How our group operates

Notes about how we set up our Freezer Slow Cooking group, in case you want to start your own! We don't mind if you copy our information, just show us a little blog-love if you do :)

Freezer Cooking Meal Group Updated Notes as of 4/11/2012

Focus: Primarily meals that are as complete as possible (and mostly in ONE bag) and that can be basically set in the slow cooker in the morning, so that they can slow cook all day and  be enjoyed by dinner time. We are looking for a healthy and easy meal for those moments you’re in a pinch or just don’t feel like cooking for that night. 

Meal Prep: Currently we are going to start with ONE meal per person participating, times the number of total participants.  For example, I will be making a BBQ chicken meal, but I will make FIVE (times by however many participants we have) bags of that meal. We each get to walk away with some different meals, but only had to technically get ingredients and prepare one meal, on a large scale.

As long as the food is fresh, we understand that it might not be an organic chicken, vegetarian fed cow, or free-range pig.  We just ask that the ingredients are NOT about ready to expire. NOTE as of March 2012: We are considering a possible split into an Organic and Regular group, if there is enough interested and if it does not affect the entire makeup of the group.

We discussed food preferences and decided that currently we will stick with the following: chicken, beef, pork, turkey, or vegetarian.

Please AVOID due to ALLERGIES: noodles (unless they are provided on the side, but not IN the main meal), cheese (again on the side is fine, not in the meal), whey (flour is out, but cornstarch or rice flour to thicken is okay), no poppy seed, no flax, no shellfish, no seafood, no lamb, no mustard, no seeds or nuts. (PLEASE let me know if we need to add anything to this list!).

Use your best judgment on the recipes that call for meat with marinade. Some larger portions of meat may do just fine in a marinade, but perhaps others should just be kept wrapped separate from the marinade.

Please use FREEZER Ziploc bags, doubled up (to prevent any leaks in the freezer/fridge) as well as the name of the dish and any special instructions for the day of the slow cooking. Someday we hope that someone comes up with a more eco-friendly option that still allows us to get all those meals into our freezers.

Freeze the meals flat (if possible) if you need to do your meals ahead of time OR leave the meals unfrozen, since it will make it easier for each person to fit the bags in their freezer, if you are prepping very close to or on the day of the meeting.

*Note: I’ve found that most meals are able to be dropped in from frozen and cooked on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 depending on how big the chunks of meat are. I will usually add an extra ½ hour if it is a fully frozen LARGE piece of meat.

Sides/Condiments: If it can be frozen along with the main part of the meal, please include it (i.e. buns to go with a pulled pork meal). You do not need to provide items that can’t be frozen or won’t keep well (i.e. sour cream & other condiments). Use your best judgment on this or put up a note out to the group to get some feedback to make your decision.

Rotation: It was decided that we would rotate the type of meat that we each do month-to-month. So if you had chicken last month, you’d select a beef or pork recipe the following month, and so on.  That is to try and keep the cost somewhat balanced and to give us some variety too!

The SWAP: At the day of the swap, please bring your prepared meals, cooler(s)/Ice (if needed), clean copies (for everyone) of the recipe you made, cost break-down per bag of food, if you kept track, 2-3 other new recipes to review, and some snack and/or beverage to share that night (a little toasting of our success and a little visiting can be a bonus!).

When: We are going to try to meet on a monthly basis and decided to try the 3rd Wednesday of the month, every month at 8pm, we may adjust our meeting time/date occasionally. We’ll also discuss the following month’s menu. 

Participation: We decided that it would be best to require that each participant come to a “first meeting” before participation begins. Then you can jump in at any time after that. If our groups becomes too large (a great problem to have!), we’ll just split off into two groups and replicate the meals for each group. i.e. If we have 12 people participating, we’ll split into two groups of six and each group will do the same six meals.

Group Name?: Name selected!  Crockstar Mamas!!

**Note content subject to change as needed**