Crockpot expert needed !

dbkrantz

Hi everyone,

Hope you are enjoying your week end.

My question concerns crockpots and freezing. I am receiving my first crockpot today (super excited) and I would like to cook in batches for it to be convenient and easy and everything.

The easiest seems to cut all the vegetables and put the sauce in and add meat and freeze to then cook it in the crockpot later. I would really prefer to brown the meat first as I hear it adds a lot more flavour. Most of the websites I saw put raw meat with raw vegetables and sauce together in the same bag and then freeze and later thaw and cook.

Can I brown the meat (so half cooked I guess) and add it to raw vegetables and sauce and keep in the freezer? Or is it unsafe because of cross contamination?

I tried looking for an answer on internet but did not find much. Any help would be very appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

Deborah

Apicius

I do a lot in the crockpot, I never pre cook meat I don't find browning makes any difference.

For freezing it depends on when you are saving time. I often put the whole recipe together the night before and leave in the fridge and then get it going in the morning. In this way any frozen things (like bags veg or meat) will be thawed and you can give it a good stir.

I would freeze raw meat separately, and would not mess with partially cooked meat and freezing, that is the point where I think bacteria thrive.

If you are freezing the finished crockpot meal, some things like potatoes do not freeze well at all, whereas soups (eg pea and ham) freeze very well.

Be careful with your liquid levels as well, the crockpot does not concentrate things down. If it is too runny in the end you can boil the sauce down on the stove and re add it.

Trust this helps, post with any more questions.

tinybry

As long as you froze the browned meat quickly and then got it straight on in the crockpot when you came to cook it I don't think there would be a contamination issue, but I would probably not mix it with veg - how about keeping separate bags of meat and veg and you can then mix and match them when cooking? I do tend to brown my meat first and prefer it that way, but if I am short of time I do without.

I also prepare mine the night before often and put the whole pot in the fridge overnight then straight on in the morning (I've worried about it cracking before but it hasn't yet!).

But when I cook I usually just cook really large quantities and then freeze the cooked product in portions, which can be defrosted and heated quickly when I want to eat it.

dbkrantz

I think the easiest would be to either :

- brown and cook the meat fully and separate it from veggies and sauce and then mix and match once it's time to cook.

or

- cook everything together and then freeze it once it cooked.

or

- Leave the raw meat and vegetables plus sauce and let the meat thaw and then brown it and add it to the crock pot.

What do you think would be better in terms of taste and safety?

Thanks,

Deborah

tinybry

they all sound like good options to me - I would decide which fits in best with your lifestyle - in terms of when you cook, how much time you have, what storage space you have etc and maybe try them out and see? As I said I tend to cook batches and then freeze in portions, but that's just what works for me enjoy the food anyway!