How to Make Freezer Dump Bags

A freezer dump bag holds everything for one slow cooker dinner. You put the raw ingredients in a bag at your convenience, freeze it, and on the day you want it you thaw it, dump it into the cooker and turn it on. An afternoon of filling bags gives you weeks of dinners that need no prep on the day.

There is one rule above all the others. Thaw the bag in the refrigerator before it goes in the slow cooker. Never cook meat from frozen in a slow cooker. The reasons are below.

What you need

Gallon freezer bags. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension says to use freezer bags, not storage bags. Freezer bags are thicker and keep food fresh longer.
A permanent marker and a roll of tape, or freezer labels.
A baking sheet that fits in your freezer, to hold the bags flat until they are frozen.
A freezer thermometer. Your freezer should be at 0°F or lower.
A cutting board and knife that you wash with hot, soapy water between the raw meat and the vegetables.

Step by step

Pick a recipe that works as a bag. Each recipe on this site that works in the freezer has a freezer section that says what goes in the bag. Good examples are Salsa Chicken, Teriyaki Chicken, Pulled Pork and Pepperoncini Pot Roast.
Leave the late additions out. Sour cream, cream cheese, milk, cheese, pasta, rice, tender greens and biscuits go in near the end of cooking, so they never go in the bag. North Dakota State University Extension notes that sour cream, mayonnaise and raw vegetables do not freeze well, and that the extras can be added after thawing. NC State Extension says vegetables frozen without blanching are safe to eat but lower in quality, with duller color, and should be used fairly quickly; its writer found unblanched celery worked well in soup. The bags here mix raw vegetables into a cooked dish, so use them within the keep time on the label. Penn State Extension adds that toppings turn soggy and should be frozen separately. Write the missing items on the label.
Handle potatoes separately. Raw potatoes are best left out of the bag. For Beef Stew, the potatoes are cut up and added to the cooker on the day.
Brown ground meat first. For recipes such as Beef and Bean Chili, Taco Soup and Sloppy Joes, cook the beef until it reads 160°F on a food thermometer (no pink is not proof) and drain it. Then spread it in a shallow container and cool it in the refrigerator until cold. UNL Extension says to cool cooked foods to refrigerator temperature before bagging them; it is fine to refrigerate food while it is still warm, with a loose cover. Do not put raw ground meat in a bag beside vegetables that may not reach a safe temperature when it cooks. If you are unsure, brown it.
Add the contents. Put the meat, sauce, seasoning and sturdy vegetables in the bag.
Press out the air and seal the bag. Air in the bag leads to freezer burn, which dries the food out.
Label it. Write the name of the recipe, the date, the number of servings, and the cooking directions. UNL Extension recommends including the name of the food, the packaging date and the amount. Each recipe on this site prints a label with the thaw step first, and the Dump-Bag Planner prints these labels in large type.
Freeze flat. Lay the bag on a baking sheet and do not stack the bags until they are frozen solid. A thin, flat shape freezes faster and thaws faster, and flat bags stack neatly. Once frozen, you can stand them upright like files.

How long they keep

Food kept at 0°F stays safe indefinitely. The time limits are about quality: flavor, color and texture. The advice varies a little by source, so this site uses the more cautious figure.

Penn State and North Dakota State extension services advise eating frozen homemade meals within 3 months for best quality. That is the figure on most bag labels here.
Where the bag holds browned ground beef or other cooked meat, the Minnesota Department of Health lists cooked meat dishes at 2 to 3 months and hamburger at 3 to 4 months. The soups, chilis and stew, and the bags with browned beef, use 2 months.
UNL lists fully cooked sausage and ham at 1 to 2 months, so the recipes built on those foods are made fresh, not as bags.

Food that is older than this is not unsafe at 0°F. It may be drier or blander. If a bag has been in the freezer longer, use it up soon.

Thawing: the part you cannot skip

Take the bag out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator on a rimmed plate or pan, in case it leaks. Put it on the bottom shelf. UNL Extension says a pound of ground meat or boneless chicken breasts usually takes at least 24 hours to thaw completely, and that up to 5 pounds of food should thaw in about 24 hours. A flat bag thaws faster than a thick package, so go by the hours on the label and check that no ice is left in the middle. Montana State University Extension says to plan about 24 hours for every 5 pounds. The big soup, chili and stew bags weigh 5 to 7 pounds, so allow 36 to 48 hours for them; allow 24 to 36 hours for the beef and pork bags. Either way, check that there are no ice crystals in the middle, and give it another day if there are.

Do not thaw a bag on the counter or in hot water. Do not thaw it in the slow cooker.

Once thawed, cook it soon. Extension services based on USDA guidance say that ground meat, stew meat and poultry thawed in the refrigerator should be cooked within 1 to 2 days, and red meat cuts within 3 to 5 days.

Why never cook from frozen in a slow cooker

A slow cooker heats food gradually. That is fine for thawed food, but frozen meat starts at 0°F and has to warm up through the temperature danger zone, which is 40°F to 140°F, where bacteria grow quickly. Mississippi State University Extension says that frozen foods take a long time to move from 0°F to 140°F in a slow cooker, giving bacteria plenty of time to multiply, and that food should reach 140°F within two hours. Clemson Cooperative Extension says plainly: always defrost meat or poultry before putting it into a slow cooker. The same applies if you use the high setting. A bag that was not fully thawed in the refrigerator should stay in the refrigerator another day.

A filling session for 8 to 10 bags

Set aside about two hours. This plan builds a mixed week of chicken, beef and pork. Keep the raw meat in the refrigerator until you cut and bag it, and put each bag in the freezer as soon as it's sealed: UNL Extension says perishable food should spend less than 2 hours in all at room temperature, or 1 hour when it's above 90°F. Cook any ground beef the day before, so it's cold when you bag it.

Choose the recipes. For example: Salsa Chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs, Buffalo Chicken, White Chicken Chili, Pepperoncini Pot Roast, Italian Beef, Pulled Pork, Carnitas, Beef and Bean Chili and Sloppy Joes.
Make one shopping list. The Dump-Bag Planner adds up onions, garlic and canned goods across the recipes you choose.
Cook the ground beef the day before. Cook the beef for the chili and the sloppy joes to 160°F, drain it, and refrigerate it in a shallow container, so it's cold when you bag it.
Line up the bags on the counter and write the labels before you fill them.
Work on one kind of food at a time. Chop all the onions at once. Open all the cans.
Handle the raw meat last. Pack the raw chicken, beef and pork after the vegetables and cans are done, taking it from the refrigerator one recipe at a time. Cut the roasts and shoulders into 2-inch chunks at this step. Then wash the board, knife and your hands with hot, soapy water.
Fill, seal and label each bag. Press out the air.
Freeze flat on baking sheets. After a day, stack them or stand them up.

Cook them in order of date, oldest first. Plan the week's thawing by the hours on each label: move a 24-hour bag to the refrigerator the morning before you cook it, and any bag labeled 36 to 48 hours two mornings before.

Cooking the bag

Dump the thawed contents into the cooker size named on the label. The cooker should be half to two-thirds full. Cook on low or high for the times on the label, add the late ingredients, and check the temperature with a food thermometer. Leftovers go into the refrigerator within two hours and are reheated on the stove or in the microwave to 165°F, not in the slow cooker.

Sources

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Penn State, North Dakota State, Montana State, Mississippi State and Clemson extension services, and the Minnesota Department of Health. Full links are on the sources list.