40 + Easy Recipes for Crazy Busy Moms You’ll Want to Really Use

During the homeschool season family life is busy.  I want to be prepared in as many areas as possible. One of those ways is to prep some meals for quick and easy recipes. One of the ways I’m going to be doing this is by using freezer dump recipes. 

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Another way to be ready for meal time is to be prepared with ingredients for slow cooker recipes. 

There are so many recipes available these days on the web, weeding through them can be intimidating. I’ve been looking for a few weeks and as I’ve been shopping and pulling together freezer meal packs and easy recipes.

I kept track of the recipes here. You know I’m not much of a meal planner, so having easy to prep recipe ideas in one location for me makes my life easier.

I know many of you are looking for quick cooking ideas too, so you can manage family meal times with ease, especially during those extra busy days of co-ops, sports, Bible classes, music lessons and library visits. Which is why I’m sharing this recipe roundup with you.

Easy Recipes by Categories

Breakfast in the Crock Pot Recipes

You know sometimes you wake up in the morning and have just a brief time to get yourself dressed, make sure the kids are dressed and rush out of the house. But breakfast is the most important meal of the day! And, while you probably are used to just a quick cup of coffee, your kids probably need a bit more, most likely, you and your husband do too. That’s why I gathered some fun crock pot breakfast recipes that you can start at night and have ready when you wake up.

1. Crock Pot Blueberry Casserole – Recipes that Crock
2. Crock Pot Breakfast French Toast – The Gardening Cook
3. Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole – Spend with Pennies
4. Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls – Hugs & Cookies
5. Slow Cooker Veggie Omelet – Diethood

5 Easy Crock Pot Side Dishes

Slow cooker recipes abound. But sometimes you need a good side dish to go along with the main dish. When you are running here and there and yonder sometimes you want to come home and have everything completely done. If you use a second crockpot for a side dish, you can do just that. I’ve gathered a few here and wanted to offer more than your typical roasted potato variations.

1. Cowboy Beans – The Two Bite Club
2. Crock Pot Parmesan Ranch Mushrooms – Food.com
3. Crock Pot Rice Recipe – Eating on a Dime
4. Slow Cooker Glazed Carrots – Who Needs a Cape
5. Slow Cooker Hashbrown Casserole – Stockpiling Moms

Be sure to check out my 9 Soup Recipes for Winter as well.

10 Links to Easy to follow Freezer Meal Recipes

Because sometimes, we need to have our meals all prepped before we leave the house, I wanted to share with you some places to discover the art of Freezer prepping meals. Below you will find recipes that allow you to prep ahead by putting all of your ingredients in a freezer bag. Then it’s a simple matter of throwing the ingredients from the bag into your slow cooker for quick and easy meals. 

1. 4 Chicken Dump Recipes – Busy Mommy Media
2. 5 Beef Dump Recipes – The Chaos and the Clutter
3. 5 Chicken Dump Recipes – The Chaos and the Clutter
4. 5 Freezer Meals – Six Cents
5. 6 Freezer Meals – 5 Survive the Drive
6. 6 Healthy Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes in an Hour – The Seasoned Mom
7. 40 Meals for 40 Nights Under $200 – Hearth & Holm
8. Baked Ziti Freezer Meal – Six Sisters Stuff
9. I’m Just a Dump Cook – A Cultivated Nest
10. Teriyaki Meatballs – Fabulessly Frugal

5 Freezer to Crock Pot Soup Recipes

A soup, any time of the year, can bring a satisfying meal to the table. But these meals are even easier because they are all crock pot soup meals. If you keep a loaf of crusty bread in the freezer, set out to thaw when you start the slow cooker, by dinner time, you’ll have everything you need for a delicious, fulfilling meal.

1. 6 Crockpot Soup Freezer Meals – New Leaf Wellness
2. Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup – Garnish with Lemon
3. Crockpot Chicken and Noodle Soup – Cooking Classy
4. Loaded Baked Potato Soup – The Recipe Critic
5. Sweet Coconut Butternut Squash Crock Pot Soup – Super Healthy Kids

Easy Crockpot Recipes

I don’t know about you but I don’t like to eat the same type of meat every day of the week. That’s why I gathered a collection of recipes using a variety of meats.

1. 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup – A Future and a Hope
2. Crockpot Bacon Mushroom Swiss Chicken – Recipes that Crock
3. Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin – Laura’s Sweet Spot 
4. Crockpot Chicken & Stuffing – The Cozy Cook
5. Crockpot Maple Brown Sugar Ham – Life in the Lofthouse
6. Crockpot Orange Chicken – The Frugal Girls (Note: This could easily be turned to a freezer dump recipe)
7. Slow Cooker Lamb Stroganoff – Recipe Girl
8. Slow Cooker Beef & Broccoli – Cooking Classy
9. Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef – The Recipe Critic
10. Slow Cooker Peach Salsa Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes – Foodie with Family

5 Elegant Dinner Crockpot or Freezer Meals

Let’s face it, casseroles and crock pot meals aren’t always fancy. While they are often comforting and serve as great family night meals, they aren’t necessarily ones you would want to serve to guests after Sunday worship. So, since I’ve been trying to be more hospitable and encourage you to do the same, I wanted to find some elegant dinner ideas that also work well as freezable crock-pot recipes, making for easy prep for Sunday after worship hospitality, or for those times when I have a swamped day but still want to entertain in the evening. 

1. Citrus Teriyaki Chicken – Coffee with Us 3
   This is a prepped freezer meal that you can GRILL. Perfect if you are hosting a backyard party. 
2. Crock Pot Chicken Marsala – Moms with Crock Pots
3. Crockpot Pork Roast with Apples & Sweet Potatoes – Amy’s Cooking Adventure
   Perfect for a simple, yet elegant fall meal. 
4. Lemon Garlic Chicken Dump Recipe – One Good Thing 
   Serve with a side of Rice (Use a quick cook Rice cooker for quick prep) and a pan of brownies (or blondies if you have chocolate allergies) for dessert. 
5. Slow Cooker Braised Short Ribs – Baked at Midnight 

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Tips for Making the Most of your Slow Cooker

• Slow cooking in a crock pot can make meal planning and prep easy. But it can also make for clean-up woes. That’s why I like to use Slow Cooker Liners from Reynolds. These liners fit easily inside your slow cooker, allowing the food to cook, but once you are done and ready to clean up, you can simply pull the liner out and throw away. Voila! You’ll have a clean crock pot. 

• Another quick tip about liners. When prepping freezer meals that will be heated in your crock, put the ingredients inside a crock pot liner first, secure top with a twist tie, then put inside the zip bag for freezing. It will make it easy to line your crock pot.

• Keep more than one slow cooker in your home. You can cook a roast in one with a side dishes in another.

• Because a slow cooker is basically an oven, you can set a small casserole dish inside. Sometimes I will place foil wrapped potatoes for baking in the bottom of the pot and then set a small round casserole on top with a second side, such as those mushrooms listed above, then place the lid on top.

Cooking meals for your family can be overwhelming or it can be a rewarding experience. When you do a bit of prep ahead work and utilize the kitchen tools that make cooking easier you might discover that cooking for your family can be a rewarding experience. You’ll also soon discover that preparing freezer meals ahead of time, makes the rush of a busy day, seem so much simpler when you arrive home to a warm tasty dinner. It can save you money because you won’t be eating out as much, and if you purchase your necessary ingredients during peak sale times and prep those meals accordingly you’ll discover you’ve saved on grocery expenses too. 

Keep All of Your Recipes Organized with these Beautiful Options

• Recipe Book Binder
• Recipe Card Dividers
• Shabby Chic Recipe Box
• Recipe Journal

What are your favorite easy recipes? I’d love for you to share a link to your faves in the comments below and tell me why it’s a great fit for your family.

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