Slow Cooker Meal Plan for a Busy Week, With a Shopping List

This slow cooker meal plan covers 5 weeknight dinners, Monday to Friday, each with a different main ingredient: pork shoulder, chicken thighs, ground beef, black beans and beef chuck. Each dinner sits on the day its time on LOW fits: the two written for 8 to 10 hours take the longest days, the rest take days with a later start. Adding the five recipes' stored total times gives 37 hours 5 minutes, of which 1 hour 30 minutes is prep. One shopping list, night-before prep and each dish's storage notes follow.

Which slow cooker dinners can cook all day on low?

The time on LOW in a recipe's slow cook step decides its day. These are the 19 slow cooker main courses this plan chose from, grouped by that step:

• 8 to 10 hours: pork carnitas, pulled pork sliders, beef barbacoa, Italian beef sandwiches
• 8 hours: Hungarian beef goulash
• 6 to 8 hours: beef chili
• 6 hours: butter chicken, chicken and gravy, black bean burrito bowls
• 5 to 6 hours: white chicken chili, BBQ pulled chicken, turkey breast with gravy
• 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours: meatloaf
• 4 to 5 hours: chicken tinga, honey garlic chicken, Thai red chicken curry, sloppy joes, honey glazed ham
• 4 to 4 1/2 hours: lasagna

All four 8-to-10-hour recipes use pork shoulder or beef chuck, and no chicken main course runs past 6 hours on LOW, so chicken goes on a later-start day. The Slow Cooker Recipes page lists every recipe, including any added since, and our guide to slow cooker low vs high times compares the two settings recipe by recipe.

The slow cooker meal plan at a glance

Total time, servings and nutrition (an estimate per serving) are as stored on each recipe. The total uses one point in each LOW range, so a real day can run shorter or longer within it.

The five recipes make 38 servings as written; if 4 people eat each dinner, 18 are left over. The days suit a week with two long days out: swap them to fit yours, keeping each dinner inside its LOW range.

• 

  Slow Cooker • Mexican

  Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

  8 hrs 30 mins10 servings
• 

  Slow Cooker • Chicken

  Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

  6 hrs 30 mins6 servings
• 

  Slow Cooker • American

  Slow Cooker Beef Chili

  6 hrs 30 mins8 servings
• 

  Slow Cooker • Healthy

  Slow Cooker Black Bean Burrito Bowls

  6 hrs 15 mins6 servings
• 

  Slow Cooker • American

  Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches

  9 hrs 20 mins8 sandwiches

Day by day

Monday: pork carnitas, 8 to 10 hours on LOW

Slow cooker pork carnitas: Total 510 min, 8 h 30 min (20 prep + 490 cook), serves 10. In the morning, rub the pork shoulder chunks with the salt, cumin, oregano and pepper, set them on the onion, garlic and bay leaves, and pour over the orange and lime juice. The pork cooks on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, until it pulls apart easily with a fork.

At dinner, shred the pork, skim the fat from the juices, and broil it on a rimmed baking sheet for 4 to 5 minutes; toss and broil for 2 to 3 minutes more, in batches if it does not fit in a thin layer. With 10 servings, Monday leaves the most leftovers.

Tuesday: butter chicken, 6 hours on LOW

Slow cooker butter chicken: Total 390 min, 6 h 30 min (15 prep + 375 cook), serves 6. The recipe calls itself dump-and-go: chicken thigh pieces, onion, garlic, ginger, passata, tomato paste, spices, salt and sugar go in together, unbrowned. It needs 6 hours on LOW, so start it about 6 1/2 hours before dinner, prep included.

At dinner, stir in the cream, butter and kasuri methi and cook on HIGH for 15 minutes. The recipe's tip says cream added at the start may curdle.

Slow Cooker • Chicken

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

6 hrs 30 mins6 servings

Wednesday: beef chili, 6 to 8 hours on LOW

Slow cooker beef chili: Total 390 min, 6 h 30 min (20 prep + 370 cook), serves 8. This morning starts at the stove: brown the ground beef for 6 to 8 minutes until no pink is left, then soften the onion, red pepper and garlic and stir in the spices and tomato paste. Cook ground beef to 71°C (160°F). It all goes into the slow cooker with the tomatoes, kidney beans and broth.

With 6 to 8 hours on LOW, it fits a day out of up to 8 hours. For a thicker chili, the recipe cooks it uncovered on HIGH for the last 30 minutes, which needs someone at home.

Thursday: black bean burrito bowls, 6 hours on LOW

Slow cooker black bean burrito bowls: Total 375 min, 6 h 15 min (15 prep + 360 cook), serves 6. Canned black beans, onion, red pepper, garlic, salsa, broth and spices cook on LOW for 6 hours, so Thursday is the second later-start day. At dinner, mash about a quarter of the beans, stir in the lime juice and build the bowls on rice with corn, cherry tomatoes, greens and guacamole.

The recipe lists vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and low-fat; its tip says to check the salsa, broth and tortilla chip labels if you need gluten-free. It has the least protein of the five dinners.

Friday: Italian beef sandwiches, 8 to 10 hours on LOW

Slow cooker Italian beef sandwiches: Total 560 min, 9 h 20 min (20 prep + 540 cook), makes 8 sandwiches. In the morning, sear the seasoned chuck roast for 3 to 4 minutes per side, scrape up the pan with the stock and pour it over the beef with the seasonings for the jus. It cooks on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.

The recipe adds the green pepper strips for the last 45 to 60 minutes; if nobody is home then, use the giardiniera, since the recipe offers peppers, giardiniera or both. At dinner, rest the beef for 10 minutes, shred or slice it, skim the jus and toast the rolls if you like.

What can you prep the night before?

None of the five recipes has a note about loading the pot the night before. General slow cooker food safety tips allow prepping meat and vegetables ahead if they are stored separately in the fridge until they go into the pot, so the chopping can move to the evening before:

The browning for the chili and the searing for the Italian beef stay in the morning: neither recipe has a note on doing them ahead. The burrito bowls' meal-prep note keeps rice and beans in the fridge for up to 5 days, so the 4 cups of cooked rice can be made the evening before.

For a day with no slow cooker window, three recipes can be cooked whole ahead of time, refrigerated within 2 hours and reheated to 74°C (165°F):

• Carnitas: up to 2 days ahead, kept in the juices and crisped under the broiler. Cooked on Saturday, it covers Monday, and its leftovers keep until Wednesday.
• Italian beef: up to 3 days ahead, kept in the jus, sliced cold and reheated in the jus on the stove.
• Beef chili: the day before, reheated until steaming hot.

The butter chicken and burrito bowls are also in the Meal Prep Recipes collection. For mornings with less time, our roundup of slow cooker recipes with 10 minutes of prep or less compares their cooking times.

Slow cooker meal plan shopping list

This list comes from the five recipes' ingredient lines, for the servings each states (38 in total). Amounts are added only for the same item in the same unit, and "for serving" and "optional" lines are marked as the recipes mark them.

Meat

• 1.8 kg boneless pork shoulder (pork butt), thawed (carnitas)
• 1 kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs (butter chicken)
• 1 kg lean ground beef, 85-90% lean (chili)
• 1.5 kg boneless beef chuck roast, thawed (Italian beef)

Produce

• 23 cloves garlic (6 carnitas, 4 butter chicken, 4 chili, 3 burrito bowls, 6 Italian beef)
• 2 onions (1 carnitas, 1 burrito bowls)
• 1 medium onion (butter chicken)
• 1 large onion (chili)
• 2 red bell peppers (1 chili, 1 burrito bowls)
• 2 green bell peppers (Italian beef)
• 3 limes (2 carnitas, 1 burrito bowls)
• 125 ml fresh orange juice, 1/2 cup, from 1-2 oranges; keep the squeezed halves (carnitas)
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated (butter chicken)
• 1 jalapeño (carnitas, optional)
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes (burrito bowls)
• 2 cups chopped kale or romaine (burrito bowls)
• 1.5 cups corn kernels, thawed if frozen (burrito bowls)
• 1 cup guacamole (burrito bowls)
• Spiralized zucchini (burrito bowls, optional)
• For serving: diced white onion, cilantro and lime wedges (carnitas); sliced green onion (chili); fresh coriander (butter chicken)

Dairy

• 0.5 cup 35% whipping cream (butter chicken)
• 3 tbsp butter (butter chicken)
• For serving: shredded cheddar and sour cream (chili); dairy-free sour cream (burrito bowls, optional)

Bread, tortillas and rice

• 8 sturdy sub rolls, about 15 cm (6 inches) long (Italian beef)
• 4 cups cooked rice, white, brown or cilantro-lime (burrito bowls)
• For serving: warm corn tortillas (carnitas); basmati rice and naan (butter chicken); tortilla chips (chili, and optional for the burrito bowls)

Cans, jars and pantry

• 3 cans black beans, 540 ml / 19 oz each (burrito bowls)
• 2 cans red kidney beans, 540 ml / 19 oz each (chili)
• 1 can crushed tomatoes, 796 ml / 28 oz (chili)
• 1 can diced tomatoes, 398 ml / 14 oz (chili)
• 680 ml tomato puree (passata), 1 jar (butter chicken)
• 4 tbsp tomato paste (2 butter chicken, 2 chili)
• 250 ml tomato salsa, mild or medium (burrito bowls)
• 500 ml low-sodium beef stock (Italian beef)
• 250 ml beef broth; check it is gluten-free (chili)
• 125 ml vegetable broth (burrito bowls)
• 250 g hot or mild giardiniera (Italian beef)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (Italian beef)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (chili)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (Italian beef)
• 1 tsp sugar (butter chicken)
• For serving: salsa verde (carnitas)

Herbs and spices

• 5.75 tsp salt (2 carnitas, 1.25 butter chicken, 1 chili plus more to taste, 0.5 burrito bowls, 1 Italian beef)
• 1.5 tsp black pepper (0.5 each for the carnitas, chili and Italian beef)
• 7 tsp ground cumin (2 carnitas, 1 butter chicken, 2 chili, 2 burrito bowls)
• 6 tsp dried oregano (2 carnitas, Mexican oregano if you have it; 1 chili; 1 burrito bowls; 2 Italian beef)
• 2 tsp smoked paprika (1 chili, 1 burrito bowls)
• 3 tbsp chili powder, mild chili seasoning blend (chili)
• 2 tsp chili powder (burrito bowls)
• 3 bay leaves (2 carnitas, 1 Italian beef)
• 2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp ground coriander, 0.5 tsp ground turmeric and 1 tbsp kasuri methi (butter chicken)
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder, or 1/2 tsp paprika plus a pinch of cayenne (butter chicken)
• 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp onion powder and 0.5 tsp chili flakes (Italian beef)

The chili's chili powder is a mild seasoning blend; if yours is pure ground chili, its tip says 1 to 2 tsp plus 1 tbsp sweet paprika.

How long do slow cooker leftovers keep?

Each recipe has its own storage note, and the four meat dishes say to refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours. Counted from the day each dinner is cooked:

The carnitas, butter chicken, chili and Italian beef freezer notes say to thaw overnight in the fridge. Add guacamole just before serving, and store the Italian beef rolls and giardiniera separately. The carnitas and Italian beef recipes say not to reheat leftovers in the slow cooker; once hot, the Italian beef can be held in it on WARM. The butter chicken and beef chili are also in the Freezer Meals collection, and our freezer meal plan batch-cooks 5 of its dinners.

Can you put frozen meat in a slow cooker?

No. Slow cooker food safety guidance says not to put frozen or partially thawed meat or poultry into a slow cooker: it takes too long to thaw and may not cook through. The pork shoulder and chuck roast lines here both say "thawed"; the slow cooker tips linked above say to defrost in the fridge, the microwave or cold water, never at room temperature.

The same food safety page says a slow cooker should keep food at 60°C (140°F) or above until you eat, warns against cooking dried beans in one, and says canned beans need no further cooking. Both bean dishes here use canned beans.

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