I did my ‘first’ meal prep tonight. I’m using air quotes because I technically did a meal prep one time at one of those parties where you buy all of their products for a lot of money and then still have to buy all of your meat, produce and pantry items. I had fun with my friends while drinking margaritas and preparing meals, which obviously saved me time in the long run, but I definitely didn’t feel like I saved any money. So tonight, I did my ‘first’ meal prep at my home without having to buy special products.

I decided to use Stockpiling Moms 10 Crockpot Freezer Meals in 2 Hours. Stockpiling Moms offers a lot of freezer meal plans but I thought the 10 meals in 2 hours would be the most practical for my first attempt.

I started by pulling up the grocery list for the 10 crockpot freezer meals. I HATE going to the grocery store so I have become a huge fan of Kroger Clicklist. I’m able to order my items online, a Kroger associate pulls them, bags them up, brings them to my car at the assigned time and even loads them in the car. So on Tuesday I put each item on the grocery list in a Clicklist order and had my daughter pick the groceries up at our local Kroger this afternoon. I spent about $115, which averages out to be $11.50 per meal. Each meal serves 6 to 8. I did already have most of the spices and some of the canned goods though so your bill could be a little higher.

Some of the supplies

Once I got home from work I relaxed on the couch and marked each of my Ziploc gallon bags with the name of the meal, cook time and anything I would need to add at the time of cooking.  That only took a few minutes.

Next I enlisted my 15-year-old son Joey to help me prep the 10 meals. He browned the ground beef while I diced veggies and opened cans. Once the ground beef was browned, Joey helped with measuring a lot of the spices and other tasks. It was a great opportunity for us to spend time together while accomplishing a task. It took us just under two hours to prep the meals, clean up and load the freezer. I did save some time by buying diced frozen onions and green peppers instead of having to cut those myself.

The 15-year-old at work

We had very few dishes to do!

The dishes

We are going to try our first meal tomorrow – the Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken. I just put it in the fridge since I’m going to throw it in the crockpot in the morning but it still means no cooking for me tomorrow.

The final product

I made the decision to meal prep in an effort to save time and money. Having things ready to put in the crockpot will definitely save me time. It also prevents us from eating out so much and making multiple trips to the grocery. If the meals are as yummy as I suspect, I will tackle the 20 Slow Cooker Meals in Four Hours next time.

Do you have an meal prep tips to share?