I want to become more consistent in what I cook on a daily basis. One option that I've seen suggested is to prepare the ingredients in bulk and freeze meal-size amounts in ziplock bags (without yet cooking it). Then you can prepare the food by simply putting the package in the slowcooker in the morning and then eating at the end of the day for dinner.
So here are my questions. Can you put a frozen package of food into a slowcooker and can it handle cooking it without needing to defrost the food (even if there's meat will this work)? Additionally, if a slow cooker can't handle such a thing, is it possible to do so with sous vide?
Additionaly, what are the pros and cons of using a slow cooker vs using a sous vide machine?
Best Answer
This is more for slow cooker / crock pot.
If it is single or double meal size and you cut up the meat and other ingredients then you should be fine.
Meal for 4 frozen hard, large pieces, and you are not there to stir it is going to have the bottom more done. You are probably not going to create a food safety issue of any part between 40 F and 140 F for longer than 2 hours.
Pull it before and let it defrost all the way or at least partially in the refrigerator is a much better plan. You would want it defrosted enough that you can spread it out in the pot.
If you are only going to cook a single then get a small slow cooker. Consider two meals and then just refrigerate one - it will be good for 3 days and slow cooker meals tend to reheat nicely.
Can also go the other direction and cook four fresh. Eat one, refrigerate one, and freeze two. Most of the crock meals reheat nicely.
Slow cooker versus sous vide is a bigger question and likely a duplicate.