Have you ever wished you could make enough slow cooker dinners to last for weeks, so you can just let it cook, while you enjoy time with your family each night?
Each Meal Feeds 4 People And Costs Less Than One Family Member’s Meal Out!
Let me introduce you to the…
What better way to help you survive and thrive the busyness of life than with a 20 Meals for $150 plan that is made up of all “Gluten Free Slow Cooker Freezer Packs” where you can assemble EVERYTHING in less than 2 hours!!! I actually videoed the entire assembly process for you…
- To prove that it takes less than 2 hours to prepare 20 meals. The videos are 1 hour and 50 minutes long…and there is several minutes of me mumbling. And maybe doing a happy dance at the end 🙂
- So that you can follow along as you assemble your bags! I didn’t want you to feel alone in your slow cooker freezer pack assembly efforts…I’ll be right there with you in the kitchen!
- Plus exclusive access to the assembly video instructions is available in the complete package, details below.
As Seen on NBC’s Today Show
Bringing $5 Dinners to the world has been so much fun and one of the highlights was being on the Today Show last year. The best part has been the reaction from people who have told me how much time and money I helped them save. It’s why I continue to work hard to bring you great recipes and fantastic meal plans!
I’m often asked about my slow cooker…I use the 6-quart E-lume from Crockpot!
OH…and BTW…this plan is also GLUTEN FREE! 🙂
Let’s get to it, shall we?!?
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Slow Cooker Freezer Plan Ingredients & Price List
Meats
1 6 pack boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 6 lbs. (12 total breasts) – $20.99
1 6 pack boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 6 lbs. – $21.31
1 15 ct chicken apple sausage – $13.99
1 package stew beef, about 4 lbs. – $15.04
1 package pork chops, 8 count – $15.44
Produce
1 8 lb. bag white onions – $6.59
1 6 pack peppers, multi color – $6.49
1 5 lb. bag baby carrots – $5.49
1 8 lb. bags sweet potatoes – $5.99
1 15 lb. bag gold potatoes $7.99
1 5.5 lb. tray of apples – $7.59
1 24 oz. box of sliced mushrooms (optional) – $3.69
Freezer/Pantry Staples
1 5 lb. bag frozen corn – $5.99
1 12 pack of chicken broth, 16 oz. each – $9.99
8 pack diced tomatoes, 15 oz cans – $6.29
8 pack black beans, 15 oz cans – $6.79
2 pack BBQ sauce – $5.99
Total – $161.96
Leftovers
BBQ sauce, 1 + ½ bottle – $4 worth
4 cans black beans – $3.39 worth
Frozen corn – $3 worth
6 boxes of broth – $5 worth
about 4-5 lbs. potatoes – $2.67 worth
2 onions – $1.50 worth
= $19.56
Estimated Cost After Leftovers $142.40
(with a few dollars left to get the coconut milk & rosemary from the grocery store!) You will also need 20 Gallon Size Freezer baggies, or other plastic containers or baggies.
Recipe List
Each pack in this plan is DOUBLED. So these 10 meals make 20 packs total! Each pack serves a family of 4. Larger families or families with bottomless pits (also known as teenage boys!) can double or use 2 packs for 1 meal!
- Slow Cooker Chicken with Apples & Rosemary
- Slow Cooker Pork Chops with Apples & Sweet Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chicken Curry
- Slow Cooker Italian Chicken
- Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken & Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Sausage, Peppers, Onions
- Slow Cooker Italian Stew Roast
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken & Sausage Stew
Did you know that I’ve developed a super cool software that will allow you to create your own Costco plans?!? Click to learn more!
Before you go….
- Check out the complete series for the original 20 Meals for $150, using ingredients from Costco.
- You can check out each one and order as many as you need – each one is a different set of recipes, shopping lists and instructions!
If you have issues with the download, PLEASE EMAIL ME! I’ll be able to help you out!
Leah says
Hi, my hubby thinks this is a great idea and it sounds like it, but could you direct me to meal plans that are plant based? We eat a 90% vegan diet. (and I cook pretty elaborate meals) so my hubby is hoping I will streamline some things this fall due to our busy schedule. Thanks!
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Hey Leah,
I don’t have a vegetarian or vegan version of these plans…yet! 🙂
Erin
lisa says
Here’s another vote for a veg*n version of these plans. I’d love to see that!!!
Helen says
I’m a vegetarian/vegan and would love to have a version of these plans to suit my plant based lifestyle. 🙂
Helen
RJ says
Add another vote!!
Tammy says
I would also love a vegetarian plan. We do both, so I will be getting these now and looking forward to the vegetarian ones as well. Thank you!
Chelsea says
I, too, would buy this in a heartbeat – even if it meant 4 servings of 5 vegetarian dishes. It seems like none of the meal preparation services cater to the vegetarian community. We are definitely out there!
dawna says
I agree, waiting for the Veg meals.
Michelle says
I too would love to see a vegetarian version of this. It would make my life so much easier since I go to university and am in my 40’s!
Alice Klobukowski says
Me too. Need version that could be vegetarian or better would be pescatarian (fish, seafood, dairy and eggs).
Diana says
I will toss in my vote for a vegetarian option, if you ever develop one! I would definitely jump on board at that point. So please keep me in mind.
Nicole says
Happy Herbivore has fantastic meal plans. Not freezer plans but simple delicious plant based meals that can be made quickly.
Savannah says
I’m wondering how many this feeds? We are a family of 6.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Hey Savannah!
It could be that you’ll need to add the leftover potatoes to the potatoes meals to make those a little bigger, or you might need to make 2 packs at once…depends on the ages of your kids! We have 6 as well and we can usually get by with a pack along with a small loaf of bread, or some brown rice cooked on the side.
Hope that helps!
Erin
sherralynn arnold says
We also eat more of a plant based diet. Also, wondering if you have actually prepared and eaten these recipes exactly this way. I have wasted hundreds of dollars and countless hours with deals like this where the meals are gross.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
We eat them all the time! 🙂
Erin
Julie says
Hi Erin, I am looking forward to a plant based Gf version- and working on it myself! 😉
Janet says
I can’t eat corn! Do you have any acceptable substitutes for your recipes? I’d love to try them but see from your pic that a few bags have corn.
dona navarro says
You rock! Thank you for making meal planning so easy!!!!
M Moore says
I just paid for package #1 and it won’t download. Can you email me please.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Hey there! Please email me at 5dollardinners at gmail dot com, so I can get you your file!
Erin
Terri Hinton says
I am excited to try these recipes because it will make life so much easier.
Karens fritz says
Will you ship to Australia?
Jenn K says
Karens, We don’t ship any food or meal plans. We just provide the recipes and ideas for you to make your own. 🙂
charlene says
Hello! We have a family member allergic to coconut milk. Can you think of a good substitute?
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
You could whisk some curry powder in with a cup of broth and then pour into the bag/slow cooker. Coconut milk has such a powerful flavor, but I think you could pull this curry off without it!
corina says
It downloaded but no file opens. ..
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Can you email me at 5dollardinners at gmail dot com and I’ll help you out!
Erin
Kelly says
This would be wonderful if you did this for vegans!
Anna says
Package #1 won’t download for me either. Can you help? Thanks!
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Please email me at 5dollardinners at gmail dot com!
Erin
Sandra says
With the freezer meals, do you need to thaw in advance or do you put the meal into the slow cooker frozen? If you thaw, how long does it take to thaw?
Jenn K says
Each recipe has the complete directions on them (on the printables you can purchase and on the recipe links themselves) for further clarification.
roxanne says
I would also be interested in a plant based version!
Heather says
What about weight loss plans too?
Roberta says
I am a little confused at what to order. You have so many buttons and when you click them they show up with different titles. I thought the whole batch of recipes was GF, but it looks like there is a special button for GF? And then there are buttons after the explanation of each plan…how is that different from the buttons at the bottom?
Deeauna Schyt says
I agree with Roberta, I guess I was confused on all the buttons as well. I clicked on package 1 thinking that was what I needed then after paying the $5 figured out that there was also a Gluten free button that cost an additional $1.49, so I bought that as well. Now I am kind of confused:-/
Jenn K says
All of the recipes on this post are gluten free, Deeauna. The two different printable packs offer different information, but they both come with the complete Costco (and pantry/grocery store) shopping list and all 10 full recipes.
Deeauna Schut says
I accidentally misspelled my last name on above comment in case you needed to look into my account info!
tawny says
Do not see salt or sugar content? I have to eat a very low salt diet.
Thanks.
Tess says
You choose your salt content. So, leave it out completely or add as much as you want to each meal. The only ingredients that are going to add salt is the broth, tomatoes, and sausage (that I can think of).
Karen says
Was wondering how much space is needed to store all 20 packs, it’s a bit hard estimate. Thanks!
jen says
Do you have to freeze first? And do the pork chops and sweet potatoes not need liquid to cook?
mo says
I could make 20 PB&J’s in about 20 minutes!! What!!
nancy says
If you’re really concerned about my budget – which is horrendously minimal living solely off a disability check – why would you charge me a fee for your recipes? 🙁
RejoicedOver says
We are a family of 7 living off of one income, so I can in a sense relate a bit. However, I wanted to mention, in case you hadn’t noticed, that the recipe list, shopping list (both included on this post) and recipes are all available for Free right here (just click the recipe name in red to take you to the actual recipe). It just takes a little more time to hand write (or print) the list and recipes. I know for me, I’d love to have it all together in one printout (and the small fee here is not too much for all the time and energy put into creating this list, recipes, cost breakdowns and posts), but sometimes I have more time than I have money, so I just pull up each one and note it down on paper. Hope that helps.
Jenn K says
Nancy, all of the recipes are available on the site free of charge. Just click the links for each recipe title to access. Thanks!
Monica says
Like Leah, we are mostly vegan (we still eat fish, but no eggs, no dairy, etc.) and we’d love a vegan version of these plans. Even something with “cheese optional”, or dairy substitutes, because we do use a few of those. So if you ever get that going, please let me know! 🙂
Sarah says
My son is allergic to tomatoes; anything with any tomatoes including barbecue sauce. It is very hard to cook for a family of four with one having a tomato allergy and he loves tomatoes, so it is even harder to substitute just for him because he knows what he is missing. I noticed a lot of the recipes have a form of tomato. Do you have any substitution ideas for tomatoes? Before I buy the slow cook gluten free (which I love the idea of) how many of the recipes require them??
Leah Courtney says
Thank you! We aren’t Costco members, but just the recipes and shopping lists are amazing. It’s football season with two of our kids involved, and it’s been impossible for me to think of a way to cook supper. This works great. 🙂
Anatolia says
Erin,
This is my first time to your site, and I’m SO excited! Gluten Free! Crock-Pot freezer meals! Shopping at Costco! All of the arduous hours of recipe hunting, figuring out the ingredients that “overlap,” list-making, and budgeting, all DONE, for just $1.49! The download buttons were easy to see, and all the pages downloaded without a problem. I’m looking over the directions now and the recipes look delicious. I might have to come back and get the video tutorial! Thank you, thank you!
Susan says
Seriously, you vegan people…. If you want a vegan recipe maybe you shouldn’t be looking at a recipe site that isn’t vegan? And then complaining that it isn’t vegan and doesn’t address your various allergies and food preferences? Does she need to put a disclaimer? These recipes are for people who eat meat and don’t have allergies…. If you don’t eat meat or if you have allergies to certain things, maybe these aren’t for you. If you can’t eat, like corn, maybe you can figure out a different ingredient, like say peas, that you could replace it with all by yourself.
Justin Hildebrand says
Thank you Susan! I was thinking the same thing… Especially the corn comment?!? Peas, carrots, edamame, garbanzo beans…. Are people that incapable of thinking for themselves? And I agree that it would be nice to see these recipes for vegetarian diet but as a vegetarian it would seem that you could figure out how to insert say tofu, mushrooms, eggplant, sweet potatos, beans… into your recipes for the animal proteins that are listed. And let me just say thank you for all of the folks that find some personal flaw with what you have accomplished here.
Michelle says
I agree. I freak at the thought of how much time, energy, and initiative it took to create these menus only to have them torn apart. “We are vegetarians, so can you please allocate another 20 hours or so of work to tweak them to my exact specifications and save me the hassle of doing this myself?” That is basically what they’re saying. This a primer, a guide, an EXAMPLE. Substitute as you need to all by yourself. If you are on a restricted diet by allergies or choice, you’re more educated on its specifics, anyway — do your OWN work.
Li says
What about factoring in the cost of the spices used in the recipes?!? All the recipes use spices, yet your total dollar count/shopping list doesn’t even include them. Kinda misleading, as they’re obviously an additional cost.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Not trying to be misleading! You can read more about that here: https://www.5dollardinners.com/costco-faq/
Margie Morrissey says
This is awesome – thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us .. and including the instructions for taking from freezer to put in crock pot when ready.. we are just two of us at home now, I’m going back to teaching in 2 1/2 weeks and my husband is just retired. I’m going to put these together for him to put in crock pot and I think I can likey make up the recipes and divide in half and have 40 recipes rather than 20… that’s a bonus..
Thank you so much for doing the planning for us.. and for those with allergies etc.. you know what your child can and cannot eat.. make exchanges based on that!
Bon Appetit everyone!!!
Emma says
Hi there I just purchased the $5 package but it won’t download/open on my Kindle. No computer. Could you email it to me? Thank you!!
Brooke says
Fantastic idea! Thank you for sharing! My husband is celiac and allergic to beef. Any recommendations for substituting the beef in the stew?
Beth says
I may not be the site owner, but I would think lamb would make a good sub for beef stew (though probably pricier)
Anne M Hughes says
Hi Erin! This looks like a great way to do things for little to no large investment; and I thank you so much for that! That said, I’m clicking on the link for the Regular #1 plan and it comes up as $1.49 when I believe it says that it is $5.00. Also…. do I need to add the gluten free link when I buy the Regular #1 plan? Thanks! I can’t wait to get to gathering and bagging!
Sydney says
I noticed that you ask for a 12 pack of chicken stock. Costco sells Better than Boullion in a jar and it makes 19 quarts of broth and lasts in the fridge for over a year. I don’t remember the price, but it’s around $10 I believe. Plus it’s gluten free. I just thought it might be a bigger bang for your buck to add to your grocery list! They usually have veggie and beef broth too. And it takes up way less room that 12 boxes!
Carolyn Hinkle says
Hi Erin, I love this idea,but we are near Sam’s, not Costco. Do you know if these slow cooker meals can be replicated shopping at Sam’s?
Kim in AZ says
Erin has several Sam’s Club shopping plans if you look on the right hand side of your screen. She also often will take the same list and price compare / adjust it to both warehouse stores if you give it a little time for that to happen (I think they usually are 2 weeks apart to allow time for visiting the other store). Or, you can take the list to Sam’s Club yourself and probably find almost the same ingredients with small price variations. 🙂 We are members of both warehouses (Costco and Sam’s) and I compared one of the lists Erin had earlier and found them almost exact on pricing – just a few variations for region. Hope that helps!
Crystal says
I’d love to try your GF meal plan! I was curious to see what you recommend as a substitute for corn, I cannot eat it and I would love to know what you think would work instead? Thanks so much! Also, I am new to your site…..do you come up with different GF meal plans every month with different variations? Thanks so much! I will absolutely purchase a plan once I hear back from you! Excited to get started!
Lenore says
Are these heart healthy? My husband recently had a heart attack, and we also need to cut out the sodium. Would these meals be suitable for him?
Halli Sell says
I just tried buying package 1 and I cant get it to go past the shopping cart… any suggestions?
Jen Larson says
Thank you so much for this! It looks super easy to follow and even though we aren’t Costco members, I’m sure Aldi is similar in pricing. I Will definitely keep a lookout for a vegetarian option, my BIL is GF and vegetarian and we would like to invite him over for dinner but I’m clueless when it comes to gluten and plant based diets!
Rachal says
Erin,
Hey there. I know you’re getting tons of questions, but I have another for you. I am totally interested in this, but our daughter has a major corn allergy. I was wondering, do all or most of your meals have corn? I’d pay to download, it just would not make sense of we can’t use the recipes. Thank you in Arabs Wee for your time! 🙂
Kim in AZ says
You can click on each recipe listed individually to see the details of each recipe. Then, if the lists suits your nutritional needs, you can buy the plan for the formatting and simplicity of everything on a few pages instead of separate links. You *do* have this option though to preview each recipe – just a few more clicks of your computer to open each recipe individually.
Rachal Robinson says
Thank you Kim in AZ!!! 😀
Jael says
I’m allergic to salt, pepper, work and onions. Do you have any suggestions for me? ha ha, just kidding. People are amazing!
I am so impressed with the work you have done and the resources you are offering for free. $5 is so little to pay for so much of the time you have put into this. Everyone, take a chance and pay it! You probably spent that much on a Latte this morning!
Have a great day and thanks again!
Karen Jo Kolstee says
Hi ! Love, love, love the quality work you put it to this. Purchased package #4 by paypal immediately and liked it so well that I went right back and purchased the Gluten free one as well as the Plan 1 and Plan 2. I printed out the gluten free pages but now I can’t figure out how to go back and find the plan 1 and plan 2. I then went back to paypal but it only has the receipt for payment but no way to print them out or even look at them. Please send me these by e-mail if you can as I have paid for them by paypal. Thank you so much !
Rita says
Can the cooking directions for each recipe be printed on Avery stickers? Do you know which one they would fit on?
Karen Jo Kolstee says
Oh No ! Please ignore my previous post…….Flipped over to my e-mail and there were the links for Plan1 and Plan 2. Duh here, Hope I am better in the kitchen than I am at the computer LOL. By the way have I somehow missed a Plan #3 ? Thank you again for putting the packet together. I know it will make my life easier !
Dee Costa says
Funny, I don’t see Erin getting twisted about the NUMEROUS requests for veggie/vegan meal plans…maybe we should let her speak for herself, hmmmmm?
Jenn says
Hey, just a note for those who are incensed at the many questions–
Remember that not everyone grew up in a household where overall awareness of how to cook was a simple part of life; I know a lot of people who can only cook by following a recipe to the letter, and several more who only ever “cook” prepared foods or eat out. What to some is common sense, to others is this big hairy mystery. I also have friends/family who call me with questions like “omg, do I have to peel beets before I roast them?” because they think I’m the guru on this stuff–If I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, I quietly get on google while they are explaining the ins and outs of the question, and tell them what I found, and they go, “oh, thanks, that’s great!…hmm, guess I could have tried google first, sorry to bother you…”
Internet crowd sourcing is a great way to get answers to questions, and I for one am glad people are asking the questions rather than ordering a pizza. Cooking can be so easy and frugal when you know what you’re doing, I’d love the world to ask as many “dumb” questions as it can think of, because it’s the best way to learn the overall theories that make the answers self-evident, you know? (And not everyone buys ridiculously pricey Starbucks coffee–not everyone can, and not everyone would want to even if they could.) No need to shame people for not being in the same place on the journey as you are.
And I too think plant based plans would be an awesome idea–most vegans, I think, know how to do the necessary substitutions to turn veg into vegan (and if not, well, there’s Google), but the world as a whole could use to eat a little less meat, and I know I am always looking for things to slip by my meat loving spouse that won’t have him feeling all deprived by the absence of a big hunk of animal protein on the plate.:-)
Great site, and really inspiring recipes! I’ll try some of these out as soon as we “eat down the freezer” enough to make room for them. 🙂 Thank you for all your work!
Amy says
I just wanted to say that I love this comment. I feel bad for people that have to deal with their kids allergies and are just looking for suggestions that work in a recipe. Not all veggies taste good in all recipes. I mean I would hate grean beans in a tortilla soup and would probably sub a different type of canned beans (black, pinto or kidney) for the corn. But someone that hasn’t made recipes like this might not know that and are just trying to figure out what would taste good with the particular recipe. Or just putting out a cry for help.
Bill says
When are we going to see the vegan meal plans. I’m curious for that
Jocelynn De Hart says
Hi, i just downloaded what I thought were your gluten free recipes and unfortunately received a different meal plan is there any way you could email me the correct plan, thank you, J
Chris Middleton says
Do you have a vegetarian menu (W/O tofu)?
Bev Wylie says
People may want to pay attention to getting organic & non GMO ingredients. May cost more now but avoid health probs later.
Mike says
Proof that GMO causes health problems? Blogs and news sources don’t count. Peer reviewed science or gtfo.
Rob says
Way to come in and be an ahole mike.
Sheryl says
How is he being an ahole anymore than she is?
Bruce Benjamin says
Rob, you seem to be the only one here that really fits the insult.
Rafal says
You people do know what ‘gtfo’ means, right?
Its not Rob who started being rude here.
Ian says
I agree with you, Mike, that GMO in no way harms health. People seem to think we are the DNA that we eat??? That makes no sense. That being said, the GTFO makes people ignore the intelligent part of your post.
Bev, discussions on organic/non-organic, pesticide free, fair trade, GMO, etc. don’t really have a place in this forum. Tell people to consider making the meals with organic ingredients and leave it at that. People can decide on the own if organic and non-GMO are worth it and whether or not they are a benefit to their health. I am not attacking you and I am not against organic food. I buy organic myself sometimes.
Cindy says
No offense Mike, but I have to agree with Bev. GMO ( genetically modified organisms) is NOT something that I want to eat. If you eat enough of GMO products, you will start to feel it. I’m not saying that it CAUSES health problems, but it definitely is not good for you. To me organic is the way to go.
Tony says
Her you go Mike. 10 scientific studies that prove GMO’s can be harmful to human’s:
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/04/08/10-scientific-studies-proving-gmos-can-be-harmful-to-human-health/
Sandi Suchey says
How about vegetarian or vegan meals?
Cyndi says
Im with Sandy. Vegetarian ideas???
Sherri says
Proof? If you have faith in God, no scientific evidence has been offered, then what scientific proof would you need? We should be eating the food that he provides. The Real stories are the ones Monsanto and other companies say; one of them being feeding starving people. All I see is really fat people and starving people, so it’s not working. I don’t care if I am wrong and GMO and pesticides are fine for me; chancing my families health until it is proven to be bad is stupid. I already know that “organic”, which is just real food, is fine because we have a study of history to show us.
BG says
Sherri, just because something is “organic” does not mean it does not have pesticides. It just means that the allowed pesticides are derived from plants, and in many cases are actually more toxic than synthetic pesticides. Just because something is “natural” or “organic” doesn’t necessarily follow that it’s good for you. Poison ivy, arsenic, rattlesnake venom and poison sumac are all organic, but I wouldn’t want them in my food.
Kat says
Are you saying there is still arsenic in organic chicken? Any facts to support this?
Elena Varela says
Keep your religious thoughts and values to yourself. We all have different values and religions. Hence what make us Americans. I guess an education is also missing in some
Zeri says
You do realize the irony in telling someone to stop talking about their values/religions, don’t you? Just because it’s not a value you reflect means they’re any less entitled to it. I’ll gently suggest that when you encounter what you feel is ignorance, you offer to educate. Makes it better for everyone.
Patricia says
How RUDE! You need to grow up and be kind. We are paying for services so comments are ALLOWED! This is a business and a product.
Do you even see your own RUDENESS?
That should be stopped.
Patricia says
to be clear – Elena is Rude not the other person
Kal says
You don’t eat non genetically modified food anyways. People have been selectively breeding crops for thousands of years, everything you buy in a grocery store, or seeds you buy for a home garden, has had its genetics manipulated by humans in some form. You’re going to have to go out into the wild and forage if you want to eat food the way your god created it.
Michelle says
I just downloaded Costco regular plan #2 thinking it was all the slow cooker receipes and shopping list….but it’s for other receipes (only 3 are slow cooker). Is there a link to the shopping list and all the slow cooker receipes? Thanks
Michelle says
Oh nevermind…. I found it. 🙂
Tess says
I completed this yesterday, ended up with 22 meals! It was my first time doing a large batch of freezer meals and I am so glad I chose this route. It would’ve taken me weeks to plan everything out. Instead, I signed up, printed the shopping list, and hit Costco all before noon. FYI, my costco doesn’t have bags of frozen corn so I chose the canned (which was about the same price). You could buy two cans of corn at a grocery and bring down the cost even more. Also, get your freezer bags at Costco!
I will definitely be doing this again. Thank you!!!!
Mary says
I tried yesterday & today to buy the meal plan but PayPal won’t accept either of my credit cards. Help!
SV says
I would so do this if the meals were non-gmo, organic, and vegan.
Brad says
Just print out the recipe and eat the page it’s printed on. You get all three then,
Windy says
I would love to do this as well IF the recipes were vegetarian/vegan friendly..
Gypsy Queen says
You could easily replace the meat in the recipes with portobello mushrooms, tofu, beans or anything else that you’d normally sub for meat if you wanted to make them vegan/vegetarian friendly.
vki says
All sound simple & wonderful!
Marci says
These look delicious other than there being meat in them. I am a Vegan as well and I would love to have a Meal plan like this for my Vegan lifestyle 🙂
Gypsy Queen says
You could easily replace the meat in the recipes with portobello mushrooms, tofu, beans or anything else that you’d normally sub for meat if you wanted to make them vegan/vegetarian friendly.
Leesa in Oregon says
These recipes sound great! But I was wondering if you would be creating a vegetarian version of the plans?? We don’t eat beef but do eat fish and chicken on occasion. Thank you!
alysha says
if you people are vegan/vegetarian/organic than use a website thats is made by people who are also vegan/vegetarian/organic. I doubt this woman has time to go do this all over again just because you can’t alternate the recipe yourself… figure it out.
eric says
Exactly. People with self-imposed special needs never fail to require everyone else to cater to those needs.
Ami says
I doubt this woman has time? This is her business and it’s making her money. I’m sure she wants ideas and feedback on what she should put out next. Vegan and vegetarian options are a viable marketplace. Simmer down.
JOELLE says
I clicked on Plan #1 and received just the recipes and shopping list even though I wanted all of the printables. It looks like both buttons are for the same thing. I hope that I can figure it out!
RockatanskyZ says
Just because something is gluten free does NOT make it healthier.
Only people that suffer from a gluten intolerance should be looking at gluten free diets.
Alicia G says
Gluten free subs are not necessarily more healthy, but grain/gluten free without all the subs *is* healthier regardless of gluten intolerance or not.
Ginger says
I have “bottomless pits” teen boy affliction. Have you experienced this problem? They currently would each eat about 3 of your servings. Wondering if gluten free (higher protein) recipes may be more filling… spend a fortune feeding my boys plus the friends 3 or 4 times a week. Have you thought of using the rostisery Costco chicken? I think it is the best chicken deal.
Hugo says
Agreed, for 4.99$ on a 3lb beast of a bird, no brainer! Our local Costco has started selling vacuum packed rotisserie meat (42oz I believe) for 11.99$. Excellent for wraps, salads, sandwiches, munching, etc. Also, 4.99$ for a pack of 8 rotisserie thighs.
Ok. I think it’s time for a snack!
Stephanie says
How do we purchase the plan? When I click on add to cart, it brings me to Paypal website. Once paid, how will the recipes get to me?
Jenn K says
The recipes and printables will be emailed to you using the email you provide during check out (or your Paypal email), Stephanie.
Erin says
Where do the instructional videos appear? Are they sent in an email?
Jenn K says
Erin – you’ll find the instructional videos on the $5 Printable Pack upon purchase!
Alysse says
I made this last night and halved the recipes (to feed two people), so I had 40! Great plans. I was wondering if you have any others to make like this in bulk? I tried to search, but unfortunately couldn’t find them. Thanks!
Sara says
It wasn’t clear to me that there were different plans, so I ended up with 2 plans – one of which I cannot use, since I have to eat Gluten Free (I actually have Celiac). Maybe it would be good to make it clear that there are different plans so people don’t end up purchasing they don’t want/need/can’t use before they buy things. Very frustrating!!
Diana says
Is the site suddenly fixed? It’s 11:45 am 8/16 (11 hours later) and I see three plan links, one of which says “Costco Gluten-Free plan”. I’m also interested in checking this out, but don’t want to buy the wrong thing.
Sara says
OK….downloaded a second plan that says it’s all gluten free, which it is, but what I really wanted is the one that is talked about on this page – the gluten free slow cooker meals. That’s not what I got. Why on earth would you not have the plans on the page link to the one that’s being talked about? I realize I’ve only spent $3.00 at this point, but that’s still $3.00 on plans that I DO NOT WANT!!!!!! Please, PLEASE, link to the plan that you are CURRENTLY talking about so I can actually purchase it! Thank you!
Kimberley Y says
Just like the other Vegetarians and Vegans I would definitely purchase. It’s an awesome idea! Thanks in advance!!
Deb says
Hi! I am so excited to do this today! I used to own a meal assembly business so am very familiar with this concept and have a ton of recipes. I am going to do your crock pot plan today. Wondermg if you have a second set of crock pot meals or if you will soon?
Deb says
Also, do you have other freezer meal plans that are assembled, put into the freezer then cooked later?
Jennifer says
Hi there 🙂
I’ve just purchased some of the plans and noticed that a lot of them call for potatoes, which has me a bit concerned since raw potatoes don’t usually freeze very well and can go bad. If anyone on here has already prepared the slow cooker freezer packs, can you please tell me your experience with freezing the potatoes?
Thanks 🙂
Doris lassiter says
My husband can only eat chicken or turkey and I have food allergies (soy, oat, corn, and peanuts.) Also only allowed 2000 mg of sodium daily. Fixing dinner at our house is hard because soy and sodium is in everything. Any ideas for us?
Chris says
It won’t let open the download…frustrating
Ellen says
I’d really like to try this but I live in the UK, and I know for fact Costco here does not stock a lot go the ingredients on your list. Any suggestions?
Lucy says
I wish you could create a vegetarian version.
I do eat fish on occasion. Thank you!
cindylou says
Thank you so much for doing this, I really appreciate all the hard work. I am going to try this and make the necessary adjustments/substitutions for my family that I need to. I’m hoping that others that need to do that will post what they came up with also.
Charlotte Wainwright says
I would love to a vegetarian option!
Or even a mixed option maybe half meat half vego?
Megan says
Is a 6 qt crock pot recommended?
Allie S says
How do those carrots come out? After I freeze and cook carrots they turn into complete rubber. Am I doing something wrong?
Jeannie says
My family doesn’t like sweet potatoes. Would regular potatoes be an ok substitute?
Christina Dishman says
The shopping list calls for 1-6 pack of chicken Breast, around 6 pounds. However, I’m counting 8 chicken breast to complete all the meals. Am I doing something wrong?
Amy says
It’s referring to the Costco 6 pack. Which is about 6 pounds. At Costco the chicken breasts and thighs are sold in plastic packs that you can separate into 6 separate packs.
Shanan says
I found I came up short on the chicken too and needed to prep one recipe without any chicken and a note to add some come cooking day. I purchased 1 6-pack of chicken breast and 1 6-pack of chicken thighs. I used only 2 chicken thighs each when the recipe said to use 2-3.
Kate F. says
Thank you SO SO SO much for doing this! I cannot wait to do this next month for my big once a month shop at Costco. 😀 This is such a blessing to me! (I’m completely new to the whole elementary school parent thing -twins going off to Kindergarten- and I can tell this is going to save me. 🙂
Jennifer says
Does anyone know if the food prices are similar here at Canadian Costco?
Sara says
I just made the freezer meals and found the prices comparable. I spent $135 in a Canadian Costco and another $15 approx. at the grocery store. I ran out of chicken and couldn’t make one of the recipes – the chicken might be packaged in smaller portions in Canada.
Sharon says
Less meat, please! Put me on the list for a vegetarian (or at least 80% meatfree) package.
Melissa says
Check Costco for coconut milk! I go to two different Costco locations (work and home) and they both sell coconut milk!
Jennifer says
Do you have any vegetarian meals? Or can you substitute something for the meat? If not have you though about doing this in the future?
Mandy says
So I actually have a legit question and concern. I purchased this plan but did it on my iPad. Now I can’t download it and I need to know how to retrieve it from my laptop but it only directs me to purchase again. I would like to view it and then print it at work. Please let me know ASAP
MollyMommy says
Wow a lot of people looking for vegetarian stuff while others worried about freezing potatoes or carrots. And others worried about three bucks spent on the wrong download.
And “the good old days” had kids on bicycles riding in and out of cropdusting pesticide clouds, for fun.
sdfarmgirl says
Mollymommy- you crack me up! I was thinking the same thing.
This was all made to help us make our busy lives easier and have home cooked meal to save a buck, but it has become something else.
My parents taught me if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all. To each their own- no need for all the rude comments just because someone’s beliefs are different than your own.
Molly says
Should I be buying red or green apples? And how many apples are in a 5.5oz tray? I’m not a Costco member but I’d like to try this at my store.
Molly says
Thank you so much for posting this! I’m very excited to try these recipes and start saving money. What kind of broth should I be buying??
kristin says
Two hours my ass! It took my husband and I three and a half to do this. Not bad for 20 meals, but definitely not two. I’ll post again once I try a few of them…
Kathy Dyche says
This sounds really good and would make dinners a lot easier.
Janey Thompson says
It’s not a Costco brand! Isn’t anyone else concerned that they are USING the COSTCO name? All she is doing is buying food from Costco, and packaging in ziplock bags, in her un-inspected kitchen! Ok, I think I’ll go to Walmart, buy cheap food, and say it’s a Costco product while me and my kids assemble “meals” in ziplock bags on the kitchen table. Be careful out there, it’s called false (illegal) advertising.
Karen T. says
She’s not selling the packs — she’s selling the recipes and instructions on how to make your own packs with food purchased from Costco.
Steve says
Janey,
Way to accuse this person of illegal activity. She doesn’t claim to be Costco, nor is she shipping food to anyone. Reading comp fail. Who let you out of MySpace, troll?
Tess says
any thoughts or plans to do something like this with a vegan theme? If so please please email me so I know; me and about 20 of my vegan friends would be on it in a minute!
Kristin in Oregon says
Just hit the grocery store and Costco for this! I was able to beat most of the listed prices at my local WinCo, but bought the chicken and stew meat at Costco. HOWEVER, the stew meat was close to $5/lb, and the pork chops ended up being the cheaper of the two (in the video she says the chops cost the most). My local Costco was also out of the peppers and sweet potatoes, so I’ll be back to Winco this evening 🙂 I didn’t bother price checking everything at Costco against what I already paid, but my total is $113 so far. The sweet potatoes were around $1.48/lb and peppers $1.19 each, so my final will be around $130. Thanks so much for these recipes!
Shanan says
I just did this batch meal prep yesterday. I’ve done several and this has got to be the easiest one I’ve ever done! It did take me more than two hours, however I had to take lots of breaks due to high temps outside and no A/C inside. 🙂 Doing this in cooler weather I could see getting through it quicker.
I haven’t watched the videos, so I don’t know if she suggests this, but I found that using my apple peeler/corer/slicer allowed me to get through all 12 apples in less than 5 minutes (and it was fun!).
Thanks so much!!!
Joshua says
I’m single with a busy schedule, so these crockpot recipes sound like a great save for me time-wise (and money-wise). However, I realize an issue for me could be whether or not I have enough space in my freezer. My fridge is one of those models that just has a couple of shelves of freezer space on top. Does anyone know if I could fit all these in there? If not, is there an option where I could only purchase groceries and prepare about half of the meals? That would probably be ideal. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Billie Jean says
Hi! I just want to let you know – I bought and printed out the Costco Grocery Plan #4 and the Sausage is missing from the shopping list! I see it above ^ on the list, but it’s not on the printed version which might mess someone up on their shopping trip.
Billie Jean says
I stand corrected ! I expected Italian Sausage so my eyes skimmed over the chicken apple sausage. Whoops! Sorry!
Jenn K says
No problem! Glad you found it, Billie!
A Morgan says
I love this idea!! I’m just wondering if you would possibly put together a vegetarian plan for those of us who don’t eat meat. Thanks!
Jennifer D says
Hi there, I’d be interested in vegetarian meals as well!
Linds says
me three for vegetarian!!
Shannon says
Me four! 🙂
Laura Spear says
me five!!!!!
Erica says
I was just about to say the same thing! Yes, would you please? This would be great as we don’t eat any meat either. 🙂
Bob says
Count me in on the vegetarian one too Erin – while I am still a carnivore, I am trying to cut back and having some great vegetarian options would be awesome!
Jen says
I would also love a vegetarian plan. I could then mix and match for my meat eating family and myself who doesn’t eat meat. 🙂
Zarah says
I would love a vegetarian – or ideally vegan – meal plan too (our family has dairy allergies). The hardest part is the organization. Just bought your Costco plan and wish for more options that follow your planning format 🙂
Raymond Magno says
I dont get it. Your website says these are 5 dollar meals and the promo comes as 20 of prepacked meals for only $150. Well simple arrithmetic $5 x 20 = $100. Is this just a typo and you meant for $100 or are you yrying to pull a quick one on those who have poor math skills.
Crys says
If you look at the FAQ they says if you break down the math it’s techincally 7.50 a meal but not all of the food you buy will go into your 20 meals you will have some left overs for other meals.
The other reason it is list as $5 meals is because you buy her pre-made list and instructions for $5.
Jenn K says
Not trying to pull a quick one. Definitely read our FAQ section to help clarify the prices, Raymond.
D Hall says
Raymond, don’t forget that each meal is 4 servings in these recipes. So 4 servings times 20 meals is 80, and $150 / 80 comes out to about $1.88 per meal per person. Not bad!!
Jan says
These meals look great! I can’t wait to try them! I did notice that the diced tomatoes with green chilies was left off the ingredient list for Slow Cooker Spicy Sausage and Peppers meal. How many do I use? Thanks!
Jen says
You do not list the brand of chicken broth you used. Most broths DO contain gluten, and in my experience, so do most sausages, including the Costco brand ones. Many BBQ sauces also contain gluten. These items are not safe for Celiacs.
Joan says
Most sausages no longer contain gluten… check again
Melissa says
Hi Jen, I was diagnosed with celiac almost seven years ago. The Pacific name brand has gluten-free chicken broth and Costco also sells Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce (also gluten-free).
Tracey says
Are these American prices or Canadian? The prices look a little low for Canadian $$.
Jenn K says
Tracey, our prices are based on American stores, specifically Texas. Your prices are likely to be higher.
Amanda says
This is the best thing ever!!! Please please please do more freezer pack stuff! I spend so much money eating out because our family doesn’t have time to cook a meal at least 3 times a week and this has pretty much solved the problem! I really look forward to more of your freezer pack menus!
AnneMarie says
I love this so much!
I bought the full plan, went shopping and made these yeaterday, and cooked the first one today.
The relief at not having to do anything to make dinner other than dump a bag was amazing! (BBQ Chicken was AMAZING) And we have leftovers!!
Are there any there any other freezer meal plans you have that I missed?! Would love to get those too!
Susan says
Just finished with all my bags! Woo Hoo! Curious how they will all taste since most have similar if not same ingredients-I’m sure after reading reviews it will be fantastic though. We are a family of 5 so I think we will be doubling up on the bags per meal since 1 chicken breast and 2 thighs is not enough meat for all of us. I was also confused about the quantity of meat…..on the costco list it says about 6 lbs of thighs but the packages at my costco were actually 10lbs which made me think we’d have extra meat to add in, but we were actually 1 thigh short and only used two per bag:( Same with the chicken breasts. The costco packages are a 6 pack but I think there are 2 per pouch which makes the 12 you need. However this list said 6lbs so I bought 6lbs at Albertsons instead ( it was half the price that week) and had to cut each breast to get enough. So our 1 chicken breast was actually a half of one. I got most of my stuff at costco but like I said I went to other stores and got only the amount actually needed for the BBQ, tomatoes, chicken broth, and corn because it was way cheaper with that weeks sales. Thought I would have saved money but it still wound up being exactly $150 so I’m glad that I went that route so I wasn’t over. I did however have to spend an extra $20 on the other ingredients not listed until you buy the plan because I didn’t have most of them on hand. Honestly though, all minor details! I love the idea and think it’s amazing that she has it all laid out so easy and simple. It will be great to not have to worry about dinner. Very glad I did it and can’t wait to start trying them all!
Jen C says
I too was short on chicken so I couldn’t make a couple of the meals. Luckily I had a couple frozen breasts in the freezer to make the other meals but it seems like more chicken is needed to make all the meals
Corinne says
I was wayyyy short on chicken. My picky family only likes thighs, so I doubled the amount of thighs (I thought) and I still ran short. What I did for those bags was to mark them “add chicken” so when I pull one out I’ll know to add a package of chicken to the crock pot too.
Erin H says
I noticed the peppers are short too. I used all 6 then needed the pepper & onion blend or the 2 peppers per recipe for the sausage & pepper one.
Sarah says
I noticed the same ~ I wonder if it was actually supposed to be 2 packs of peppers instead of 1? I just divided them up among the packs that needed peppers and figure it will work out anyway 🙂 The chicken tortilla soup is in the crockpot right now, and it smells awesome!
Corinne says
I had bought extra peppers for a different reason, and wound up using the ‘extras’ too.
Janet says
My hubby was just diagnosed with Type II diabetis. Would love to see the carb counts per serving in the recipes — and would love to see some plans specific to diabetics. Even if it costs a bit more than your $5 plans, it would be worth it.
Shelly says
I am Type 2 diabetic and would be interested in diabetic friendly recipes as well. 🙂
Cynthia says
Try using sparkpeople.com, put your recipe right into “groupings” under “my nutrition” and it will show you carbs, protein, much more, and all free! 🙂
Jen says
Is the chicken supposed to be bone in or boneless?
Erin H says
I did boneless. Much better than attempting to find bones in a slow cooker amidst apple slices, onions, etc. but I would think you *could* do bone-in and just make sure it cooks a bit longer until it’s cooked through.
Jen says
Thanks, I had the same thought about the bones. It just didn’t specify so I thought I would get some opinions. I also am buying the ingredients at the Commissary on post because Costco is 1 1/2 hrs away. But pricing is comparable!
AmyP. says
I’m trying to buy the package for Costco gluten-free freezer packs. I clicked on the link and purchased package 1, but it sent different recipes than the one listed on this page, and no video assembly link. Please help. I’ve already purchased all the food and I’m ready to assemble. Thank you!
clare foxcroft says
These meals are basically healthy but you say nothing about spices on your menus. If you are using store bought spices you are adding msg, fillers, GMO products, gluten, possibly nuts,soy, high sodium and many more things you can’t even pronounce. I don’t know if you are in the USA or Canada but most stores do not have healthy spices. Epicure is one company in Canada that carry healthy spices and spice mixes, they are the only company in Canada that is in the process of getting their spices GMO certified, over 100 so far. If you are doing cookbooks maybe you should consider using healthy spices.
Sarah says
All of the spices in my cupboard are healthy, no fillers. I get some from frontier and the rest from our local HFS or bulk food store. The only one that could potentially have fillers and msg and such is the taco seasoning, but she recommends using homemade (I used Simply Organic brand)
Tammi says
Thanks for filling me in on the spices. I am trying to serve mostly organic (just starting) and really hadn’t thought about changing spices!
Lindsay says
Thanks so much for putting this together I really appreciate the price break down to see exactly how the money is divided out. I’m sure it was a lot of work! Our family will give it a go this month and I’ll try to remember to come back and let you know how it went 🙂
My only concern is freezing the potatoes, I’ve had bad experiences in the past with that (black and nasty when they thawed). Did you parboil the potatoes at all? If not, how did you keep them from going black?
Thanks again.
Amie says
What kind of potatoes have you used? I have only ever frozen red potatoes, but they have thawed and cooked up perfectly.
CloHD says
Have you considered doing this for paleo friendly meals? I am really interested in this idea but strict paleo. Do you think this is something you might consider?
Karen says
It would be great if you did not add corn as an ingredient. It has no nutritional value and is very hard to digest. There are other frozen vegetable available that are much better for your health.
Sarah says
Corn has plenty of nutritional value 🙂 If you prefer not to eat it, it isn’t a big deal to leave it out of the one recipe, though 🙂
Denise says
Over 90% of the corn in the US is GMO, so we don’t use corn. Good to know it’s only in one recipe. This sounds like an interesting plan.
Paul P says
This may be a dumb question, but do I put only the ingedients in the crock pot or the whole freezer bag (with water or something?)?
ronda says
I was wondering, can a pressure cooker be used in place of crackpot?
Liz says
I would think that a pressure cooker could NOT be used with the recipes as written.
Pressure cookers cook the food at a much higher temperature than a crock pot. Many recipes for pressure cooker say to cook part of the food for so many minutes, then reduce pressure, add other ingredients (like more delicate vegetables), then cook for more minutes.
I think that if you added the entire recipe to a freezer bag and you defrost it and put it all into a pressure cooker, you’d wind up with some very mushy vegetables.
If you don’t have a crock pot, check thrift stores for a very reasonably priced one.
Diane says
I will be trying to convert some of these to pressure cooker..I love mine & have found that I have been using it a lot more then my crock pot recently. I got the Pressure Pro, so it does self timing & also self regulating of temp. I will comment back after a few runs!
Krystle says
You know looking through a lot of these gluten-free meal plans I’ve noticed a lot of loopholes where gluten is present.
BBQ sauce
Tomato sauce
Canned tomatoes
Frozen Chicken breasts
Frozen chicken thighs
Chicken sausage
Frozen corn
chicken broth
All of these products frequently contain gluten byproducts or gluten in the preserving ingredients.
Things like, “natural flavoring, spices, ice glazing, broth,” etc. can contain gluten and often do.
The only way to know if you are unsure is to call the company that makes the product, buy items that list only whole ingredients not chemicals or that say certified gluten free. Like Birdseye frozen steamers list two ingredients, (corn, water) that’s it.
I was really surprised about frozen chicken.
Walmart sells a product from forester farmers market “individually frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts with rib meat.”
All of the other brands had gluten in them for the broth and ice glazing.
Just be carefull when stating something is gluten free. Unless every product at Costco that you buy is gluten free, I doubt you can call it a gluten free meal plan.
I will be trying this plan myself to save money and time for my family of five, but I will probably be spending more money because of the actual gluten free options.
My middle DD and I are gluten free, dairy free. My oldest is dairy free, and my son has no food issues. I cook gluten free and substitute dairy products for soy, almond, coconut products.
I hope this helps someone.
Melanie says
I just went shopping for the ingredients in the Costco meal plan. The chicken thighs and breasts that match her description/price were boneless skinless and were in saddle bag packaging. This isn’t the bulk pack from the frozen section–it’s over by the fresh meat. It is from Gold Kist farms and only says it contains water from the chilling process. Nothing else. The chicken apple sausage says “gluten free” on the package, as does the Kirkland organic chicken stock. (Yes, I realize her shopping list says “broth,” but the stock matched her volume/package size/price, where the broth did not. I just figured it was what she meant.). The two-pack of Stubb’s BBQ sauce was gluten free. The Kirkland Signatue organic diced tomatoes didn’t have any funny ingredients listed and they appear on the safe list of several GF bloggers. I just haven’t confirmed it myself. The Watt’s Brothers organic frozen corn has only “super sweet corn” listed as an ingredient.
I hope this helps!
Sarah says
I was going to say the same ~ my oldest is GF/DF, my youngest is DF, and I am DF. This meal plan is awesome, and we had no trouble ensuring that the ingredients were gluten free! The only thing we didn’t find were the chicken apple sausages (the ones at our costco had gouda in them, which won’t work for us) so we subbed the italian chicken sausages.
Joy McMillan says
Is there a calorie count for these recipes included? My doctor wants me to lose weight and keep a journal of all foods and their calories that I eat. It would be awesome if there is a nutritional breakdown. All these recipes look delish and I believe my husband would enjoy them as well. I’ve heard many good things about gluten free diets and am eager to try these meals.
Devon says
Track that yourself. Download an app like My Fitness Pal. You can look up whole foods as well as brand name things and restaurant meals for calorie counting……..
I love how everyone wants her to do this and that and this and that. She can’t please everyone. Geez.
Sabina says
Thank you Devon!The next request will be if she can cook them for us.
CloHD says
Would you ever consider doing this for paleo meals??
Jen M. says
I love this idea as well. Anything that I can make ahead, stick in the freezer and then cook in the crockpot is really a huge time saver. Thank you for putting these together. Now maybe you would consider doing a vegetarian crockpot meals list, that would be awesome!
Katie says
K, I’m a bit lost… I purchased the $5 plan which is supposed to have all these labels, and access to the video. When I purchased it though, it only gave me a pdf with the recipes. I’d really love to watch how you assemble them! Help!
Tracie says
I’m in the same boat as Katie. I bought the package with video access, but can’t find it. Please help! I already have the ingredients!
Lisa says
Me too…I just bought & downloaded the first plan & I can’t figure out how to watch the videos either. What else am I gonna do on a Friday night? =)
Jen says
can potatoes be substituted for sweet potatoes in these recipes? My family doesn’t like sweet potatoes…
Mel says
I want to do this too. I would think that the regular potatoes wouldn’t take quite as long to cook, but otherwise should be fine. I plan to just cut them a little bigger to help with that issue and use russet potatoes. I hope it works. Good luck to you.
Krista Singleton says
I was trying to purchase the $5 Costco Slow Cooker Freezer meal plan and the Sams’s plan too but for some reason when I downloaded them I files I received are basically the same meals. I didn’t receive the slow cooker freezer meal plan. I’m going to try again…
Chelsey says
These are awesome! I bought everything yesterday. My Costco had no yams so I had to get them at the store. The meat here is more expensive than in Texas. I spent $173 on everything after the extras. I am one happy busy mom of 3. Thank you so much. It took me about 3 hours to put together with the kids.
Tera says
I put these together yesterday it went great and came together very smoothly except the onion situation. I cut up the 5 onions in prep, but quickly ran out of them when assembling. I ended up cutting about 5 more. I wondered if I messed up and used too much in my first bags, until I went and looked at all the recipes. The single recipes call for 5.5 onions total, and then since you’re doing 2 of each, that’s actually 11 onions that are needed. That’s a problem when you only cut up 5 in prep! Anyway, not a big deal since the bag from Costco had plenty. I was just confused about it and thought others might be also.
Tanya says
Oh my gosh. People are so rude. I am sad that I even came and read the comments, I should have just left my comment and gone on my merry way.
THANK YOU so much for putting so much time and effort into creating this menu plan and sharing it for such a low price. I am very grateful and I can’t wait to assemble the bags later today. My son starts kindergarten in a week and I plan on making crockpot meals for the first few weeks, because I want dinner to be ready for him when he gets home. I’ve heard they are exhausted. This will make my life a lot easier, and I appreciate you!
Hockey Mom says
Started reading these comments and some of you are so rude and “nitpicky!” YOU NEED TO CHILL AND GET A LIFE!
Diane says
My husband works at Costco & now that our son is a bottomless pit (17y/o), I tend to shop there more..this is a great plan!! I will be making these ASAP!!!I recently got an electric pressure cooker (the pressure pro) & I LOVE IT!!! I have been trying to convert my crock pot meals to pressure cooker meals to save time & energy, plus if I forget to defrost I can still put the food in it to cook & it only takes about 1.5 hrs!! I will comment back on how that works out when I do this!
Shauna. Roberts says
I appreciate all your time and effort pulling these great recipes together. I would like to read some of your previous recipes also, if it is possible.
Again, thank you for making life a bit easier for the rest of us.
Becky Gallion says
My question is do you know how many calories is each meal ?
Jenn K says
Becky – we don’t have that information at this time. However, you can easily enter the ingredients into a free online nutrition calculator to find out!
Debbie says
What a great idea for working mom’s !! Good for you!
Jill says
How do I watch the videos? I purchased the $5 plan but can’t figure out where to find the videos. Thank you!
Jenn K says
The videos are linked on the $5 printable pack – on the assembly instructions page.
Darshana says
I would appreciate Vegetarian meals too, what a great idea thank you….
Maggi says
This worked out surprisingly seamlessly. I have a family of 5, but 2 are still small so I shouldn’t need to adjust for quantity. I bought everything at Costco and the total was on the money, then supplemented the extras from Giant.
Being my first time, it actually took me closer to 4 hours to assemble. But, with music playing in the kitchen and the kids out of the house at their first day back to school, it was fun.
Now my plan is to work on home organization throughout the month with little concern about shopping or what’s for dinner.
Thanks!
Malea says
For those who are looking for the video instructions, I was wondering the same thing!!! 😀 Look on page 8 of your printable pack if you purchased plan 1. It was on the the “Assembly Line Instrructions” page on the bottom right hand side of the page.
Amber Damko says
Love your plans! Although our Costco never has frozen corn, ever. : ( And even during the holidays I’ve never seen sweet potatoes there either.
Amy says
I would like some with out chicken I am allergic to it.
Darcee says
Thank you! I love this. I bought the ingredients and have been using the recipes. I have a family of 9 and it’s been 2 weeks and I still have plenty of ingredients to get through another week. This has saved me so much money
Elaine says
I’ve been trying these out, and they’re great! It took me closer to 3 hours to assemble everything, but it was my first time and I’m sure I’ll be more efficient next time. I’m a full time graduate student with a part time job and two school age kids, so I REALLY needed to eliminate “make dinner” from my to do list (while keeping it affordable). THANK YOU!
Jessica says
Is there any chance you could do a Paleo meal plan similar to this? I love thbidea of having meals all ready to throw in the crock pot!!
Chrissi says
I decided I wanted to try this, however we don’t have a Costco locally so I went to our local grocery store using your recipes. getting just what we needed (which included most of the spices) for just over $100. I usually buy a lot of frozen foods to feed my family throughout the week while at work, but something I can throw in the slow cooker and feed them for less is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing!
Tiffany says
I just bought this on my phone cause I’m on my way to Costco and I needed the shopping list, but my phone won’t let me down load. Please Help
Erin says
What is the corn for? I’ve got a five pound bag of it at the moment and didn’t give a recipe that calls for it.
Mandy Loriot says
I bought and downloaded several meal plans, and I see on the page above package one includes access to an assembly video (which I want to use because why reinvent the wheel?), and I’ve gone through Paypal and downloaded these several Costco meal plans, including the crock pot list, but I can’t see where this instructional video is. It may be because it’s 10am on Saturday and I haven’t had breakfast yet, but I’m not seeing it in the emails that arrived with download links (had no trouble downloading the PDFs) or on the page.
Please spell it out for me. Thanks! 😉
Amy says
I bought the package with the shopping list and assembly instructions, I think you’d be better off doing your own. There were alot of mistakes on the assembly instructions, I had to go back and look at the recipes to figure out what was going on. While it would take ALOT longer to build your own shopping list, it would be more accurate and easy to understand. I bought extra stuff that wasn’t needed just because of the way the shopping list was laid out.
But the recipes are fine, the ones I’ve tried so far are a little bland but perfect for the kids and the older ones and I just spice it up at the table with our handy assortment of hot sauces and seasonings.
Shelly S says
I’m looking forward to making these, but just went shopping and am really frustrated! My Costco didn’t have white onions, sweet potatoes, sliced mushrooms, or chicken broth. The only BBQ sauce they had was one giant container (and the first ingredient was HFCS, no thanks), much of the meat was more expensive (and not just a difference that can be explained by a slight weight difference), and a couple of the items came in different quantities (6 cans of beans instead of 8, 10-12 pork chops instead of 8). For the items that weren’t there at all, I now have to add them to my supplemental shopping, and if I was going to do that much shopping elsewhere I really should have bought half these other ingredients elsewhere too, where they are cheaper. I thought this was going to be time-saving and easy but it’s turning out to be anything but. I’m not sure it’s worth calling this a Costco plan…
Chris Anderson says
Every Costco is a little different. I had some of the same issues on onions, sweet potatoes and one other thing I think. I used yellow onions instead and then got the rest at Safeway (or Albertons dont remember which).
So it cost me I think $141 at Costco and $30 more at the store. So just under $175… More then the $150 to be sure, but all in all still pretty inexpensive when you divide it all out.
VixoDixo says
I’m SO glad I read your post. I’m a “detail” person person and I know now that it might be better to go to WinCo. I’m also thankful I read some of the other comments. I’m looking for a “step-by-step” instructional sheet and I need to know “chop x-amount of the onions, open the cans of beans, before assembly” etc. Thanks for your comments!
sara says
Even within one costco they dont’ always carry the same thing. Last night our local costco was out of bananas, for pete’s sake! We find a product we like and try to over buy it, as you never know what that particular thing or that particular groupings of things will be gone…
Shannon says
I’ve put all of these together and had no problem with the quantities working out. It would be great if the instructions covered all the bulk ingredients at the beginning (like: dice 12 oinions, open 6 cans of beans), or maybe that is included with the “Premium” package?
We manage to make these meals work for our family of 6, which includes 2 adults and 4 children (one of which is a teenager).
Thanks for all of your hard work.
Brooke says
For the meals that didn’t include any liquids (ie diced tomatoes or broth) do I not need to even add water for cooking 8 hrs?
Thanks for your help!
Chris Anderson says
No need to add additional liquid. Between everything in there, there is enough liquid. I have already cooked most of these without any additions.
Jessica says
I have found that some of them were really dried out. I cooked the chicken stew for 8 hours on low and the chicken was really dry, it definately needed more liquid. When i cooked the italian beef stew, i added a cup of water and it was still really dry. Today I am cooking the rosemary chicken and apples. I didnt add anything to it, but will go chekc it over my lunch break to assess. So far out of cooking 4 meals, i have found only that the tortill soup is edible and actually tastes good.
Jenn K says
Your slow cooker might be cooking at a higher temperature, so you may want to not cook for 8 hours. Check it after 6 hours or so and that should fix the dryness.
Julia S. says
I found that most of the recipes that involve slow cookers are off on the cooking time, yielding dry ot tasteless protein because all the natural juices were sucked out of it. No matter how much liquid you add. My solution was rather ingenious one. First you need a cheap slow cooker that at DOES NOT use a digital settings or timer. Then go to a store and buy an light plug in timer with multiple ons and offs on it. What I do is I throw everything in to the cooker. I set it to on low cooking and plug it in to the timer and that in to the outlet. My timers are set to start around 11am stop at about 4 and back on 530(to heat it back up just in time for me to get home) I have never had a bad meal since I used this technique. Good luck.
Alissa says
I’m looking for feedback. I may need to google individual recipes. I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth… I love the ease of pulling them out of the freezer, but my family is being super patient about how bland each and every one tastes. I’m no chef, so I’m looking to doctor up each recipe the second time around. (Because I still have 9 in my freezer!) I would so rather my family enjoy the meals and not just tolerate them. Heading to google them now.
laura says
I want to make the meals in double batches, because we’re a family of six. What size crock pot do you recommend to fit both portions in and would the time of cooking be different?
Cecelia says
I saw this and it is wonderful! I am actually going to try this myself…my own version. We have 13 in our family so would a double pack feed 13? We also live in Hawaii and most of the time we have a rice cooker full of warm rice which may make things stretch. Please email me back your answer as well as on here!
Jenn K says
Each freezer pack feeds 4, so adjust as you need to in order to feed your family. 🙂
Autumn says
Cecilia, wow! 13! That’s awesome. Do you have multiple crock pots that you cook from? Or have you found a really big one that works? Mine claims it’s 7qt, but really only hold 4.5qt (I measured one day). If you’ve found a really large one, I’d love to know what kind. We are a family of 7, about to be 8.
Loretta says
Be careful when you pick up BBQ sauce at Costco and Sam’s Clubs stories if you’re sticking to a strict gluten free diet. A lot of these stores stock Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and while the company claims they use gluten free ingredients SBRs causes a reaction for many people who are sensitive to gluten (either with allergy or Celiac).
Marlene says
Wow, this looks awesome! We’re not a *have* to eat gluten free family, but these look great! And loving that potential price tag on the total cost!
Nadine Law says
This maybe a dumb question …Can I actually freeze all the ingredients listed for the recipe in one freezer bag. I thought vegetables would have to be cooked or blanched prior to freezing.
Stacey Cheatwood says
Nadine, I’ve actually done some freezer crockpot meals before. You do not need to blanch or cook the vegetables. 🙂
Nadine Law says
Thanks Stacey! I’m going to give this a try tomorrow.
Sandy says
I went shopping today for all the ingredients. I found everything at Costco except for the sweet potatoes and white onions (I got yellow). I just pulled up your website to download the instructions, but I make the mistake of paying the $5 via paypal from my phone and I am unable to download the files from my phone. I want to get going on this, so I went ahead and payed the $5 again from my PC. Any chance I will only be charged once? Thanks! I am excited to give this a try!
Jen says
How much BBQ sauce should I add
Rachel says
I paid the $5 and received the shopping list and instructions. NOW, how do I access the video??
Jenn K says
The videos are on the assembly instructions page at the bottom of the $5 printable package.
Jessica says
I love cost Co don’t get me wrong but every thing on this list I could buy for less then half the $150.00 and not bat an eye. And experienced shopper could armed with a coupon folder.
Jenn K says
Absolutely! Feel free to use our meal plan and shop at your preferred stores. We’ve created these meal plans as one-stop-shopping for those those who do not have the time and/or desire to shop around for the best deals. 🙂
Joel says
Is there a vegetarian version of the 20 meal plan?
Jennifer says
Would also love to have substitutions for the meat. Beans I suppose!
Shella says
I would also love substitutions for the meat. Or maybe an additional meal plan just for Vegetarians could be made. Or there must be more than just Chicken that could be used. Chicken seems to dominate all recipes.
Wish you had fish ideas also.
Jenn K says
Feel free to change out the meat for your preferred choice. These Costco meal plans are geared for a one-stop-shop to get all the ingredients. And, because it’s Costco, the ingredients are sold in bulk, thus eliminating the ability to use recipes with lots of DIFFERENT protein choices. Adapt as you desire. 🙂
Maegan says
I just finished prepping and excited to use these meals when baby 2 arrives in Oct. Not much seasoning in some of the recipes so interested in the taste. Anyone have to add flavor? We are a Paleo family so it was easy to substitute – using cauliflower for the beans , zucchini for the corn, coconut sugar for brown sugar, and homemade BBQ sauce.
AJ says
These are great but not suitable for our family as we are vegetarians. Are you considering to do a vegetarian/vegan version of these? Thanks!
Amanda says
I paid the $5… I tired to down load the info but it didn’t work.
Amanda says
What do I need to do to get the directions?
Stephenie says
This is a great idea but would love to see it replicated as 100% Organic. Every ingredient listed, with the exception of the BBQ sauce is something our family will not eat unless it is organic. Our Costco carries Stubbs BBQ sauce and it doesn’t have HFCS.
kimberlee herman says
You could easily just buy organic versions, couldn’t you?
kimberlee herman says
This was wonderful! Cost Co did not have everything, but it was easy to get at Frys. I am pleasantly surprised that all the meals are really, really good! Thank you and PLEASE make more of these meal plans!
Jenn K says
Feel free to substitute organic products as you desire. 🙂
Jennifer says
Our Costco is just starting to carry more organic items, but it’s mostly meat and packaged goods, not produce unfortunately.
Jenny justis. says
I love the idea behind this but would love it even more if it was stored in reusable containers rather than the environmentally hazardous ziplock bags.
John says
Jenny, you can use whatever container you wish, no?
glenda says
Hi, so I tried this plan and purchased all the groceries from Costco and prepared the freezer bags. I have a question though – was I sopossed to blanch the potatoes or any of the veggies first?
My daughter pulled one of the prepared freezer meals from the freezer and the potatoes were black in the freezer bag.
the meal smelled delicious though.
Kelsey says
YES! I had the same problem! The potatoes are all mushy and look like the freezer beat them up.
Wendy Ferrell says
This was an AWESOME find!!! Thank you so much for all your hard work putting this together. Shopping was a breeze. The lists and labels made assembling very easy. We watched your video while assembling. So amazed to have all those meals in the freezer now with truly minimal work and very little money. Thank you so much!!
eve says
Hi,
I just purchased the recipes and shopping list and the link the popped up for me to download said the link had expired. Help?!
Eve
Leah says
Thanks so much for this meal plan! We are dairy-free so it is awesome to have all these dairy-free meals in the freezer. Many meal plans rely on cheese so this one was a breath of fresh air. My husband and I assembled these in one evening. The only problems we found were no sweet potatoes and the 6 pack of beans instead of an 8 pack. A 5 minute stop at Aldi on the way home fixed that. With 4 young kids, cooking time and money are at a premium. Thanks for providing a frugal, time saving, sanity saver!
Danielle says
THANK YOU!!! this was amazingly simple and my family has loved all of the meals so far. Can you please do a vegetarian version???
April says
Awesome! I see a few things I would substitute to ensure they are real food worthy – homemade bone broth instead of packaged chicken broth and BBQ sauce over the packaged deal, but good basic recipes. Thanks!
Ariel Y. says
I loved these recipes but I did run into a few problems that I thought I’d let other moms know.
1) My costco also didn’t carry some ingredients, mainly white onions. Also since the grocery list didn’t specify SPICY sausage I got Adeles Chicken and Apple Sausage which now that everything is all assembled I’m not so sure is going to taste as good as spicy sausage would have. Bummer.
2) I also ran out of ingredients. I only put 1 chicken breast and 2 thighs in every bag but I was out of both before I got to the last two recipes- so the husband ran out and got a few more chicken breasts from our local grocery.
3) I diced, sliced and chopped everything before I started but then as I assembled the recipes then said to add “1/2 diced onion” so I would look at a pile of diced onions thinking….”how much was that again?” I almost would’ve preferred the assembly instructions to go in order of ingredient rather than recipes “divide up your diced onions evenly amungst these recipes….” Be aware if you have recipes coming up that still require onions or potatoes before you use the last bit up.
4) I started chopping at 3pm- finished assemblying by 7pm. Took me closer to 3.5-4 hours.
5) Lastly- in looking at the at the picture above I had NO IDEA how much room all these bags would take up. Didn’t even begin to fit in our freezer (and we have a normal sized freezer). Thankfully my husband then ran back out to Costco at 8 o’clock at night and bought a stand alone freezer for the basement….so after the $200 freezer to hold the $170 worth of food we about broke even on my typical grocery bill. Oh well. Lots of time and hassle saved with having so many dinners already prepared- and that’s worth something.
Thanks Chris for doing this!
ally says
Agree with the onions comment.
SM says
You bought a new freezer to use this meal plan!?!?
Emily Cole says
I’m pretty excited to make these, a) because they sound delicious and b) because Boyfriend has been pestering me to download these lists so we can lose weight. I printed it out for him and he was reading it over the weekend, then turned to me and said, “Uh oh, she accidentally put quinoa on this list. She must not know it’s disgusting.” Lol, it’s a learning process at our house!
Amanda says
Sorry I’m a little confused…is THIS plan GF and then you have ANOTHER “original” GF plan with 20 additional meal plans? So if I order Plan #1 and the “original GF plan” will I get 40 meals? Thanks!!
Jenn K says
That is correct. 🙂
Brianna says
I am interested in doing these freezer meals, but have two questions I can’t seem to find in the FAQ…
1.) what size crock pot is recommended?
2.) roughly how much freezer space will this take up?
Thanks in advance, and I apologize if this info is already listed somewhere!
ally says
I used my large (4-qt, maybe?) crockpot and it fit fine. They took up two whole shelves of my standing freezer. Going to look into something more space-saving next time…
amy says
I would LOVE a vegetarian version of this!
Jess says
I bought the Costco freezer meal plan #4 and it seems to have enough chicken on the grocery list for 1 of each recipe instead of 2. Am I reading this wrong? It says to buy a 6 pack of chicken breasts, and that only covers a single of each recipe and not a double.
Jenn K says
The Costco chicken comes in 6 packs which contain 2 chicken breasts PER pack giving you a total of 12. The thighs come in 6 packs with 5-6 thighs per pack giving you a total of 30-36 thighs. 🙂
Lance says
Thanks for all the recipes and great ideas on the cheap. Got to find some room in the freezer.
ally says
I made up the 10 meals / 20 dinners awhile back and we’re working out way through them. We found that the carrots have a very woody, unpleasant texture and the potatoes discolor / gray. Could this be the result of freezing uncooked vegetables? I also didn’t like the apples in the pork chops / sweet potatoes recipe and was wondering if you thought fresh pineapple might work. Not sure how well pineapple freezes. It would also help me to have some quantities on the salt and pepper. I realize that peoples’ tastes differ, but you can’t really season “to taste” when assembling the bags since it’s not cooked yet.
Tiffany says
Yes, pineapple freezes well.
Terri D says
Be very carefull with fresh pineapple with protein. The enzymes change the texture and it is not pleasant.
Jenny says
Looking through the recipes, it appears I’ll need 12 peppers, but the shopping list specifies 1 – 6 pack of peppers. Am I misreading this?
Erin H says
I had this problem too!!
Jennifer Azevedo says
Thank you for this! I enjoyed making these and knowing I always have a back up. The other night I wanted to take my friend out for dinner who is also a mommy (and NEVER goes out!) She said her home doesn’t function at night so I gave her one of these meals, told her to drop it in the crock pot on the way to work that I would pick her up at five. We had a wonderful girls night out. Another even more helpful use-my freezer was stocked with these meals just before the Napa earthquake. My family was left without gas and water for a week so I brought them these meals and they were all set! I have vowed to keep some of these on back up at all times as part of all sorts of back up plans! #lovecalifornia
john b says
is there a plan that is NOT Gluten free?
Brandy Smallwood says
I bought the gluten free meals on this site and never saw anything more from you.
Shalyn says
I clicked and paid via pay pal for the printable ones and nothing. How do I access?
Stephanie says
I really appreciate the work that was put into this. I’ve noticed a few comments asking for modifications. It’s my suggestion that if you have a specific need for your family, adjust. If you only buy organic, then continue. You are more than aware there is a difference in cost that you have decided is worth it for you family. That’s okay 🙂 If you want to use reusable containers, I don’t believe anyone is going to be standing over your shoulder making sure you have not changed a single sentence from the directions. Want more seasoning? Add it. Adjust these to fit the needs of your family. If you have a much larger family, you know what they eat. I have 6 children and as they grew and moved out, it took me awhile to get used to cooking for few people, but it’s a necessity of life. My family doesn’t like sausage. I will just leave that recipe out. All the work was done for me. I don’t want to be a machine in my kitchen. I can still think without being a slave to either a list or my whims.
Emily says
Do I need to precook the raw meats before adding into the bags with other ingredients?
Jenn K says
No, you do not. 🙂
Kelsey says
I tried some of these and didn’t like a single one. I don’t know if it’s because you need prior cooking knowledge to know what additional spices to add, but all of them were bland. The stew ended up looking like some kind of slop you’d see in the Hunger Games. Thank the good Lord above I didn’t spend $150 on all of these recipes and just cherry picked a few because my wallet is already yelling at me for even trying these. I think I’d rather spend a little more money and time and actually get some flavor instead of the boring stuff I’ve gotten from following these recipes.
Jenn K says
We definitely encourage everyone to season the meals to their family’s liking. There’s no possible way to create recipes that all families would enjoy. Make it work for you! 🙂
Jan Brown says
Kelsey, I think your comments are extremely harsh. Off course everyone knows that some of recipes their family may love, others they may not enjoy. This is a fantastic idea to build your own meal plan on, but each family will need to adjust it to suit their family. I appreciate the effort and time it would have taken to put all this plan together, and to load it onto the web. It certainly gives me inspiration….I will be putting together my own plan, using recipes that I have tried and know we like, but I will trial some of the recipes on here too, and adjust the flavours to our personal tastes.
Katrina Homerick says
I would love a vegetarian version of this.
Kelli says
Do we have to blanch the potatoes? I thought uncooked potatoes become ‘mealy’ after being frozen?
Jenn K says
Russet potatoes definitely do. Gold potatoes tend to freeze better, so watch what kind you use.
Nita says
Thank you! I am thrilled that the gluten-free meals are also dairy free. It took me 3.5 hrs to complete my first time and the shopping was a breeze. I used a couple of other stores where I knew I could get things cheaper than Costco, so my total was under $150. And it was worth every penny to get the assembly instructions. It would have been nice to have the assembly instructions use cup measurements for onions/peppers/potatoes….but I was able to guesstimate it pretty well. I also added an extra piece of chicken/pork chop to my meals to make it stretch for our family of 5. My crock pot cooks hotter, so I would recommend checking your crockpot every couple of hours the first time so you know how to gauge cooking time. My whole family loved our first meal! Will definitely be doing this again next month.
Jenn K says
So glad you enjoyed it!
becky says
how is it that you onlt need 6 chicken breast?
becky says
how is it that you only need 6 chicken breast?
Jenn K says
Costco sells their chicken breasts 2 per pack in a 6 pack bundle for a total of 12 chicken breasts. 🙂
Cthompson says
Hi, I don’t want to put down the hard work that Jenn went through to put these meals together. However, my husband and I are finding them to be extremely bland too. I’m a new wife and an inexperienced cook. Adding salt and pepper is not enough to make some of these flavorful. I am just wondering if anyone has advice for me?! We liked the curry and the BBQ nights… But the rest have been misses for us. Please help!
Thanks!
Carol O. says
Some suggestions for flavor.
If you like SPICY things, use cholula, texas Pete, salsa, Siracha, chili sauce, or other hot sauce.
If you want Asian flavor, add teriyaki sauce, Lowry’s Teriyaki Marinade, Hoisin Sauce
If you want some citrus flavor, add lemon pepper, or fresh lemon or lime juice.
If you want savory herbal flavor, add poultry seasoning, lemon pepper, rosemary, thyme, fresh ginger root or sage
If you want mexican flavor, add lime juice and cilantro, or just add cumin. Be aware though, not everyone likes cilantro.
I made an incredible chicken dish with lots of fresh pressed garlic and fresh grated ginger root.
These are some basic suggestions. You can find what works well for you by trying different combinations. Everyone’s taste is not the same, so what works for me, may not work as well for you.
Marlene says
I have a question about the onions. The prep list says to dice 2 onions, but looking through the recipes it seems that I would need about 5 diced onions.
Jenn K says
I believe some onion is diced and some in chunks or slices, right?
Meta says
There was a couple issues I had but first I just want to say I love this idea! This is perfect. I will bullet point to make it easier to follow my particular issues.
1) Not all the ingredients are accounted for. I liked that you mentioned the coconut milk & rosemary but I would have likes it if the taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, garlic powder , brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, limes, & curry powder. Maybe tomato sauce?
2) I needed a total of 10 cans of diced tomatoes. I think the issue occurs in the recipe for the chicken tortilla soup. You have listed that diced tomatoes can be used instead of tomato sauce. If you use tomato sauce I’d note to add that to the grocery list.
3) I was short on bell peppers & needed 8. This issue occurred because there is the recipe sausage, peppers, & onions calls for 2 10oz. bags frozen bell peppers & onions or chop 2 bell peppers & 1 onion (single recipe, not doubled). If it’s doubled then you need to chop 4 bell peppers & 2 onions.
4) There was 2 cans of black beans that were missing from one of the recipes. My assumption was it was the chicken tortilla soup & so I added it there.
5) What I ended up doing is making note on a bag to add the missing broth when I add it to the crockpot later on. I changed one recipe to be sausage & bell peppers/onions for sandwiches later on. I didn’t slice the sausage just left it whole. I was able to use the 2 cans of diced tomatoes from this recipe for the chicken tortilla soup.
All in all I do enjoy my slow cooker but wish it was more cohesive. I will try the other meals on your site but will make sure to double check all the recipes before heading out to the grocery store.
Meta says
It was 10 bell peppers needed not 8…
Laura Manteufel says
My mom and I did this plan together as a team, we each took 10 meals. It worked out well. We had a problem with our potatoes not cooking in the stew. It cooked for 8 hours on low and the potatoes were still hard as rocks. I did a little research online and it may have had something to do with the fact that there was a can of diced tomatoes in that recipe and the acid may have caused the issue. I also noticed that the chicken seems to really get dry in most meals that I’ve cooked. I feel like cooking for 8 hours on low is too long, but the whole point of this was for me to be able to cook it all day while I’m at work… I might have to try what one person suggested and get a timer. I agree that these recipes are rather bland, but I’ve just been adding stuff to make them better. If I ever do this again, I’ll add more spices to jazz it up.
ali murphy says
I see chicken broth on the shopping list, but it is not included as an ingredient on any recipe. This is very confusing. Why am I buying chicken broth?
roo says
I looked a little closer just now after I made a similar comment (jumped the gun. whoops!) I found it in both the Beef Stew and the Sausage and Chicken Stew. But together, it’s only 5 cups. Seems like buying a 12 pack is a bit extreme, although she does list that half of the broth packets will be unused. I’ve never cooked with broth before, so I’m kind of nervous the leftovers will sit at my house, uneaten for a while!
Tan says
I believe you can buy the broth in a 6 pack at costco. It comes in cartons.
nikki says
There’s also broth needed for the chicken tortilla soup, 2 quarts.
Racheal says
Correct me if I am wrong but you can freeze our left over broth in ice cube tray each cube is about an ounce.
Susie says
You are correct!
Wendellyn Plummer says
Is the Sam’s Club version also gluten Free?
roo says
I also am confused about the chicken broth. Which is it used for?
And it is unclear how much BBQ sauce to purchase and to use in the recipe(s).
Jenn K says
You’ll need broth for the Chicken Tortilla Soup, Sausage & Chicken Stew and the Beef Stew.
I believe the BBQ sauce is in 32 oz bottles at Costco (I think). But with BBQ sauce, you can use as much as you’d like since it’s a sauce to coat the meat and not really a measurable ingredient like milk or flour.
Mandi Rohrer says
I ordered your Costco meal plan #4 for $5. But I didn’t realize the link expired. Can you guys send another one.
Jenn K says
If you still need assistance, then please contact Erin here: https://www.5dollardinners.com/contact/
Di says
If you have any left over broth, you can freeze it. Some like to freeze in ice cube trays and then store the broth ice cubes to throw in other meals.
brianna stuart says
pretty disappointed in the instructions. for one thing, the onion prep list is completely wrong (or the recipes are wrong). the recipes include 2 quartered, 4 chopped, 2 diced, and 3 sliced, which is a far cry from the 1 sliced, 2 diced, and 2 chopped in the list. and one recipe just says “1/2 onion”. thank god for the video – but what a huge time suck to have to watch the video to get a simple answer that should have been included in the recipe (according to which i should have just tossed in half an onion). also, “diced” is not “chunks” – very different thing. the potato and sweet potato prep is all about how many pounds to use, but then the recipes are in numbers of potatoes or sweet potatoes. on the grocery list – the 5 pounds of frozen corn is just silly – that should be a grocery store item since you only need 4 cups and it’s way cheaper to buy that amount, and it doesn’t take up freezer space. (and my costco is, for some crazy reason, only stocking white corn now.)
because of all the last minute extra onion cutting, and all the “what the heck does this MEAN?!?” moments, the assembly took me SIX HOURS. the food looks good, but… GEEEEZZZZ….. what a pain in the neck.
Eliza says
I should’ve read your comment before trying to make these. I had the exact same problem and therefore the exact same comment. My husband (thankfully) did this with me and it took 3 hours and we both worked non-stop! So your 6 hours for one person is spot on. It was very frustrating. Especially the different terminology (chunks vs. diced) and the pounds for the sweet potatoes and then trying to figure out how much would’ve been 3 sweet potatoes to put in the bag. I sure hope they taste fantastic!
Katy says
Are there nutrition facts anywhere for these yummy recipes?!
Helen Shafron says
I purchased the costco meal plan #4 (20 gluten free slow cooker meals) but I did not see the confirmation email and not sure how to get started. Thank you.