
Two seasoning packets, a jar of pepperoncini, and a pork shoulder. That is the whole bag, and it shreds into the most tender sandwiches you will ever pull out of a freezer.
Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken
Everything goes in raw here, which makes it about the easiest bag on this list. Come suppertime you have sweet, smoky chicken ready for buns and a scoop of slaw.
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Reach for a boneless pork butt when you are bagging this one. It lies flatter in the freezer, and the brown sugar rub keeps working the whole time it thaws.
Try it another way
If your family leans sweeter, my Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork bags up exactly the same way.
Slow Cooker Carnitas
Citrus and warm spices soak into the pork while it sits in the freezer. Crisp the shreds under the broiler at the end and taco night practically makes itself.
Crockpot Mexican Chicken
Five ingredients, no chopping, nothing to measure past a packet of taco seasoning. Keep two of these bagged and you are always a morning away from tacos.
Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken
Start here if freezer bags are new to you. Seasoned chicken and a little broth become the base for soups, sandwiches, casseroles, and whatever else the week asks for.
Crock Pot Chicken Cheesesteak
Peppers and onions freeze beautifully raw, so this one gives up nothing to the deep freeze. Pile it onto hoagie rolls with provolone and supper is handled.
⭢ Everything for Supper in One Bag
The nice thing about this group is that the vegetables are already in there with the meat. You are not standing at the stove at half past five trying to conjure up a side dish. Pull one out the night before, and the next evening the whole supper comes out of the pot in one piece.
Slow Cooker Pork Chops
Carrots, potatoes, and pork chops all share one bag, so there is no side dish left to figure out. The onion soup mix handles every bit of the seasoning.
Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Coke
Skip the searing step when you bag this one and it still comes out fork-tender. The Coca-Cola gets to work on the chuck roast while it thaws overnight.
Try it another way
For a creamier gravy from the same cut, my Pot Roast with Cream of Mushroom Soup bags up just as easily.
Crock Pot Chicken and Potatoes
Everything stays tucked under the soup, which is what keeps the potatoes from darkening in the freezer. A whole Sunday-style supper out of one bag.
Crock Pot Chicken with Gravy
Four ingredients and about three minutes of assembly. Spoon it over rice or mashed potatoes and nobody at the table will guess it started in a freezer bag.
Crockpot Meatloaf
Shape the raw loaf, wrap it, and freeze it flat. This is the freezer meal nobody thinks of, and it may well be the handiest one in the whole batch.
Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken
Cranberry sauce, orange, and fresh herbs make this feel dressier than a weeknight bag has any right to. Good for company you forgot was coming.
Crock Pot Brown Sugar Chicken
Brown sugar and soy sauce cook down into a sticky glaze over the chicken thighs. Serve it over rice and expect the kids to ask when you are making it again.
⭢ Soups and Stews to Stash
If you have never done this before, start right here. Soups and stews are about the most forgiving thing you can put in a freezer bag, since a little extra liquid or a slightly soft carrot never hurt a pot of chili yet. These also stretch the furthest when you are feeding a crowd or hoping for leftovers.
Crockpot White Chicken Chili
Everything but the cream cheese goes in the bag, and that gets stirred in right at the end. It is the most-requested chili in my house from October on.
Easy Taco Soup
Brown the beef before it goes in the bag and the rest is just opening cans. Set out chips and toppings and let everybody build their own bowl.
Try it another way
Want it thicker and a little heartier? My Taco Chili uses the same seasonings and bags up the same way.
Crock Pot Chicken Stew
Bone-in chicken, potatoes, carrots, and fresh herbs all hold up beautifully frozen raw. This is the one I reach for on the first cold night of the year.
Crockpot Brunswick Stew
Chicken and pork together, the way we do it here in Virginia. Frozen corn and butter beans mean half the bag is freezer-ready before you even start.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Raw chicken, a few cans, and a jar of salsa. This one comes together faster than it takes to dig the freezer bags out of the drawer.
Crock Pot Vegetable Soup
No meat, no browning, nothing to cook ahead. Just a bag of good vegetables that turns itself into a pot of soup while you are off doing something else.
Cabbage Soup with Hamburger
A big pot of cabbage, tomatoes, and browned beef that eats light but still fills you up. Brown the beef first, then everything else bags up raw.
Start Small
You do not have to fill the whole freezer in one go! Even a couple of these bags tucked away means a couple of nights this month when supper is already decided for you.
Bookmark this to come back to whenever you have an afternoon to prep a few.
How to Build a Crock Pot Freezer Bag
If you have never done this before, do not overthink it. The whole idea is simple: raw ingredients go in a bag, the bag goes in the freezer, and later the bag goes in the crock pot. A few small habits are all that stand between you and results just as good as cooking from scratch, so let me walk you through them.
- Put the meat in raw: That is the entire point of a dump bag. No browning, no searing, nothing cooked ahead. Season it, bag it, and let the slow cooker do the cooking later.
- Keep the dairy out: Cream cheese, sour cream, milk, and shredded cheese all break down and turn grainy after a stretch in the freezer. Leave them out of the bag and stir them in during the last half hour of cooking instead.
- Keep the starch out too: Rice, pasta, egg noodles, biscuit dough, and stuffing mix will turn to mush if you freeze them in the liquid. Add them at the end, right in the crock pot, and they will come out just right.
- Freeze the bag flat: Lay it on a sheet pan until it firms up solid, then stand the bags up like files in the freezer. A flat bag thaws in half the time and takes up a fraction of the space.
- Label it with what is missing: Write down the recipe, the date, the cook time, and anything that still needs to be added at the end. You will not remember six weeks from now, and a good label is what keeps these easy.
- Thaw it overnight before it cooks: Move the bag to the refrigerator the night before. A frozen block will not come up to a safe temperature quickly enough on the low setting, and it throws the timing off besides.
One exception to the raw rule: ground beef. It is worth browning before it goes in the bag, because otherwise it freezes into one solid clump that never quite breaks apart in the pot. A few minutes in the skillet now saves you a crumbly mess later.
What to Leave Out of the Bag
You may notice a few slow cooker favorites missing here, and that is on purpose. Anything that leans on a roux or a good hard sear, like a proper gumbo or a braised roast, needs that step done on the stove first, so it does not belong in a raw bag.
Dried beans stay in the pantry where they keep just fine, and there is nothing to gain by freezing them. And delicate things like shrimp or quick-cooking vegetables tend to turn soft and tired after a spell in the freezer. When in doubt, save those for a day you plan to cook them fresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really have to thaw the bag first?
Yes, and this is the one rule I would not bend. A frozen block keeps the slow cooker from coming up to a safe temperature quickly enough, and it throws the cook time off besides.
Move the bag to the refrigerator the night before, and if you forget, set it in a bowl of cool water for an hour to loosen it up.
How long will these keep in the freezer?
Three months is the sweet spot for flavor and texture. They stay safe to eat past that, but the seasoning starts to fade and the meat can dry out, so I try to use mine up within a season. That is exactly why the date on the label is helpful to include.
Can I prep several bags at the same time?
Absolutely, and that is where the real time savings come from. Line the bags up in a row, stand each one inside a large measuring cup or pitcher to hold it open, and work one ingredient at a time down the line rather than finishing one bag before starting the next.
You can knock out five or six in about an hour.
What size bag should I use?
Gallon freezer bags handle most of these. Make sure they say freezer and not storage, since freezer bags are noticeably thicker and hold up better against freezer burn.
The meatloaf does better shaped into a disposable 9×13 pan, and reusable silicone bags work just fine if that is what you keep on hand.
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