Gluten Free Freezer Meals

With our crazy schedule and 3 kids making dinner is getting harder and harder.  Thanks to Pinterest I decided to try a new idea - freezer meals!  After a lot of planning, a BIG shopping trip, 2 hours of chopping and sorting I made 10, yes 10, dinners!  Eight are slow cooker meals and the other two are skillet meals.

For MORE Gluten Free Freezer Meals check out Freezer Meals - Take Two!

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Here is how it broke down.

Shopping List:
2 bags frozen chicken - fresh would work but frozen was BOGO
2 packages of GF chicken sausage
1 package of pork chops
1 lb ground beef
3 green peppers
3 multi-color peppers
1 bag carrots
5 onions
6 red potatoes
2 cans pineapple chunks
1 package celery
2 cans tomato sauce (12 oz)
2 cans diced tomatos
GF BBQ sauce
1 box gallon size freezer bags

Kitchen Staples:
Brown Sugar
GF Worcestershire Sauce
Italian seasoning
Garlic salt
Mustard
GF Teriyaki sauce
EVOO

Recipes:

Teriyaki Chicken - makes 2 bags, items below are per bag

• 2 handfuls carrots 
• 1 handful onion 
• 1 can pineapple with juice
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup GF teriyaki sauce

Mix together in bag.  Cook for 4 hours on low.  Serve with rice.

Sausage & Peppers - makes 2 bags, items below are per bag

• 4 GF chicken sausages sliced
• 1 handful green peppers
• 2 handful multi-colored pepers
• 1 handful onion
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Splash of EVOO
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp Garlic salt

Mix together in bag. Cook for 5 hours on low.  Serve with pasta.
*UPDATE* I actually cooked this on the skillet and it came out great!

BBQ Chicken - makes 2 bags, items below are per bag

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 handful green peppers
• 1 handful multi-colored peppers
• 1 handful onion
• 3 chopped red potatoes (big pieces)
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp GF Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt

Mix together in bag.  Cook for 4 hours on low.  Serve with rice.

BBQ Pork Chops - makes 2 bags, items below are per bag

• 2 pork chops
• 1 handful green peppers
• 1 handful carrots
• 2 handfuls celery
• 1/2 cup GF BBQ sauce

Mix together in bag.  Cook for 4 hours on low.  Serve with rice or pasta.

Chicken Stir Fry - I only made one bag of this 

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 handful celery
• 1 handful carrots
• 1 handful multi-colored peppers
• 1/4 cup GF Teriyaki sauce

Mix together in bag.  Follow this recipe to cook.  You will need to add the rice, egg and GF soy sauce when cooking. 

Mexican Ground Beef

• 1 lb beef
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 packet GF taco sauce

This is the only item I actually pre-cooked.  I browned the beef with the carrots, let it cool then put it in a bag.  My plan is to add corn and beans to it when we use it. 

Some tips:

1. Shop the weekly sales.  I bought all the meat BOGO at the expensive grocery store that I rarely go to.  This weeks ads just happened to be perfect for what I needed.  I got all the fresh and can veggies from Aldi and saved a ton!  Even cheaper than Wal-Mart.  
2. Chop all the veggies first then organize the meat.  I had all my chopped veggies in bowls so I could grab handfuls to fill my bags.  The recipes above say "handfuls" basically 1 handful of onion = 1 onion.  
3. Mark your bags before you fill them.
4. You could easily add more meat to each bag if you are feeding more people.  
5. The day before you want to use a meal put it in the fridge to defrost.  At lunch time put it in the crock pot.  

I used these awesome blog posts for ideas, recipes and inspiration.

The Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis

A Turtle's Life for me

Ring Around the Rosie's

I'll write a blog about the results once we eat all the yummy meals.  I have to say I'm pretty pumped about this!