Meal Prep: 6 Beef & Pork Crock-pot Freezer Meals
Save time and money by creating your own crockpot freezer meals. These easy recipes can be prepped in a few hours and will keep for up to 6 months in the freezer! I stocked my entire freezer prior to the arrival of our daughter and it was wonderful having access to easy prep meals.
Before I jump into the recipes here’s some quick tips and insights to help make this process much easier. Each recipe is designed to feed two adults with little to no leftovers and should be considered more of a main courses rather than full meals in a bag. However, each bag will be referred to as a meal for simplicity sake. I have added suggestions of what sides we serve each recipe with.
Each recipe below will create two bag meals. You can double each recipe to create a larger meal and/or double each recipe to create more than two – two person meal bags. Once frozen, meals will last for up to 6 months in a standard freezer.
Disclosure: These are not my recipes. I will try to find the original recipes and link to it for crediting purposes. I have previously made each recipes and can confirm that they are delicious! Feel free to modify to your taste.
The Day Before Prep:
Step 1: Clean your kitchen and make sure you have a few sets of measuring cups and spoons available to use. You will also need a roll of paper towels, a cutting board, chopping knife and a few spatulas.
Step 2: Review your shopping list and remove any items you already have. Then go shopping to get what you need. For sanity sake, I never do grocery shopping and meal prep on the same day. It just makes for a terribly long day.
Step 3: Clean and organize your freezer and make space for the intended meals. From experience, I know you will need approximately 1 square foot of freezer space which roughly one shelf on a average sized side by side freezer/refrigerator combo.
Step 4: Using a permanent marker, label your gallon ziplock bags with the recipe name, cooking instructions and recommended side dishes. Writing a side dish recommendation on the bag makes meal planning easy since you can just pick which bag based on what sides you have in stock.
Step 5: Lay out all your room temperature ingredients including spices, seasonings and oils the night before along with your labeled bags.
Day of Meal Prep:
I start as early as possible especially now that it’s summer and the days are warming up. Invite a friend over to help, tune on some tunes or open a bottle of wine. I can’t drink since I’m expecting but by all means do whatever makes you the most comfortable even if that means doing this bra-less and in sweats. 🙂
Add all ingredients (minus the meat) to each labeled bag one by one. If you are so inclined you can figure out how many recipes have over lapping ingredients and chop multiple veggies at the same time. For first timers, I really recommend going slow and completing each recipe one by one. It makes measuring a lot easier too. Clean as you go! Use paper towels to clean the seal of the freezer bags from any splattered ingredients.
Add all room temperature ingredients (plus frozen corn, peppers, ketchup and other minor refrigerated items) to all the bags first! Once all bags are done, add the fresh or frozen chicken last to all the bags at once. I prefer to use frozen chicken breasts. This process can take some time so it’s important that the chicken is the last thing you add so that it’s not sitting out for a prolonged amount of time!
Freezing Tips: Let out all excess air. Freeze each bag flat and fold the bag in half on itself to save space.
Cooking Tips: For best results, the crock-pot should be at least half full with your meals so choose the appropriate size crock-pot for cooking each meal.
Posted in Food Preservation, Food Storage, Recipes
It’s that fabulous time of the year again and nothing says “Merry Christmas” like homemade Eggnog. Forget the store-bought stuff and impress your friends and family this year and make your own Homemade Eggnog. This quick and easy recipe will make your holidays memorable and will be requested year after year. We use homegrown, backyard chicken eggs in our recipe!
Disclaimer: This beverage contains raw eggs. We recommend that pregnant women, elderly, young children and people with medical or immune problems do not consume dishes containing raw eggs. See your physician for professional advice.
Ingredients:
Blend Milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and nugmeg. Served Chill and sprinkle with nutmeg. Makes 3 servings.
Try this recipe and tell us what you think in the comments section below! Love it? Leave it? See for yourself! Enjoy!!
Posted in Recipes
Did you know there’s a ton of chemicals in commercial baby wash and baby shampoos. “Natural” products are not much better and the organic ones can cost a small fortune. As a new mom, I was warned by nurses in the hospital about the chemicals in common baby products.
I knew there had to be a better way and with a little homework, I created this recipe and our girl LOVES it! Plus it’s super easy and cheap to make!
To print your own adorable label like the one up top, click here!
Posted in Homemade Cleaners, Uncategorized
Want a pan that will stand the test of time? For over 100 years cast iron as been a traditional favorite in kitchens across America. These almost indestructible pans can easily withstand a lifetime of use and often survives longer than it’s owner. If you take good care of your cast iron cookware, it can be passed down and enjoyed by generations to come.
Got rust? Don’t toss out that pan, it can be fixed! Simply follow the instructions below for seasoning your cast iron cookware and it will once again look and perform like new.
Step 1:
Wash the cookware thoroughly with hot soapy water and an abrasive sponge. Rinse and dry it thoroughly.
Step 2:
Coat the entire surface of the pan with a layer of vegetable shortening or oil. I use a paper towel so I can be sure I’m getting the oil into all cracks and edges. Coat the undersides and handles as well. Start with a small amount and add to it as needed, too much oil will make your pan smoke in the oven.
Step 3:
Next, place the cookware upside down on the upper rack of a 350ºF oven, over a lower rack lined with aluminum foil, for about one hour or according to label instructions (if new). Allow the cast iron cookware to cool inside the oven before removing it. The iron will absorb the oil and help to repair any rust or bald spots in your pan. And viola!
Warning: This process is likely to produce significant amounts of smoke so you may need to leave some windows open and/or disable your smoke detector.
Suggestions for Use
Happy Frying!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Kitchen Tricks, Renewing, Restoring
We’ve created the ultimate homegrown! Faith Olivia was born July 23, 2017 at 4:50pm. She weight 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She arrived 8 days over due and it is doing beautifully.
We are so blessed to have her in our lives. As the scripture goes 1 Samuel 1:27-28 “For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him.”
I came from a difficult past and an enduring childhood. Long before I was married or even met my husband; I knew I wanted a marriage, children and a family of my own. The years went by and at the time I had been dating my would be future husband for over 7 years but my dreams of family still seemed so far away. I realized that my own on goings weren’t coming up fruitful, so in desperation and frustration, I surrendered myself and my life to the Lord. That was the best decision I ever made.
From where I’ve been to where I wanted to go seems like an impossibly long journey. I had told myself, if I am to get there it’s going to take nothing but an incredible amount of pure Faith. I told the Lord then and there that if He saw fit to bring me a husband, join me in marriage and bless me with a child; that I would name my first baby girl Faith.
Less than a year after this prayer, I was engaged. Within a year that I had an incredible marriage ceremony on the beach in Lake Tahoe. It was absolutely heaven sent with a white horse and carriage, held on my father’s birthday (the only day the site was available) and it even snowed briefly after the “I dos” in May. By October, I found out we were pregnant!
The Lord brought everything to me that we wanted. He knitted together a web of events that even in our wildest dreams we could have never assembled together ourselves. He did it so quickly and so eloquently as only He could. He knew our hearts desires better than we knew our own.
After we found out we were pregnant, I was convinced I was carrying a boy. I had even begin to purchase boy clothes. Since boys were more prevalent in both mine and my husband’s family, I had resolved that this child was a boy. It would be 15 short weeks later at our gender reveal ultrasound that I squealed and cried to find out that I was having a little girl! I seriously didn’t expect it and almost skipped the appointment because I thought I knew better. We knew right away her name was Faith.
We decided on the middle name Olivia because it’s derived from Olive one of the crops we have growing here on the homestead. The Olive branch was the famous symbol of peace after the floods in the time of Noah. I Olivia is said to be the one that walks with peace. So here she is world, my little miracle: Faith Olivia.
Moral of this story: Put all your trust and have Faith in the Lord.
Posted in Family Life, Homesteading
Thank you for visiting the Homestead Wife. This blog features my personal progress as I rediscover the old ways and restore an old ranch house on an acre in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Follow me as I learn to grow my own food, collect my own water, create my own power and tend to my own flock and reach higher levels of self sufficiency. I hope to inspire and encourage others to return to a simpler, more natural self sufficient lifestyle.
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APPLE TREES: 1
APRICOT TREES: 2
CHERRY-PLUM TREES: 1
LEMON TREES: 1
OLIVE TREES: 1
ORANGE TREES: 1
PEACH TREES: 1
PLUM TREES: 3
POMEGRANATE TREES: 1
TANGERINE TREES: 3
WALNUT TREES: 1
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Hello, I’m Amber! I’m a first generation, self-taught homesteader and farmer. After years of living in debt and struggling paycheck to paycheck; I decided to take back my life. Now I’m debt free, thriving and working towards self reliance daily!
APPLES: 0 LBS
APRICOTS: 0 LBS
BLACKBERRIES: 0 LBS
CHERRIES: 0 LBS
LEMONS: 3 LBS
OLIVES: 0 LBS
ORANGES: 30 LBS
PEACHES: 0 LBS
PEARS: 0 LBS
PLUMS: 0 LBS
POMEGRANATES: 0 LBS
TANGERINES: 6 LBS
WALNUTS: 0 LBS
GRAND TOTAL: 39 LBS
Meal Prep: 6 Beef & Pork Crock-pot Freezer Meals
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