Welcome Back to Freezer to Crockpot Cooking – Vegetarian Week! You have had a few days to get everything on the shopping list for the week, so now it is time to put everything together!
Don't forget the check out all of the other weeks in this series:
Don’t forget: the shopping list for this week was designed to make 4 meals. If you doubled or tripled the shopping list to make even more meals (or larger meals), you will need to adjust these instructions for the increased quantity of food that you are making
Step 1 – Prep Your Ingredients – Just a few steps of prep work for these meals
- Slice top off green bell peppers, and remove all seeds
- If you would like to cut down on some of the sodium, rinse kidney beans and black beans at this point
- Mash kidney beans
- Combine 2 cups cooked rice, 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ¼ cup frozen corn, ¾ cup black beans, 1 tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. salt, and ½ tsp. cumin. Fill hollowed green peppers with this mixture. This recipe makes 6 large peppers.
Step 2 – Get Your Bags Ready! - Gather 4 gallon freezer bag, and 1 quart freezer bag. Don’t forget a sharpie, we are going to write our cooking instructions on the bag before filling. Write the following directions on each bag:
Stuffed Peppers
- Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray
- Remove peppers and place in crockpot
- Cook on low 4-6 hours
Spinach-Artichoke Casserole
- Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray
- Pour contents of bag into crockpot
- Cook on low for 4-5 hours
Mushroom Lentil and Barley Stew
- Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray
- Slice mushrooms in to halves or thirds and place in bottom of slow cooker
- Pour contents of bag 1 and 2 into crockpot
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours
Meatless Sloppy Joes
- Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray
- Pour contents of bag into crockpot
- Cook on low for 5-6 hours
- Additional Ingredients: Buns
Step 3 – Fill Your Bags! - Ok now you know the drill.. let’s fill those bags for the freezer, but feel free to keep one out and toss it into your crockpot for dinner.
Stuffed Peppers
- Previously stuffed peppers from earlier prep
Spinach-Artichoke Casserole
- Bag of frozen spinach
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 3 cloves crushed garlic
- Canned artichoke hearts
Mushroom Lentil and Barley Stew
Bag 1- Gallon
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 3 cloves crushed garlic
- ½ tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. oregano
- ½ tsp. parsley flakes
Bag #2-quart
- ¾ cup uncooked barley
- ¾ cup uncooked lentils
Additional ingredients needed: 1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced in half or thirds
Meatless Sloppy Joe’s
- 2 cans smashed kidney beans
- 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 3 Tbsp. ketchup
- 1 Tbsp. mustard
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vingar
And that is it! You now have 4 bags for your freezer of easy vegetarian crockpot meals that you can make in a pinch!
Need more slow cooker recipes that are great for freezer cooking? See all of the other weeks in this series:
Sandy
Wow! these are awesome!! thank you very much we will definitely be trying these this week.
bella
ummm, maybe am i missing something...where is the mushrooms in the mushroom lentil barley soup?
Jessica
Hi,
I made all of the recipes listed above except for the stuffed peppers yesterday. We are going to try the lentil and barley stew today. The Mushroom Lentil and Barley Stew recipe does not explain if we need to freeze the mushrooms and/or how much goes in the recipe. Also, the shopping instructions call for a 28 oz. can of tomato sauce, but you only need an 8 oz. can according to the Meatless Sloppy Joe recipe. Are we supposed to put in 18 0z. of spinach or 9 ounces? The packages come in 9 oz. quantities, but the shopping lists calls for 18 0unces. That said I am looking forward to trying all of these!!!
Mindi Cherry
Hey Jessica!
The mushrooms get put in right before you are ready to cook in the crockpot (updated the bag instructions to reflect this). You can't freeze mushrooms unless you cook them first, so that will be a "day of cooking" addition.
The tomato sauce and spinach were both supposed to be the lesser quantities. Updated those!
Thanks!
Amber Neighbors
How many servings does each meal make?
Mindi Cherry
Hi Amber!
Each one will make 4 regular-size servings!
Annie
Do you thaw your recipes in the fridge before cooking in the slow cooker?
Mindi Cherry
Nope - the only ones that need to be thawed overnight are the recipes in this series that have pork or beef in them!
KS
Some of the ingredients mentioned in the instructions were not on the shopping list. Did I miss something? Thank you!