Update: While I was panicking, they finished cooking, lol. Added more butter and sauce. Should be fine.

I screwed up... I was trying to keep my veggies from getting mushy like they normally do, so I had the bright idea to add my frozen stir fry vegetables an hour before the chicken was done. Seemed like a solid plan.

Anyway, I went to add them and saw that the chicken was already done. Cool. Without thinking, I shredded it, poured most of the liquid out 🤦, added 4 tablespoons of butter, the broccoli, etc.. and more teriyaki sauce. An hour later, the little corn and broccoli are still frozen. The chicken is drying out, it's all mixed up and I don't know how to fix it.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I don't like the idea of microwaving it, so I'm hoping there's a better way to get this mess cooked through.

New to the slow cooker game and looking for a website with some recipes. Ideally they would be recipes where i can just put ingredients in the cooker and leave it for a while since im at work most of the day. Also not looking to break the bank with these meals.

My 6 qt crockpot is 15+ years old and it’s definitely time for a newer and larger one. Looking for something larger and with a lock lid.

So I overdid it with a roast in my smoker a while back and it is almost jerky dry. I divided it up into 1# vacuum packs and froze it. I split up one package for pinto beans and it was absolutely delicious. I would like to make a nice basic stew with it but not sure how put that together with the pre cooked meat. Can I just add the ingredients we like and put it on low until everything is hot or are there potential issues I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for any help. I'm not great at experimenting with cooking.

Looking for family friendly crock pot meals that I can prep and freeze toward the end of my pregnancy with number 5. What’s your go to?

Also breakfast and snacks I can prep and freeze are welcome :)

I've copy and pasted all my recipes below and yes I have used AI to help me scale them as I just didn't know the correct quantities for such large amounts. I'm experienced with cooking in the slow cooker, but not when scaling up to this sort of level. Have I scaled them up well? This should all hopefully yield roughly 30 lunch sized portions per recipe if I've scaled up correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

​1. Mild Beef Curry with Rice (3 Trays)

​Cooking Times

​Slow Cooker: 8 hours on LOW (Slow Cookers 1 & 2)

​Ingredients

​2.0 kg diced stewing beef / chuck

​4 whole onions (diced), 2 bulbs garlic (minced), 6 peppers (diced)

​4 jars Patak's Mild Tikka Masala curry paste (283 g each)

​4 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each)

​3 tins coconut milk (400 ml each)

​4 beef stock cubes (crumbled)

​600 ml water

​1.5 kg frozen mixed vegetables

​1.5 kg cooked basmati rice

​Instructions

​Put beef, onions, garlic, peppers, curry paste, tomatoes, coconut milk, stock cubes, and water directly into Slow Cookers 1 & 2.

​Cook on LOW for 8 hours.

​Stir in the frozen veg and cooked rice, then divide across 3 catering trays.

​2. Cottage Pie (3 Trays)

​Cooking Times

​Slow Cooker: 6.5 hours on LOW (Slow Cookers 3 & 4)

​Boil Potatoes: 20 mins

​Ingredients

​3.5 kg minced beef (12–15% fat)

​4 whole medium onions (diced) & 2 bulbs garlic (minced)

​300 ml Merlot red wine

​6 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each)

​6 beef stock cubes (crumbled)

​450 ml water

​3 tbsp mixed herbs, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp smoked paprika

​1.5 kg frozen mixed vegetables

​4 kg Maris Piper potatoes (mashed with butter & milk)

​Instructions

​Put minced beef, onions, garlic, red wine, tomatoes, stock cubes, water, herbs, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika directly into Slow Cookers 3 & 4.

​Cook on LOW for 6.5 hours.

​Boil potatoes in a large pot for 20 mins, drain, and mash with butter and milk.

​Stir frozen veg into the meat mix, divide into 3 catering trays, and top with mash.

​3. Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake (3 Trays)

​Cooking Times

​Slow Cooker: 6 hours on LOW (Slow Cookers 5 & 6)

​Boil Pasta: 9–10 mins

​Ingredients

​3.0 kg fresh chicken thighs (diced)

​4 whole onions (diced), 2 bulbs garlic (minced), 6 peppers (diced)

​8 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each)

​4 chicken stock cubes (crumbled)

​3 tbsp mixed herbs, 2 tbsp smoked paprika, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

​600 ml double cream

​1.8 kg dry pasta

​600 g grated mature cheddar cheese

​Instructions

​Put chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, stock cubes, herbs, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce directly into Slow Cookers 5 & 6 (no cream yet).

​Cook on LOW for 6 hours.

​Boil pasta for 9–10 mins and drain.

​Stir double cream and cooked pasta into the chicken mix, divide into 3 catering trays, and top with cheddar cheese.

So I took some bad advice and didn't soak the brown lentils (as I had previously) and as the title, it's caused a lot of bloating and gas. It was a batch cook (obviously, this is slowcooking) and I'd like to not waste the rest. So, when I re-heat the remainder, any advice on preventing the same symptoms?

I read that I should defrost and then purée the lentils. A bit of a shame since I like the texture. Any alternate that's not too much hassle?