Freezer Cooking (Recipe 1) - Terriyaki Chicken

While this is my first attempt at maintaining a blog, I have always had the itch to share my secrets in one place...And have my friends share theirs!
The first few entries are all about freezer-to-crock pot cooking, also known as "dump cooking." I cannot take credit for the idea, since I owe it all to my most current obsession, Pinterest.

I recently got married (well in April 2012 - I think it still counts as "recently") and was having a hard time managing work, exercise, and cooking for 2 (one of which is surprisingly p-i-c-k-y and its not me!) all in the same evening. Several of my friends offered suggestions for recipes and even a meal planning guide (which was a great idea, thanks Kate!) I continued doing research when I came across these crockpot recipes that are the ultimate time-saver.

The basic idea of "dump cooking" is you take a few hours to prep as many meals as possible (cut up all your veggies, meat, etc)...then dump all the ingredients for one meal in to a freezer bag (including meat, in most cases) and voila! When you are ready, you thaw your meal, then throw it in the crockpot and let it do the busy work.

A few tips:
-I buy the meat in bulk at Sam's Club...or when there's a good sale at the grocery store. I usually buy the canned foods at Walmart where they are normally cheaper and my produce usually always comes from Publix (just a pet-peeve!)
-I use latex gloves when handling the meat and stinky onions....a trick I learned from my cooking teacher, Mom :-) I don't have to touch the raw meat, nor does the scent of onions linger on my hands for days after!
-Use a pitcher to hold your freezer bag as you 'dump' all of your ingredients in the bag. So easy and clean.

I have tested a few recipes and have had mostly success. The first I will share is very simple. Are you ready for the directions?!

Terriyaki Chicken

Ingredients:
bag of carrots (frozen or from the produce section)
red onion (chopped in large chunks)
1 green bell pepper (chopped)
pineapple chunks with juice (canned works)
garlic (~2 tsp minced)
1 cup terriyaki sauce
~4 chicken breast chicken breasts (of course rinsed off)

Directions: Dump everything in to the freezer bag. On bag, write "add 1/4 c terriyaki sauce to crock pot. Cook low 6-7 hours". Serve over rice. (See I told you it was simple!)

Now for the pictures. The following is a sort of timeline showing how I spent my 2 - 2 1/2 hours prepping for ALL of my meals. 

Step 1: Label all bags with name of meal, crock pot instructions

Step 2: Cut up all veggies

Step 3: Chicken from Sam's cut up (because the pieces are usually pretty big)

Step 4: Using pitcher to hold bag, start fill bag with ingredients, including chicken

Step 5: This is what you will end up with

Step 6: Throw everything in the freezer!

Step 7: Clean up! You might end up with a sink like this, but I promise it's worth it - and hey, all of this can be recycled :) 

 Happy cooking!!