Freezer meals (the basics, plus chili), Part 1 of many

So, when I go back to work, my husband is going to be on his own for dinner (for himself and baby) 4-5 nights a week.  I'm hoping to eventually cut that down to 3 nights a week, but while I'm building my caseload, I'll be gone every night.  

Like most people, he's so tired when he gets home from work that it's tough to get together a good, healthy meal without resorting to frozen pizzas and skillets.

Before baby, when we both worked, we did just that.  We'd generally have frozen pizza one or two nights a week, those Bertolli skillet things at least once, and something really easy like spaghetti with sauce or mac and cheese.  Then, once I was pregnant, I didn't go in the kitchen for almost 3 months.  To be completely honest, I have no idea what my husband ate.  Since the grocery store made me vomit, he did all the shopping, and as far as I know, he fed himself on like $25/week.  All I could eat was tator tots and iced tea.  I'm pretty sure he ate a lot of hot pockets, frozen pizza, and mac and cheese.

After Levi was born, I started changing our eating habits: more whole grains, fewer processed foods.  I try to limit our skillet meals...those things have a TON of sodium.  However, I was only working a few hours a week, so I had time to make good, whole food meals most days, even if it was in a crock pot.  Don't get me wrong, we still eat those skillets sometimes, or frozen pizza, but I make an effort to keep our diet low in processed food.

So all of this leads me to my freezer meals project!

I'm starting of easy: crock pot meals.  I love love LOVE the Reynolds slow cooker liners.  They make it easy to store and freeze food, plus they give me a happy husband because he doesn't have to scrub out the slow cooker.

So here are the basics of freezer cooking in Mindy-land:

1.  To store crock pot meals, I put the food in a slow cooker liner, twist it shut, and put that in a plastic gallon freezer bag labelled with the date, the food, and what needs to be added in the slow cooker.

2.   Most Crockpot recipes are pretty basic:  Add veggies, add spices, add meat, freeze.  Then add liquid or sauce when you put it in the slow cooker.  Easy peasy.

3.  The following things don't work well in a slow cooker or freezer (although there are exceptions): Noodles, rice, dairy, herbs, anything you want to eat crunchy.

4.  Crockpot recipes are fabulous for adding extra veggies...shredded carrot can be hidden in almost any recipe.  So can chopped onions.

So, without further ado, here's my first crockpot freezer recipe:  Chili!

Chop half an onion, and 2 cloves of garlic.  Grate a carrot.  Place veggies in a bag with 1/2 pound of dried beans.  Add 2 Tbs Worsteshire sauce, and a packet of your favorite chili seasoning.  Top with a small can of tomato paste.  Add in 1 pound of ground chicken, turkey, or beef.  Freeze.

On the day you want to eat it, place crockpot liner of food in crockpot.  Add 2 cans of beef broth.  Cover and cook on high for 6 hours, or low for 8 hours.  Serve with cheese, chopped green onions, and sour cream.