Guest post by KM Logan
Are you a busy family?
How would you like 6 chicken recipes that can be assembled in less than one hour, and cost well under $100, especially if you have a stocked pantry?
These recipes couldn’t be simpler – assemble the raw ingredients ahead of time in freezer bags then freeze. Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot, 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high. (Always check for doneness as all crock pots are different.)
When it comes to the amount of ingredients for these recipes let the size of your crock pot be your guide. If you have a 4 quart crock pot and are using gallon-size freezer bags, be sure to leave some room in your freezer bag so everything will fit and cook well in your crock-pot.
Note each of these recipes call for only 2 chicken breasts; you can cut or shred the chicken after cooking. I find that the typical chicken breast from our store is enough for 3 servings of meat.
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Pesto Chicken and Green Beans (Or Asparagus)
- 2 Chicken breasts
- Green beans or asparagus
- Small jar of Pesto
- Put chicken and pesto sauce in a freezer bag. If using green beans you can throw them in the freezer bag before freezing as well.
- Freeze everything.
- Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot.
- Cook 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high. Asparagus will cook better if you wait until the last hour of cooking to add them to the crock pot.
- Serve over minute rice or pasta.
Mexican Chicken Taco Stuffing
- 2 Chicken breasts
- 1 Can of tomatoes and peppers drained
- 1 can of black beans drained (or beans you’ve already cooked)
- 1 brick of cream cheese
- 1 can of corn drained or frozen corn
- Combine all the ingredients in a freezer bag and freeze.
- Note depending on the size of your crock-pot this recipe may need to be divided between two freezer bags.
- Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot.
- Cook 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
- Shred the chicken after cooking.
- Serve over tortilla chips, in taco shells, or in corn tortillas.
Pineapple Chicken Stir-fry
- 1 bag of frozen of frozen stir-fry vegetables
- 1 can of pineapple drained
- ½ a bottle of Sweet and Sour sauce (or homemade sweet and sour sauce)
- 2 Chicken breasts
- Combine all the ingredients in a freezer bag and freeze.
- Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot.
- Cook 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
- The picture shows rice in the bag. DON’T DO THIS! The recipe wasn’t an epic fail this way, but I’d recommend just making minute rice before serving instead.
Ranch Chicken and Potatoes
- 2 Chicken breasts
- ½-1 bottle of reduced calorie ranch dressing (we use this recipe for homemade dressing ~Stacy)
- 1 small box of au gratin potatoes (we don’t use the mix because it contains flour, but you could if you wanted to.)
- When you assemble this in the bag make sure when it gets put in the crock-pot the chicken is on the bottom.
- Add about a cup of water so the potatoes don’t dry out.
- NOTE: you are only using the dehydrated potatoes and NOT the mix in the box.
- Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot.
- Cook 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
Italian Chicken Stir-Fry
- 2 Chicken breasts
- 1 Bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables.
- 1 bottle of Italian dressing
- Combine the ingredients, freeze.
- Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot.
- Cook 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
- Serve over minute rice.
Italian Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans
- 2 Chicken Breasts
- 1 Box of au gratin potatoes (just the potatoes not the mix)
- 1 Bag of frozen green beans
- 1 bottle of reduced calorie or fat free Italian dressing (You can make your own homemade Italian dressing! ~Stacy)
- When combining this recipe in the bag make sure that the chicken will wind up on the bottom of the crock-pot, the potatoes in the middle, and the green beans on top.
- Add about ½ cup of water before cooking.
- Thaw in your refrigerator the night before cooking and throw the contents in the crock pot.
- Cook 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high
And there you have it an easy peasy, lightning fast, crock-pot ready, freezer meal plan for the week.
***See comments for additional tips.***
Do you have any freezer to crock-pot recipes you like? Let us know in the comments.
KM Logan is the author of Amazon’s best-selling The ABC’s of Freezer Cooking and writes devotions for women at KMLogan.com. You would bless her socks off if you stopped by to say hi.
So today I made the Ranch Chicken Potato, it was very oily and soupy. Tasted okay but don’t think I will make it again.
Sorry to hear that, Karin! But thanks for letting us know. 🙂
That often comes from not trimming the fat off meat. The fat rises and makes an oily pool and thins the sauce. Just in case you or anyone else who runs into it decides to try again.
I made the Italian Chicken stir-fry, it was so good even my husband wanted more.
Woohoo!
How do you prepare the chicken for these recipes
The chicken will cook in the crock pot.
Stacey I have had this, pesto chicken recipe above, printed and ready to make for months. But only my daughter and I were willing to give it a try. More for us! So I down scaled it and tailored it to my tastes. Thawed the one chicken breast (the half of the two, it confuses people, but the ones I buy is called one breast is two pieces) anyways, I put that in bottom of crockpot, 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth, topped with 1/2 of diced onion, 2 TBSP Pesto, 2 TBSP minced Garlic and let it cook for 2 hours on high. At 2 hours I added 1 can of drained green beans, that is what I had. About a 1/2 cup Fresh Broccoli florets, stems will be used in another recipe (broccoli soup), and julienned red, yellow and orange peppers about one handful with 1/2 cup diced tomatoes leftover from Taco Thursday last night. Cooked for about 1 hour still on high. Served over long grain cooked brown rice. I added NO salt as I am not a salt lover. Of course, depending on your crock will determine if cooked as mine did. But, I am loving this. I have no idea on low for this never did it. I had time in between projects today to tend to it. Normally, I need recipes for 6-8 sometimes, 10 hours. Thanks for sharing , it makes it easier for the me!
I’m glad it turned out well! It sounds super yummy.
The recipe for Ranch Chicken and Potatoes, the link for the homemade ranch dressing is not available. Would you send it to me please. I really want to make this weekend. Also have you ever uses fresh potatoes blanched then frozen for this recipe. I buy lots of taters and freeze em up so i can make meals faster. Thanks for all your recipes.
I have not tried that with the potatoes, but you could give it a shot. Also, so sorry about the ranch link…I forgot it was broken. This is the one I am using now. http://www.groceryshrink.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
I’ll update the post. Thank you!!
I just wrote an article about freezer cooking, http://hopkinshomeschool.com/10-easy-to-make-freezer-meals/
I love your recipes and plan to add these to my collection for an upcoming trip we have planned!
I have a son in college and a brother-in-law who recently lost his wife, I am doing freezer meals for them and I have a question:
I will have to cook my chicken before bagging since it was frozen whole, not sure if I should cook the whole recipe and then freeze. I thought about bagging the cooked chicken separately and having them add it to the crock in the last hour so that the chicken won’t be overdone. Any suggestions?
I think without the moisture of the raw chicken, the vegetables and other things might get over done. It might be better to cook the entire thing and then freeze it cooked. 🙂
Was the cream cheese in the Mexican Tacos supposed to be cooked all day? I think my husband is scared to eat it.
Also, on the Pesto Chicken – the pesto quality matters a great deal. I bought the cheapest one, some weird brand–and it was straight up bitter. Bleh. The hubby doesn’t want it again.
The bottle size of the Italian Dressing should be mentioned. I think I used too much the first time.
Just ran across these – can’t wait to try them! Question is do you put the dehydrated potatoes in the freezer bag with the wet ingredients or do you add them day of in the crockpot? I was thinking they’d mix with the wet ingredients when thawing in the fridge and may turn out gummy?? Also – I’m not sure if you add the seasoning mix from the potatoes or not? One point in the recipe you say you can and another spot you say to just use the potatoes only. Thanks for some great ideas!
You can use the sauce if you like…but she doesn’t recommend it.
The dried potatoes do go in the bag when freezing it. If she wants something left out, she states in the recipe. 🙂 So glad these were helpful!
Ok so a quick question all the way from Australia…… What on earth is a box of au gratin potatoes? Are they some sort of dried potato???? And as we don’t have that kinda thing over here is sliced or diced fresh potato ok or will it go weird in the freezer. Love the sound of all your recipes, and I think I can either get or substitute everything else, def going onto the meal prep list for this month ! THANK YOU!
They are dehydrated potatoes. I “think” fresh potato would work, but it hasn’t been tested so I can’t say. And thanks for hollering from Australia!
Fresh potatoes do not work when frozen unless they are encased in liquid. Otherwise, they turn black.
Oh yes! You are so right. I was thinking about cooked potatoes…black potatoes would be a rather shocking sight at dinner. Ha ha!
How much water do you add in? I put the ranch chicken in before work on low and got home and thr edges are completely burnt. So disappointing.
It shouldn’t require any water, but I will check with the poster. 🙂
The recipe says: Add about a cup of water so the potatoes don’t dry out.
In the Pesto Chicken is there a need to add any other liquid like water or broth?
Nope.
In the pesto chicken is that fresh green beans or asparagus or frozen?
Either should work just fine.
Do you add the water (recipe with au gratin) before you freeze or once in crockpot?
Once in crock pot.
Hi I was wondering ifyou can freeze any of your crock-pot recipes and have them turn out or are there stipulations as to what works best?
I’m a bit confused, so you might need to clarify. All these recipes are for the freezer. Are you speaking of all the crock pot recipes on this website?
I know this might be a dumb question but do I need to cook the chicken before putting it in a freezer bag or do I just put it in raw? TIA
You put everything in raw and freeze it. When ready to cook, just thaw and cook.
stupid question: first of all, your blog has made it to my list of favorites. we just went into debt for the first time and I want to work as hard as I can to get out of it. if I can make these meals for less than $100, I’m so there! anyway, I buy my chicken breasts with skin on and bone in (cheaper) and I was wondering if I have to de-skin and debone before I put in the slowcooker. thoughts?
I probably would – it would make it easier for later.
When you say 2 chicken breast are you meaning 1 breast with both sides or just 1/2 of a chicken breast? Some people refer to the two halves as 1 and others refer to 1/2 half as 1. Confusing
Am I understanding that nothing is cooked prior to being frozen? If so, how do you keep the foods from getting “grainy” (like the potatoes).
You are correct – what would make them grainy?
These look yummy! I always want to cook in the crock pot, but my meat ALWAYS turns out dry. I work long hours, so it’s difficult for me to stick to just 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high. I could probably run home on my lunch break to turn on the crock….but do you have any other tips to prevent drying out? Also, we are a family of 4, two of us being toddlers. Do you think these meals would provide enough food for two nights, or just one? And if just one, have you tried doubling any of these recipes, or would it overflow my 6 quart crock pot?
Thanks!!
Yikes, that’s hard. The problem with over cooking in a crock pot is while the recipe might be soupy the meat can definitely dry out. Coming home during a lunch break might be a good option or if you can wiggle it into your budget buying a crock pot you can program might also be a good choice. I’ve seen models that you can program to cook for x amount of hours and then it just goes to a keep warm setting.
As far as portions go, it will probably give you enough food for 2 nights, it does our family and we’re two adults and three kids under 5.
My mom uses one of those timers that you plug into the outlet and then plug the crock pot into (like you can use for Christmas tree lights). This way the crock pot automatically turns on and shuts off in the amount of time you need it to!
Quick, easy, cheap and look tasty.
Everything for a frugal living mum.
A list for the Mexican chicken tacos is
on my iphone for todays shopping 😉
Cheap is my middle name…sorta.
We had taco night the other night.
I did make one or two adjustments for numbers but great.
Turned out perfect.
I am back for another recipe 😉
That’s great!
I was just wondering how many servings each of these recipes has? I have an always starving family of 5 and these recipes look fantastic.
Thank you!
I have a family of 5 with 3 kiddos under 5. We always have leftovers. If you’re kids are older I think it should be enough for everyone.
These all look amazing! I’m wondering, though, how I could best alter these for a family of 6 (and an almost one-year-old!) I know I would use more chicken, but how much more of the other ingredients would I use? Just eyeball? I can’t wait to try some of these!!
They sound yummy! I especially want to try the Pesto Chicken and Green Beans.
My favorite chicken in the crockpot recipe is: http://nearlynaturalnicole.blogspot.com/2013/02/crockpot-garlic-chicken.html
The Pesto chicken was a delicious accident 🙂
couple questions. You said the 2 chicken breasts is enough for 3 meat servings of meat. Does that mean it’s for a family of 3 then? So, if I have a family of 5, would I be doubling just the meat or doubling the whole recipe. Some of these sound like a lot of veggies so I’m thinking it should be fine to just add a few more breasts then?
For the ranch chicken, would you think adding a ranch seasoning packet would be a good substitute instead of the ranch dressing?
Thanks! These look great. I’m picking up my 40lb of Zaycon chicken this weekend so this is perfect timing to get the ingredients and makes some freezer meals as I’m packing away my order!
The chicken breasts from my local store are always HUGE. “They” say a serving of meat is approximately the size of a deck of playing cards, and generally the chicken breasts we get are at least 2 servings of meat a piece and then some. You could definitely increase the amount of meat though, just don’t overfill your crock-pot. These recipes are very veggie heavy, because it’s cheaper and I like veggies 🙂
I also think you could get away with using a seasoning packet, just add in a small amount of liquid (water or stock) when you try the recipe for the first time. I’d definitely keep an eye on things to see if you need to add more. There’s nothing worse than dry chicken.
Just finished the chicken freezer meals!! They were super easy! Can’t wait to use them this week! Didn’t take long at all! Thanks so much
That’s wonderful! I hope they’re delicious!
We’re trying out the pesto chicken recipe tonight and I’m so excited. I’ve got about 3 hours left to go and the smells keep drawing me back to the kitchen! I can’t wait to use the others too!
I’m cooking a turkey and having the same problem.
I read this early this morning before I left for work and made up the list of what I needed, bought it (under $100, including 3 t-shirts…!!) and have these done up in the freezer right now! Thanks a ton! Can’t wait to try the Pineapple Chicken one!
That’s great, Sheila! Thanks for letting us know!!
Excellent I hope you enjoy them.
These look wonderful. It would be great if you posted a basic grocery list for these six recipes. Then people could increase or decrease based on their family size/dietary needs.
I love your site!!! I read it everyday.
One more thing— I know you don’t use crockpot liners but I may try putting the ingredients in a liner then putting it in a gallon size ziplock back. That way I can go from freezer to crock, no mess and easily reuse my zip locks!
That’s a good idea too!
Wow! These are some awesome-sounding recipes! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
I agree! Blessings from Virginia! 🙂
I don’t buy boxed mixes, what is the quantity of dried potatoes in these recipes? I assume I can use my own dehydrated potatoes? And what are the sizes for the bags of frozen vegetables? And what size bottles of salad dressing and sweet and sour sauce? I do make my own, but I don’t know what sort of quantity to use. These recipes sound good, but I’d need to make those substitutes, and it’s hard to do those sort of subs without quantities when you put it all straight in the freezer, so you can’t taste test. Thanks!
Hi Dawn, I’m horrible at quantities when it comes to my recipes, I always eyeball things. You can actually use regular potatoes. I just bought the dehydrated potatoes because my son has this thing lately where he must be in my arms at all times, making cleaning and chopping anything very difficult for me.
With that being said, keep an eye on your recipe the first time you try it. Crock pots are notorious for being different from one another. If it starts to look dry add a little more liquid if it seems too soupy remove the lid and turn to high the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
The vegetable bags I used are 12oz, and the dressings I used were 16oz.
These look great! Do you think they would turn out ok if I dumped everything in longer and just cooked them longer (8hrs) to make up for time it would take to defrost?
That should be “dumped in frozen”… 🙂
Hi Stephanie I read somewhere that you shouldn’t cook food in a crock pot from frozen because the center of the food might reach a danger zone temperature for too long. With that being said, I have thrown in partially thawed food into the crock pot and cooked it on high, and no one got sick but……….this isn’t recommended.
If you purchase BPA free freezer bags you could always defrost in the microwave.
KM’s right, according to the FDA and the USDA, any meat should be thawed before going into the crock pot even if you plan to cook on high the whole time. When I contacted them, the FDA also recommended that for the first hour, you cook on high (if you’re cooking with meat) so that the meat gets to the right temperature quick enough. There’s a lot out there on Freezer Cooking where you just dump frozen meat into the crock pot, but it’s like KM said. The “Danger Zone” (39/40 – 140 degrees F) is when bacteria multiply the fastest.
That being said, these recipes look really good. Am excited to try the Ranch Chicken and Potatoes especially. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting that information, Aisha!
I want to give these meals to an elderly couple who doesn’t have a crockpot. How long can you cook these meals in the oven or on the stove top?
Sorry I can’t answer that. We’ve not tried it. Of course the cooking time would be much shorter, but I’m not sure how much shorter.