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Roasts, hams, stews, spaghetti sauce, ham and beans, beef ribs, corned beef, roasted chicken. In spring/summer meats get sliced up for sandwiches, salads, pasta salads. I'll do a couple of different veggie or pasta salads up for dinners during the week. Potato Salad, German Cucumber Salad, Green Bean Salad, Tuna Salad, boiled eggs.
A batch of chili, a tray of lasagna, meatballs and sauce, A tray of macaroni and cheese, add some seasoned cooked ground beef and you have cheeseburger Mac. Pork roast, Roasted chicken, meatloaf.
I always make enough for at least two meals, and freeze the second one. Favorites are spaghetti sauce, chili, beef stroganoff, moussaka, meatloaf, chicken Dijon, ham tetrazzini, American Chop Suey.
I love the "out of the freezer" nights....all the goodness, but zero effort.
Most weekends, I stick a chicken in the crockpot with some water & garlic & thyme. I pull the meat off the bone and save that, and recook the bones & scrap in the broth for another 1-2 hours to get every last bit of goodness. Strain the stock and save it for adding to other dishes/gravies or for soup, and use the pulled chicken for chicken salad, enchilada filling, chicken pot pie, chicken al a king (I need to make that again -- it's been awhile), etc. A nice roast is another thing I'll do on a weekend, then slice for sandwiches, stir fries, stroganoff. Sometimes I use the weekend to do a huge batch of hamburger meat & chopped onions and garlic to have as a base for other dishes, such as chili, spaghetti sauce, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage, baked ziti, and so on.
I have been looking at slow cooker meals that you can prep in a gallon bag and freeze. The directions say thaw for 24 hours then cook. The issue is they would need to start cooking midday when nobody is home, so I thought about using a light timer so that it can turn itself on at the right time. Then that raises the question of how to make sure the meat is okay sitting out for a couple hours, or could you cook from frozen for 10 to 12 hours which would time better.
I wouldn't thaw for 24 hours -- I'd pull it out of the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge. It won't thaw much in that amount of time. Then I'd stick it in the crock in the morning.
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