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Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes Cookbook Review

December 13, 2012 by Katie Wells
slow cooker freezer recipes cookbook
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • A Real Food Philosophy for Real Life
  • Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes Cookbook+−
    • How it Works
    • What I Like
    • Where to Find My Favorite Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes Cookbook
  • Alternative to Plastic Bags

I’m a big fan of slow-cooker meals, especially in the fall and winter. I think it’s a great way for those new to a real food diet to feel less-overwhelmed and more confident in their ability to make nutritious meals. Slow cooker freezer recipes are also ideal for working moms, homeschooling families, or really anyone who is busy (and who isn’t?).

Further, I’ve always been intrigued by moms who are able to pre-prepare a month of food (or even a couple of weeks) at one time and not have to do any other food prep during that time. Unfortunately, all the programs I’ve seen for this involved grain based foods or pre-packaged foods like onion soup mix or pre-made sauces so they weren’t a good fit for me.

A Real Food Philosophy for Real Life

What first caught my eye about this particular cookbook is its commitment to using real food ingredients. I didn’t have to worry about purchasing the cookbook and only being able to use a handful of recipes that fit our family’s diet. When asked about her nutritional philosophy, Stephanie says:

I have a friend who is a local Weston A. Price foundation chapter leader and she introduced me to Nourishing Traditions and all the concepts. As soon as I read the book, I knew I had come home. I knew deep in my belly that it was right and everything I had ever heard before was baloney.

She adopted a real food lifestyle, but quickly encountered her biggest hurdle:

Finding time to do make everything from scratch. My slow cooker freezer meals I have come up with have opened up lots of time for me, but as a working mother, it is still very hard. I would SO pay someone to make me yogurt and broth each week, so I don’t have to!

Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes- for easy and budget friendly meals without the effortI can completely relate to the struggle of finding the time to plan, prepare and cook real food in the midst of busy motherhood, which is why I’m so thankful Stephanie created a fantastic resource of nutritious recipes that are stress-free and kid-friendly.

I guess like all inventions, it came out of my hour of need. After my daughter was born I was bound and determined to figure out a way to put healthy, real food meals on the table every night. I am not a good cook, so I need to find something that was very easy for me. I have always enjoyed using my slow cooker and one day the light bulb went off about assembling the meals into plastic bags and then freezing them. Then the day I want to cook my meal, I just dump the contents of the bag into my slow cooker and dinner is done. It takes me about two hours to chop and assemble 6 meals.

Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes Cookbook

The great news is that Stephanie has done all the hard work for us. She compiled a wonderful cookbook of meals that can be prepped ahead of time, stored in the freezer and then literally just dumped in a slow-cooker to cook during the day.

How it Works

Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes is formatted so that each recipe makes two meals (for a family of 4-6) and there are shopping lists that correspond to each recipe so shopping is easy too.

For those with special dietary concerns, the dietary information is included for each recipe, and there are even printable labels for each recipe. The recipes are completely free of grain, dairy, legumes, and corn and are all GAPS-approved.

Review- Back To School Slow-Cooker Freezer MealsBefore a new homeschool year begins, I usually make double batches of about ten of her recipes (so 40 meals total). I’ve brought these to friends or doula clients who have just had babies (or friends who are sick) since they can be made whenever needed and can store easily if the person already has other meals planned or delivered. These are also great for days that I am out with the kids and need to have dinner ready when we get home.

What I Like

I’ve made a lot of meals from this cookbook and, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the Ginger Cranberry Pork Roast. I also especially liked the Honey Apple Chicken Stew and it smelled great while cooking. Leek Beef Stew was also really good; and while I never would have thought to use peaches in a slow-cooker, the flavor of the Peach Pot Roast was delicious! Here are some other recipes included:

  • Pork and Butternut Squash
  • Sesame Honey Chicken
  • Parmesan Chicken
  • Chicken Chili
  • Polynesian Chicken
  • Cilantro Lime Chicken
  • Beef Veggie Soup
  • Cajun Shrimp
  • Ginger Beef
  • Cilantro Lime Shrimp
  • Cumin–Cinnamon Beef Stew
  • Ginger Cranberry Pork Roast
  • Opa’s Empanadas
  • Summer Veggie Soup
  • Thai Chicken Curry
  • Penelope’s Carrot-Ginger Soup
  • Healing Chicken Soup
  • Chicken n’ Cherries
  • French Dip Beef Stew
  • Orange Beef Stew
  • Cranberry Chicken
  • Moroccan Lamb Stew
  • Italian Beef
  • Flank Steak Fajitas
  • Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken
  • Stephanie’s Goulash
  • Chicken Curry

I also like that the recipes are budget-friendly. It’s easy to add extra veggies to stretch the meat if needed. The spice combinations are flavorful but easy, so there is no long list of ingredients to purchase.

Where to Find My Favorite Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes Cookbook

From Your Freezer to Your Family- Slow Cooker Freezer RecipesFrom Your Freezer to Your Family is available here in its most updated format. It also include two bonus cookbooks inside: From Your Garden to Your Family (a guide to growing and preserving your own food) and Gluten-Free Grain-Free Baking (for those who love to bake but don’t want to use refined sugar and white flour).

If you are a fan of slow cooker freezer recipes and need some variety, or if you are new to slow cooking and don’t know where to start, this cookbook is a great solution.

Alternative to Plastic Bags

An awesome tip I learned from this cookbook is the use of Neat-os plastic bag alternatives. We don’t really use plastic bags, but I had just stores previous recipes in other ways in the freezer, but these re-usable bags are much easier to fit in the freezer and much more eco-friendly.

Do you use a slow-cooker? Have you ever bulk prepared meals before? Share below!

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Category: Reviews

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder and CEO of Wellness Mama and Co-Founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a wife and mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

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Reader Interactions

Discussion (15 Comments)

  1. Danielle

    January 18, 2016 at 9:51 AM

    This is so great!! We have been searching for freezer meals and have had the same issue. It’s so hard to find recipes that aren’t full of condensed soups, grains and beyond.
    I notice that it says the cookbook is no longer available in e format, I clicked the print format and it wasn’t available there either.
    Do you have any other crock pot freezer meal cookbooks you’d suggest that’d be great for those first months at home with new little ones?
    Thanks so much!

    Reply
  2. Tracy

    January 16, 2016 at 10:18 PM

    So disappointed the cookbook is no longer available!

    Reply
    • Cindy

      February 25, 2016 at 10:25 AM

      yes I just realized that as well, disappointed!

      Reply
  3. Victoria

    March 17, 2014 at 12:44 AM

    Question. I am not sure if the book says this, but are there certain types of freezer bags that you would recommend to store the meals in the freezer?

    Reply
  4. Bella

    February 18, 2013 at 11:35 AM

    Please forgive my ignorance, but is a slow cooker and a crockpot the same thing? Also you mentioned on another post about one without lead leaching. Are there others that are safe? I’m not sure I can spend 50 right now. thank you!!

    Reply
    • Wellness Mama

      February 18, 2013 at 12:02 PM

      Yep… same thing and there is a lot of controversy about if there is lead in other brands or not, but I wouldn’t worry too much if that isn’t in the budget…

      Reply
  5. Melissa Martin

    December 17, 2012 at 1:51 PM

    Hi. Looks interesting thanks. But I have been seeing things here and there about lead being leached from slow cookers. It is kind of killing my enthusiasm for broths. I don’t know where to go for the truth. Thought you might know. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Wellness Mama

      December 17, 2012 at 2:05 PM

      From the independent testing I’ve seen, this one is supposed to be lead free: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AO2PXK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001AO2PXK&linkCode=as2&tag=wellnessmama-20

      Reply
  6. Michelle

    December 13, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    I went out and bought the cookbook on your recommendation. I’m upset to see that the majority of recipes in this cookbook contain legumes. I do not eat legumes, and you condemn them on your website and have stated that you rarely eat them. There was no mention in your review of the heavy reliance on legumes. I feel this is irresponsible of you to be promoting this cookbook when you take such a stand against legumes.

    Reply
    • Wellness Mama

      December 13, 2012 at 3:47 PM

      I’m sorry for not mentioning that in more detail in the review. I just omit the legumes and replace with more veggies, but I can see why you are upset. I will make sure to go back and add that to the review for clarity. I’m sure she’d probably refund the book if you aren’t satisfied, and if not, I’d be happy to refund it myself via paypal…

      Reply
      • Michelle

        December 13, 2012 at 4:08 PM

        Thank you for the response I really appreciate it. If I can sub veggies in for the legumes I’d like to keep the cookbook as the recipes do look very tasty. What veggies and how much do you sub in?

        Reply
        • Wellness Mama

          December 13, 2012 at 4:50 PM

          Since we are also on GAPS, I keep things like butternut and other winter squashes pre-chopped in the freezer, so I just add those in place of the beans. Cabbage also works great but has to just be added in the last hour or so.

          Reply
          • Michelle

            December 13, 2012 at 5:47 PM

            Perfect thanks!

    • katlin

      February 3, 2015 at 7:21 PM

      What is bad about legumes? I was thinking they are a great alternative for grain free! :-/

      Reply
  7. Erin Stratton

    December 13, 2012 at 12:07 PM

    I will definitely be checking this out! It is such a struggle to find slow cooker meals that don’t have a ton of processed junk in them and are grain and dairy free.

    Reply

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