Freezer to Crock Pot - Pot Roast with Veggies

The combination of pot roast and veggies is a yummy, satisfying, and comforting meal, especially after a long day.  Walking into your house and smelling the wonderful aroma of a hot meal is like a little slice of heaven.  This is an easy recipe and can be prepared ahead of time, put into the freezer, then cooked in the crock pot for a hearty meal.  (See my confession about this roast below.*)

SLOW COOKER POT ROAST

One 2-3 pound roast, trimmed of excess fat (see below for substitution)**

1 packet Italian dressing mix

1 packet onion soup mix 

2-3 carrots cut into medallions 

1 small onion cut in large chunks (optional) 

2 cubes beef bouillon or 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules

1/2 cup water

 

When ready to cook, 3-4 potatoes cut in chunks.

Trim roast and cut slits in meat.  This is important, as the meat starts to cook it tends to contract and can take longer to cook.  Place roast in 1 gallon zippered freezer bag and add all ingredients except potatoes.  When ready to cook, add potatoes to crock, along with frozen roast and veggies.  Allow to cook for 8-10 hours on high (necessary to get the internal temperature of the roast up where it needs to be). 

*Here's my confession.  The poor roast pictured above had a real workout.  I put the chunk in the crock pot, turned it on, and went on my merry way.  The problem is that the crock pot wasn't plugged in!  D'oh!  I found it about 1-1/2 hours later. Aacck!!  I plugged it in and turned the crock on high, but even at 11:30 last night, it still wasn't done.  I ended up taking everything out of the crock pot, putting it into a large bowl, and sticking it in the fridge because cooking it overnight would have been too much.  I got up this morning, put everything back in the crock pot, and cooked it 4 more hours.  Luckily, it was ready to go by lunchtime.  Unfortunately, some of the carrots and potatoes were worse for the wear, but everything still tasted good! 

** If you do not have roast, another inexpensive cut of meat can work, such as round steak.  What I have done in the past is to get approximately 2-3 pounds of round steak and cut it into medallions.  Use the rest of the ingredients, as directed.  Cook on high 6-8 hours, and check doneness of meat.  This comes out more like a stew than roast but can be a great way to use a less expensive cut of meat.