Whether you’re checking out your favorite blog or scouring Pinterest for the latest and greatest homemaking trend, you’ll likely come across articles describing how to prepare your own frozen Slow Cooker Meals.  You might wonder then, why not do it yourself?

We’ve already talked about how Meal ‘n a Half can save you significant time in the pursuit of a healthy, home cooked meal and good quality wok. But aside from the convenience factor, there is another characteristic that sets apart Meal ‘n a Half Slow Cooker freezer meals. Ice crystals.

What are ice crystals and why should you care?

When water freezes it expands and forms ice crystals. The longer it takes for water to freeze, the longer it has to form ice crystals. And, the larger they become.  This is significant to your slow cooker meals for a few reasons.  For one, water makes up 50-75% of meat depending on the type and cut, and 90% of most fruits and vegetables.  This water is contained within cell walls of the ingredients.  As ice crystals grow and expand, the cell walls can no longer contain the crystals and the walls rupture. So anywhere from 50-90% of your ingredients rupture at a cellular level with traditional, slow freezing.

What happens when the cells rupture from ice crystals?

The texture (and thus the taste) of the food changes. Typically foods become softer. You may have noticed before that when you freeze your leftovers and reheat them they seem watery or mushy. This is because the ice crystals changed the texture.

So how are Meal ‘n a Half frozen slow cooker meals different?

We flash freeze our meals.  In your home freezer, it will likely take several hours for a slow cooker meal to freeze. That is several hours of large ice crystals forming.  When we flash freeze our meals, they are fully frozen in a matter of minutes.  This prevents the molecules from forming large, characteristic six-sided snowflakes. Instead of forming a small number of large ice crystals, they create a large number of tiny ice crystals. These are more easily contained by the cellular walls. Thus, they are less likely to cause a rupture and damage the quality of the food.

In fact, if you look at your home freezer’s manual (talk about an invigorating read), it will recommend that the freezer can only freeze a few pounds in a given 24 hour period. They also suggest that food should be laid out and not overlapping. This allows the best airflow and the quickest freezing time. (You may note this is also the least efficient use of energy in your freezer. But that’s another article for another time.)

Now I ask you, whose freezer has room to delicately lay out each item individually for air to flow around it in every direction? Mine certainly does not. Most freezers I’ve seen do not.  And so, we frequently stack bags of items on top of one another wherever we can find the space. If these bags are stacks of unfrozen food, the freezing process will slow to a painful crawl.  When the freezing process is at a snails pace, the quality (taste and texture) of the food sadly diminishes.

Too much detail. What’s the big deal about Meal ‘n a Half frozen slow cooker meals? And why are they different than my own?

If you make your own slow cooker meals and freeze them in your home freezer, over half of your ingredients are being disrupted at a cellular level. This is because the meal takes too long to freeze. That is why your home prepared Frozen Slow Cooker meals don’t taste as good as when you prepare them fresh.