I must have 3 trillion lists that I’ve found on Pinterest and all over the internet from super savvy ladies who make these mountains of meals and stockpile them in their freezer. Seriously they could feed their entire town for a year if they needed to. It makes me feel very inadequate considering I only having frozen berries and ice cream in mine. So I decided to try one and see how it worked out. All in all it was a great success. It was easy to just pull the ziplock bag out of the freezer, thaw it for a bit and then just pour everything into my slow cooker. I honestly didn’t see it saving any time. The thawing time was far more than it would have taken me to chop the onion and measure out a few ingredients but it was nice to have it there and ready to go. I cooked it on Sunday all day and then put it in a container in the fridge with other toppings to eat during the week.
A few weeks ago my supermarket had top round roasts on sale. I bought one, took it home, put it in the ziplock with a bunch of ingredients, zipped it up and put it in the freezer. Easy. I wrote the instructions for cooking with a sharpie on the bag before I put the ingredients in so that I wouldn’t smudge it and I wouldn’t have to write with meat/tomato sauce to lean on. I did add some of this seasoning to the slow cooker too. The best part-the beef was DELICIOUS!! It also didn’t make too much-I’d say enough for between 5-7 burritos depending on how much you put in each.
Beef Burritos in the slow cooker
Ingredients:
- 2lb top round roast
- 2 8oz cans tomato sauce
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp peppercorns
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- taco seasoning to taste
- 1 small can green chilies, drained
Optional Ingredients (to taste):
- sour cream
- grated cheese (don’t use pregrated-that stuff doesn’t melt nearly as well due to preservatives and anti-sticking additives–YUCK!!)
- sliced avocado
- salsa
- burritos
- refried beans
Instructions:
- Write all cooking instructions on a large freezer bag and make sure it won’t smudge.
- Add all ingredients through and including the cider vinegar to the ziplock bag, remove all of the air from the bag and seal. Place in freezer flat to freeze.
- When you’re ready to cook it thaw the bag in some water until no longer frozen. Place contents of bag in the slow cooker and add the taco seasoning and chilies. Cook on low for 7 hours.
- After 7 hours carefully remove the meat and place on a board. Remove any fat and discard it.
- Pour the liquid through a strainer into a bowl, discard the contents of the strainer.
- Add the beef back into the cooker and shred with 2 forks. Pour enough of the strained liquid over the beef to cover it half way and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes.
Then make a burrito how you like it. This time I used beef, beans, a sprinkle of white cheddar and monterey jack, sliced avocado and sour cream. I put the burrito on my panini press to heat it up and melt the cheese and to give the burrito that nice crispy crunch.
Sparks from the Kitchen 