Freezer Meals 101

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Freezer Meal Dump Recipes

Marry Me, Chicken {freezer meal}

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This skillet chicken recipe is good enough to marry! Ok, I know that traditionally it’s known as Marry Me Chicken because it’s supposed to inspire marriage proposals with it’s tastiness, but for those of you not looking for a proposal, you may just want to marry this chicken after you try it!

With it’s rich and bold flavours, you’ll soon be a raving fan. The best part is that we’ve transformed this recipe into a freezer meal. So you can make it up ahead and it’s ready to cook up when you need it.

blue plate with chicken, carrots, broccoli, tomato, and squash with text that reads "Marry Me, Chicken (for those who really love their chicken)"When we make freezer meals, my neighbour Christie is the one who creates the labels. When I sent her the list for our last meal assembly session, she made a new label that added the comma to make it Marry Me, Chicken. She also added the cheeky description “for those who really love their chicken”!

I suggest making several of these at once. You won’t regret having more than one in the freezer. It’s special enough to serve when you have dinner guests.

Marry Me, Chicken Recipe:

  • 3-5 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  •  1 tsp. thyme
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 tsp. basil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

For cooking:

  • fresh basil
  • Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Assembly instructions:

  1. Place the chicken breasts in a large resealable freezer bag. Dump in the remaining ingredients.
  2. Remove all the air that you can from the bag, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Dump bag contents in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 24-27 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside.
  3. If desired, garnish with fresh basil and more shredded Parmesan cheese.

What to serve with Marry Me, Chicken:

Print
Marry Me, Chicken
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Keyword: chicken, marry me chicken
Ingredients
  • 3-5 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tsp. thyme
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 tsp. basil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes chopped
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
For cooking:
  • fresh basil
  • Parmesan cheese freshly grated
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Place the chicken breasts in a large resealable freezer bag. Dump in the remaining ingredients.
  2. Remove all the air that you can from the bag, seal, and freeze.
Cooking instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Dump bag contents in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 24-27 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside.
  3. If desired, garnish with fresh basil and more shredded Parmesan cheese.

You may also like these other chicken freezer meals:

Easy Chicken Marsala

Kung Pao Chicken

Easiest Butter Chicken

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore {freezer meal}

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You won’t believe how easy this crock pot Chicken Cacciatore is! It has only 5 ingredients but it tastes so fresh and delicious. You can make it ahead as a freezer meal. Combining a freezer meal with the crock pot is a match made in heaven. Save time and money. Win-win!

Our family likes Italian flavours. I often make a different version of chicken cacciatore when I’m making my freezer meals, but that one is a bit more involved. It requires cubing the chicken and has more ingredients. When I’m in a hurry or wanting to make as many meals as possible as quickly as possible, I opt for this easy crock pot chicken cacciatore recipe instead.

large spoon scooping out a red sauce covered chicken breast from a slow cooker with text that reads "Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore" Chicken Cacciatore is traditionally served over pasta, but it can also be served over rice or polenta if you prefer or if you are on a keto or low carb diet.

Why is it called Chicken Cacciatore?

I have to admit that it is a unique name for a dish. The word “cacciatore” means hunter in Italian and apparently, it was hunters who first made this. It was likely made not with chicken in those early years, but with rabbit or other wild game they caught. This was back in the Renaissance so other meat would have been more commonly available.

Chicken cacciatore is sometimes mixed up with chicken parmesan. The easiest way to be able to tell the difference is that cheese is involved where chicken parmesan is referenced, whereas with cacciatore, there is no cheese.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1 zucchini, coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

Assembly instructions:

  1. Place the chicken breasts in a large, resealable freezer bag.
  2. Dump the other ingredients in the bag.
  3. Remove excess air from the bag and seal. Freeze flat.

Cooking instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Dump bag contents into the slow cooker.
  3. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Ensure that chicken is cooked through before serving.
  4. Serve over your choice of pasta noodles. We usually use penne or rotini, but a long noodle is fine too.

You can throw this together so quickly that you might as well make more than one at a time. Just prop the bags open by folding the top over and setting them open on the counter. Line the bags up and then add the chicken to each one before dumping in the rest of the ingredients. This chicken dump recipe couldn’t be easier!

There is a lot of versatility with this recipe because you can use your choice of pasta sauce, swap out the chicken breasts for chicken thighs, and serve it on your favourite type of pasta.

This is such a family friendly dish. Between being able to make it ahead and just pull it out of the freezer and the fact that it cooks in the crock pot, it’s truly a stress free dinner. When we’re in a rush, we just keep this in the slow cooker and have the kids load a bit of pasta on their plate and then scoop the cacciatore right from the crock pot. You can can use whatever variety of pasta sauce you prefer. Experiment and see which you like best. We usually just go for a simple basil, but it’s also good with a pasta sauce with mushrooms or the spicy or chunky vegetables. Give a few of them a try and let me know which you liked best.

Print
Easy Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Prep Time
5 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: chicken, chicken cacciatore
Ingredients
  • 3-5 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
  • 24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1 zucchini coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup onion chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Place the chicken breasts in a large, resealable freezer bag.
  2. Dump the other ingredients in the bag.
  3. Remove excess air from the bag and seal. Freeze flat.
Cooking instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Dump bag contents into the slow cooker.

  3. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Ensure that chicken is cooked through before serving.

  4. Serve over your choice of pasta noodles.

You might also like these easy freezer meals:

Homemade Hamburger Helper

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Bake

Easy Chicken Marsala

Taco Chili Freezer Meal

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This hearty taco chili combines the flavours of Mexican-American food with classic chili. It’s an easy dump recipe that can go from the freezer to the Crock Pot. This is a very non-traditional chili however, in that it does not have any beans in it.

So if you are not a fan of beans, but love the flavours of chili, this is the one for you!a blue bowl that's white on the inside is filled with corn, ground beef, tomatoes, red sauce that is topped with shredded cheese and green herbs with text that reads "Taco Chili Freezer Meal"The nice warm feeling from a bowl of chili is such a nice lunch or dinner to curl up with in winter or fall.

This is already a budget friendly meal, but there are ways that you can make this even more affordable. If you want to stretch this recipe further, you can use the taco chili as a topping on baked potatoes, stuffed inside green and red peppers, or add a tetrapak of beef broth to turn it into taco chili soup.

Taco Chili Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground beef, browned
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 15 oz. can kernel corn, drained
  • 8 oz. can tomato sauce
  • 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
  • 4 oz. can green chilies
  • 1 Tbsp. chili powder
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper

Assembly instructions:

  1. Prep by browning the ground beef until it is no longer pink and chopping the onion.
  2. Place the cooked beef, chopped onion, and all other ingredients in a large resealable freezer bag. Remove the excess air, seal, and freeze.

Slow cooker instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Cook in the Crock Pot on low for 3-5 hours.
  3. Optional: Top with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, chopped green onions, cilantro, and/or sliced avocado.

Stovetop instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Heat on the stovetop on medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.
  3. Optional: Top with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, chopped green onions, cilantro, and/or sliced avocado.

Check out some other tasty make ahead chili recipes:

Thick and Chunky Hearty Chili

Instant Pot White Chicken Chili

Print
Taco Chili Freezer Meal Recipe
Ingredients
  • 1 lb. ground beef browned
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 15 oz. can kernel corn drained
  • 8 oz. can tomato sauce
  • 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
  • 4 oz. can green chilies
  • 1 Tbsp. chili powder
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Prep by browning the ground beef until it is no longer pink and chopping the onion.
  2. Place the cooked beef, chopped onion, and all other ingredients in a large resealable freezer bag. Remove the excess air, seal, and freeze.
Slow cooker instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Cook in the Crock Pot on low for 3-5 hours.
  3. Optional: Top with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, chopped green onions, cilantro, and/or sliced avocado.
Stovetop instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Heat on the stovetop on medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.
  3. Optional: Top with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, chopped green onions, cilantro, and/or sliced avocado.

Make Ahead Everything Bagels Breakfast Muffins

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Busy weekday mornings don’t have to be so chaotic. Making these everything bagels breakfast muffins ahead allows you to grab one on your way out the door.at the top, a green bowl holds five muffins sprinkled with seasoning. There are images of the ingredients such as eggs, cream, shredded cheese, cream cheese, and bagel cubes and a whisk in a yellow bowl. The text reads "Everything Bagel Breakfast Muffins"

They pack the flavours of the everything bagel into a breakfast muffin you can hold in one hand while you hold your coffee or phone in the other. This is the very definition of breakfast on the go.

Everything Bagels Breakfast Muffins Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 4-5 everything bagels, cut into cubes
  • 1 package of bacon sausage or 1 pound of ground sausage, browned until no longer pink
  • 2 cups of half and half
  • 10 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. Everything Bagels Seasoning, divided
  • 4 oz. of cream cheese, diced
  • 4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded
  • 4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

Assembly instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with oil.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the half and half and the eggs.
  3. Add in the salt, pepper and 1 Tbsp. of the Everything Bagels Seasoning into the egg mixture. Set aside.
  4. Lay out all the other ingredients.
  5. Layer each muffin cup in this order: 3-4 bagel cubes, cooked sausage, 4-5 pieces of cream cheese, a sprinkle of the Swiss and cheddar cheeses.
  6. Pour the egg mixture to about halfway.
  7. Add 4-5 bagel cubes and a bit more sausage and sprinkle the remaining Everything Bagels Seasoning over each muffin.
  8. Place in the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until browned and the muffins are no longer soft in the middle. If you like your muffins more browned, you can place them under the broiler for 2-3 minutes at the end, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
  9. Remove from the oven and cool. Top with a sprinkle of the Everything Bagels seasoning.
  10. Take the muffins out of the pan and move to a cooling rack. Once the muffins have cooled, transfer them to a large resealable freezer bag. Remove the excess air and freeze.

Eating instructions:

  1. Take one muffin (or more) out of the bag. Be sure to take out the extra air before sealing the bag up again.
  2. Eat slightly frozen or reheat in the microwave.

Some other freezer breakfast recipes you may be interest in:

Taco Breakfast Cups

Cinnamon French Toast

Print
Everything Bagels Breakfast Muffins
Ingredients
  • 4-5 everything bagels cut into cubes
  • 1 package of bacon sausage or 1 pound of ground sausage browned until no longer pink
  • 2 cups half and half
  • 10 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. Everything Bagels Seasoning divided
  • 4 oz. cream cheese diced
  • 4 oz. Swiss cheese shredded
  • 4 oz. cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with oil.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the half and half and the eggs.
  3. Add in the salt, pepper and 1 Tbsp. of the Everything Bagels Seasoning into the egg mixture. Set aside.
  4. Lay out all the other ingredients.
  5. Layer each muffin cup in this order: 3-4 bagel cubes, cooked sausage, 4-5 pieces of cream cheese, a sprinkle of the Swiss and cheddar cheeses.
  6. Pour the egg mixture to about halfway.
  7. Add 4-5 bagel cubes and a bit more sausage and sprinkle the remaining Everything Bagels Seasoning over each muffin.
  8. Place in thee oven and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until browned and the muffins are no longer soft in the middle. If you like your muffins more browned, you can place them under the broiler for 2-3 minutes at the end, but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.
  9. Remove from the oven and cool. Top with a sprinkle of the Everything Bagels seasoning.
  10. Take the muffins out of the pan and move to a cooling rack. Once the muffins have cooled, transfer them to a large resealable freezer bag. Remove the excess air and freeze.
Eating instructions:
  1. Take a muffin (or morout of the bag. Be sure to take out the extra air before sealing the bag up again.
  2. Eat slightly frozen or reheat in the microwave.

Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

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Oh man! You’re going to love this Dr. Pepper pulled pork recipe! It has just a bit of kick from the peppers that plays so nicely with the sweetness in the soda.a bun sits on a white plate with shredded meat on top of it and a green salad beside it with a few tomato pieces. The text reads "Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork - freezer meal - crock pot"This freezer to crock pot recipe is all kinds of tasty. I like to serve it on buns with a bit of garlic mayo, but just plain old buns is fine too.

I take this with us when we go camping if there is a plugin for my crock pot. Just pop the freezer meal in the cooler for the drive there and then on the day you want to serve it, throw it in the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Recipe:

  • 5-7 lb. pork shoulder or butt
  • 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 can (11 oz.) chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
  • 2 cans Dr. Pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper

Assembly instructions:

  1. Place the pork in a large resealable bag.
  2. Toss in the chopped onion, can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
  3. Pour in 2 cans of Dr. Pepper soda pop, holding the bag up to prevent spills.
  4. Remove the excess air, seal the bag, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Place in the crock pot. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
  3. Shred and serve on buns.

Check out some of our other freezer to slow cooker meals:

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Black Beans and Corn

Freezer to Slow Cooker Beef  Stew

Easy Beef Dip

Print
Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Recipe
Prep Time
5 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Keyword: pork
Ingredients
  • 5-7 lb. pork shoulder or butt
  • 1 large onion coarsely chopped
  • 1 can 11 oz. chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
  • 2 cans Dr. Pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Place the pork in a large resealable bag.
  2. Toss in the chopped onion, can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
  3. Pour in 2 cans of Dr. Pepper soda pop, holding the bag up to prevent spills.
  4. Remove the excess air, seal the bag, and freeze.
Cooking instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Place in the crock pot. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
  3. Shred and serve on buns.