meal plan for making 20 GF slow cooker freezer packs (Costco)

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Just wanted to share this for those who like to do make-ahead freezer prep for later use in the slow cooker -this lady assembled a meal plan that for about $150 or so, can buy ingredients to make 20 freezer packs (each feeding family of 4) that you just assemble into bags and freeze. Then you just thaw it and the morning of, just toss it in the slow cooker, cook for 8-10 hrs and it is ready by dinnertime.

http://www.5dollardinners.com/gluten...tco-meal-plan/

Last week DH went shopping for all the ingredients at Costco and then one day this weekend we both assembled the 20 packs. It took us much longer than two hours, probably bc it was the first time we did it and we were figuring things out. We put everything in gallon ziploc bags...all of them took up the entire freezer section of our garage fridge/freezer!!

ANyway, we ate the first meal (BBQ chicken & potatoes) for dinner today and it was actually pretty decent. The kids ate it, so that is definitely a plus It was so nice to be able to just dump a bag in the Crockpot in the morning and then by dinner have hot meal. in the past I had always been a fan of Once-A-Month Cooking and make-ahead freezer prep, but hadn't done it in a while...seeing this just gave me the motivation to get started on it again. Each meal only comes out to be a few dollars per meal, and the fact that it was gluten free was pretty nice too. I like how these were all for 8-10 hours which is nice when DH & I are both out of the house all day.

[pharmjenn]

I haven't looked at the link yet, but this sounds very interesting. I don't know if I would want to fill up an entire freezer though. Was there a way to cut the recipe/shopping to make fewer? Like maybe only make 10 packs?

[specialp]

That is awesome! I've already filled up my deep freezer with meals over the past month (fall is super busy for us), but I'm going to save this and try a few of the recipes to see how we like them. I don't use our slow cooker enough.

[wendibird22]

I did a quick look at her site. So you have to pay in order to get the recipes?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

You probably could just make half of them, though not sure if that saves $$ since ingredients are mostly from Costco, where stuff comes in huge packs anyway. So if you just made the 10 you'd probably have a ton of stuff leftover in the fridge.

I did a quick look at her site. So you have to pay in order to get the recipes?

No. If you scroll down you can see, she has links to all the recipes (there are 10..each one is doubled to make 20 packs)..each one has the ingredients needed and the recipe/amounts. So you can make everything for free.

You only have to pay the $5 if you want the printable shopping list, printable labels for each pack (so you can just slap a sticky label on the freezer bag that has the slow cooker instructions), and access to the videos where she does the veggie chopping & assembles the bags (about 2 hours). I paid the $5 just bc I was curious to see the videos, wanted the printable labels and I just like supporting mamas who do this sort of thing (bc I am nowhere near that organized and i am thankful for those mamas who are )

[o_mom]

Can you answer a question for me?

I don't want to buy the whole thing beacause I don't think my kids will eat all of them, but I'm confused on this part. I want to make the Chicken tortilla soup and Enchilada Casserole. So it says to cook the chicken and tomato sauce with taco seasoning... that is fine, then separate some for each recipe and lightly drain the portion for the casserole. So far I'm good. However, then for the soup, are you supposed to add the stock, corn and peppers and cook again??

The recipe is written as if you are making just that, not starting with the Ranchero Chicken base. Is it any clearer in the downloaded instructions?

[bigsis]

Very intriguing.... I may have to check it out.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Can you answer a question for me?

I don't want to buy the whole thing beacause I don't think my kids will eat all of them, but I'm confused on this part. I want to make the Chicken tortilla soup and Enchilada Casserole. So it says to cook the chicken and tomato sauce with taco seasoning... that is fine, then separate some for each recipe and lightly drain the portion for the casserole. So far I'm good. However, then for the soup, are you supposed to add the stock, corn and peppers and cook again??

The recipe is written as if you are making just that, not starting with the Ranchero Chicken base. Is it any clearer in the downloaded instructions?

Huh..i went to the link. I was confused at first bc I actually didn't do that part (the enchilada casserole).i just did the Tortilla Soup recipe that is in the little square (that was in the downloaded instructions) and froze that in bags (i just assembled everything raw and put it in a bag to do slow cooker later). I am guessing if you follow the instructions on the site that says before to make the soup &casserole at once, for the soup you don't cook it again after adding the corn/peppers (i assume you can just reheat it if you want to eat it then). i know for Vitamix tortilla soup recipes, you just add stock, corn, peppers (all cold) to cooked chicken/tomato base..i don't think it's critical that it is cooked again, i think just enough to heat it up.

[o_mom]

Thanks - I basically did that for tonight. I made the chicken/tomato base and kept half out for the casserole. I then sauteed the peppers before adding them along with the corn, stock and a can of beans (to stretch it a bit). Two out of three kids ate it, so I'm calling it a success.

[longamkl]

I really like the looks of these packages. It looks a bit like the "Dream Dinners" type of scenario where we used to prepare about 30 dinners at once. Going into this busy season, I think I need to try something like this. I think I would like to try both of the potential packages - the Costco gluten free slow cooker freezer packs and the regular Costco dinner package. I'd like to buy both printables package (I'm happy to support a good idea from an enterprising Mom) but I can't tell what buttons to push to check out properly. Can anyone help me with this?