The Best Freezer Meal Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

Did you like sloppy joes as a kid? I loved them! But I’ve discovered recently that a lot of kids don’t.

I’ve had a lot of sloppy joe recipes over the years. Most were probably made with Manwich because humans are suckers for good marketing.  I can’t think of a single sloppy joe recipe I didn’t like. But this one is the best I’ve had so far. (Though Zach would argue that the cheeseburger sloppy joes are better because cheeseburgers. Of course.)

Most of the time, if I meet someone who doesn’t like sloppy joes, they say it’s because they don’t like Manwich. Well, here’s the solution for you!

This recipe is way better than the canned stuff, and you can customize it any way you want. Don’t like tomato chunks? Either puree the tomatoes or use tomato sauce.

Don’t like canned? Make your own versions of the ingredients. Now that you have an idea of what goes into a sloppy joe, all of that is incredibly simple.

Plus this recipe is just downright good. I’ve had many sloppy joes over my lifetime, but this is the recipe that always sticks out to me.

Freezer Friendly Tips

• You do have to brown the meat before putting it in the freezer because you don’t want it to all freeze together. And the meat won’t cook correctly if you put it in the crock pot raw. I know. I accidentally did it once. Oops!
• Can be frozen for 6-9 months.

Budget Friendly Tips

• Don’t want to buy sriracha? Use 1 tsp cayenne pepper instead. (Or remove it and the red pepper flakes completely if you don’t like spice.)
• Distilled white vinegar will also work if you don’t have apple cider vinegar. Thee only vinegar that definitely wouldn’t work (off the top of my head) is balsamic. So use what you have if you don’t want to buy extra ingredients.
• If you don’t want to use canned tomatoes, replace it with one fresh tomato (two, if using romas) and add 1/8 cup water.
• If you don’t want/can’t have flour, replace it with 1 tbsp cornstarch.

The Best Freezer Meal Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

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Serves: 5-6 Prep Time: 10m Cooking Time: 4-6h

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground meat
• 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes OR tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 1 1/2 tsps chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsps apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsps dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsps onion powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Step 01: Brown the meat.

Step 02: Mix the ingredients together in a crock pot. Cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The Best Freezer Meal Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes was last modified: June 15th, 2017 by Chelsey

Notes

Can be frozen for 6-9 months.