Hi friends! Today I have another awesome meal planning guest post from Christina (you can check out the previous meal planning post here)! Christina has such a passion for sharing budget-friendly recipes with others. And I love these recipes because they’re also soooo easy to make as freezer meals! So add this to your weekly grocery list, and enjoy these fun dinners!
Freezer bag meals – while lengthy in prep time – have saved our family so much time and money, that I think they can be a golden ticket to those meal planning woes. I’ve found that if most of the meals have the same ingredients, you can really reap the budget-friendly rewards for weeks!
Here’s a recent round I did in our house to get ready for cold weather, and while I had a couple of items already in the pantry, all in all the total was approximately $65 for all:
1. Vegetable Beef Soup
2. Chili
3. Taco Soup
4. Potato Soup
5. Roast
With so many of the same ingredients, it was great to do a big shopping trip and stock the freezer!
Master Shopping List
1. Approx. 6 pounds ground beef, cooked and drained (I cooked all of this at once, drained, and once cooled, scooped out with 1 cup measuring cups to put in freezer bags.)
2. Roast
3. Ham steak
4. Bag of russet potatoes
5. Bag of baby carrots
6. 1 Bag Frozen Green Beans
7. 1 Bag Frozen Corn
8. 1 Bag Frozen Peas
9. Celery
10. Onion – chopped
11. 2 Cans – Cream of Mushroom
12. 4 Cans – Tomato Soup
13. 2 Cans – Light red kidney beans
14. 1 Can – Dark red kidney beans
15. 1 Can Black Beans
16. 1 Can Corn
17. 2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
18. 1 Can Rotel
19. 2 Packets Ranch Dressing
20. 1 Packet Chili Mix
21. 1 Packet Taco Seasoning Mix
Serve with cheese, sour cream, and salsa chips!
Vegetable Soup Freezer Bag Meal
Let’s go ahead and make 2 bags! In each gallon-size freezer bag, put the following. Push air out, seal and freeze. Thaw overnight. Place in crockpot with 32 oz chicken or beef broth. Cook on low for 6 hours.
1. 2 cups of ground beef (cooked, drained, and cooled)
2. 2 Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3. ½ bag frozen green beans
4. ½ bag frozen corn
5. ½ bag frozen peas
6. 5-7 baby carrots
7. 2 stalks washed and chopped celery
8. Sprinkling of chopped onion
9. 2 cans Tomato Soup
Chili Freezer Bag Meal
Place all ingredients in gallon-size freezer bag, seal and freeze. Thaw overnight. Place in crockpot with 32 oz chicken or beef broth. Cook on low 6 hours.
1. 2 cups ground beef (cooked, drained, and cooled)
2. 1 packet chili mix
3. Sprinkling or more of chopped onion
4. Light red kidney beans
5. Dark red kidney beans
Taco Soup Freezer Bag Meal
Place all ingredients in gallon-size freezer bag, push air out, freeze. Thaw overnight in fridge. Place in crockpot with 32 oz chicken broth. Cook on low 6 hours.
1. 1-2 cups ground beef (cooked, drained, and cooled)
2. 1 Packet Taco Seasoning Mix
3. 1 Packet Ranch Dressing Mix
4. 1 Can Corn
5. 1 Can Black Beans
6. 1 Can Light Red Kidney Beans
7. 1 Can Rotel
8. 2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
Roast Freezer Bag Meal
Place all ingredients below in gallon-size freezer bag, push air out, freeze. Thaw overnight in fridge. Cook on Low in crockpot for 6-8 hours.
1. Roast
2. 10 Baby carrots
3. 4-5 Peeled and Chopped Russet Potatoes
4. 1 packet Ranch dressing
Potato Soup Freezer Bag Meal
This made three freezer bags meals! Put all ingredients in gallon-size freezer bag, push
air out, freeze. Thaw overnight in fridge. Put in crockpot with 32 oz chicken broth and 2 cups Half & Half. Cook on Low in crockpot for 6 hours. In last hour of cooking, I like to add 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
1. 4-5 peeled and chopped Russet potatoes
2. 1/3 chopped ham steak
3. Sprinkling of chopped onion