Freezer Meal Friday ~ Chicken Chili

When I decided to start this blog, I created a focus statement for myself to ensure that each post topic I came up with fell under this focus and the blog maintained a certain theme. That theme is openness. As I mentioned here, openness includes being open to try new things and staying organized to maintain that openness. 

While I've always done some sort of meal planning before heading to the grocery store, the concept of make-ahead freezer meals is fairly new to me. Creating multiple meals in one afternoon and freezing them to enjoy in the future has been a huge time saver for us and has also allowed us to save money on our grocery budget. In an effort to not eat the same meal over and over again, I've been working to branch out my freezer meal recipes and try new things.

I thought it would be fun to share these freezer meal recipes with you so that you too could try them out. While I often make multiple freezer meals at once, I'm choosing to share one freezer meal with you at a time for now in an effort to keep it simple and not overwhelming.

Today's freezer meal recipe is Chicken Chili. I found the original recipe while doing "research" on Pinterest here. I had a white chicken chili recipe that I've loved for a few years but never tried it as a freezer meal. After trying this one, I think my old recipe is going to have to be  replaced. This chili is delicious.

Here is the recipe:

• 2 chicken breasts 
• 1 can diced tomatoes 
• 1 can corn kernels, do not drain 
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 
• 1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix 
• 1 T cumin 
• 1 t chili powder 
• 1 t onion powder 
• 1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese
• Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. 

Before I start combining ingredients, I label my bags with a sharpie, listing the name of the meal, cooking instructions, and any serving instructions I might forget by the time I eat the meal. I also include the date the meal was created in case it gets lost in the bottom of the freezer somehow. 

For this meal, I cut up the chicken into bite size chunks and combined all of the ingredients in a one gallon size freezer bag. I flattened it out a bit so it can be easily stacked in our chest freezer and tried to get as much air out as possible. 

When I decide to make the chili, I will take it out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the fridge over night. Then, in the morning before heading out to work, I dump it into the crockpot, set the timer and let it cook. I come home to a hot, delicious meal ready to eat! Typically, I'll whip up a batch of Jiffy cornbread to enjoy with this chili. 

If you are interested in seeing more of my freezer meal recipes now, you can visit Pinterest here!

Do you have any good freezer meal recipes you'd like to share?