FREE HOME PLANNER
SAMPLE!
Slow Cooker Menu Plans Pack With Photos
Crocktober 2024 Cooking Schedule:
- Sun 9/29/24: Slow Cooker Vol 1 With Pictures available to purchase ($39 for 24 hours only – join waitlist now)
- Week of 10/6: Cook Slow Cooker Vol 1 Week 1
- Week of 10/13: Cook Slow Cooker Vol 1 Week 2
- Week of 10/20: Cook Slow Cooker Vol 1 Week 3
- Week of 10/27: Cook Slow Cooker Vol 1 Week 4
I have a big fat hairy just-in-time-for-crock-tober secret that I've been keeping from you F.O.R.E.V.E.R.
It's been killing me.
As you probably know, PPP started as a crazy little deal blog where I thought I might make a few dollars on the internet while staying home with my young kids.
We grew a wee bit (yay!)
And way back in 2019, pre-covid, pre-Tiktok (!!!), pre-everything…. I had this kind of crazy idea to start a menu planning box because I knew just how difficult it was to pull together dinner as a busy working mom.
By then for a few years you had joined in “Crock-tober” with PPP.
A friend and my team seriously encouraged me to go for it and actually made it happen, and our first ever “menu planning made easy” recipe tin was born.
(She was lovely.)
If you were here when all that happened, you know that we had just a few issues with those first little tins.
But 5 years later, we have for the most part? figured a thing or two out.
The one thing, though, that we couldn't quite do with our small team was photograph all the recipes for you.
We were able to create the recipes, test the recipes, organize the recipes, make grocery lists from the recipes, but actually photographing all that food and doing the design work to add them to the recipe cards was a monster I truly never dreamed we could take on.
But YOU choosing to support PPP and our products over the last few years finally made it happen.
EEEEEEEEKKKKKK!
I sat down with my son a few weeks ago while he was recovering from knee surgery and showed him the new cards while planning out a few meals.
He was impressed. (He's a pretty tough critic and not often impressed.)
And the very best part?
He said seeing the pictures would inspire him to actually MAKE the recipe on the card.
Here's what he picked to make when I was with him from our current Freezer Meals box and the One Pot Meals box coming out in January of 2025. I. Can't. Wait.
Success.
The PPP design team has seriously worked endless hours that you can't even imagine to make this happen.
I'll be honest, as an owner and cheerleader for our team, I've questioned so many times over the last year if we'd bitten off entirely more than we could chew.
The team is hustling sooooo hard to get through every menu planning box one at a time, simply scooting ahead with one foot in front of the other each day, and for that, I'm beyond grateful.
As you can imagine, cooking, photographing, staging, editing, reviewing, cropping and printing alllllll 720 recipes in all those boxes we've created is a beast. (My friend Liz from Hoosier Homemade is taking photos of the recipe. I'm so incredibly thankful she took this project on, and our design team is doing so much to make these happen in real life!)
So often though as I've thought it through, I keep coming back to the only reason I'm still here typing each day at all:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility value others above yourself.” Philippians 2:3-4
I know these new recipe cards that are finally photographed will help overwhelmed busy moms.
At least 9 million times as I've thought about telling you this secret, I've been a little worried about how you might take the news.
I've wondered… will you be super excited these are coming?
Super mad I didn't figure this out for you on the first go-round?
Or do you just not care and figure they're not for you either way?
But here's what I do know.
I know that when that tired young momma pulls out the Texas pulled pork slow cooker recipe card from week 7 (with a pretty encouraging picture!) she might actually be willing to prep dinner (even though she doesn't want to.)
I know that when that worn-out mom with a grouchy teenager who really wants Chick-fil-A shows them a picture of the chicken nachos in week two, she probably can convince them that buying some extra chips and queso will taste better than even the very best salty waffle cut fry.
(Okay, okay, maybe that's a biggggg crazy dream, but we can just pretend around here, right?)
And I definitely know that showing the picture of those Italian beef sliders in week 5 to a big ole' 24-year-old boy will convince him that even he can choose to quickly whip up a meal.
But do you know where I really think the magic starts?
Right here in our sweet community. 🙂
So here's where I need YOU.
We can't launch them all at the same time (for our small team and warehouse that would be C R A Z Y!)
Here's the plan:
- September 29th at 7PM Eastern Time we'll launch our very first Slow Cooker Menu Plans – Photo Edition (YAY!)
- Join the waitlist to get on the list HERE by entering your email address
- It will be $39 for 24 hours only.
- These will ship in time for you to join us and use them for Crock-tober (YAY!)
- We'll be making weeks 1-4 of the Slow Cooker Box
I truly can't even wait to ship these to you.
We'll also be offering the Ultimate Crock-tober Kit this year for a limited time while supplies last (because we know you all love a good bundle deal!)
Here's what's included in the Ultimate Crock-tober Kit (also live September 29th at 7PM Eastern Time!)
- 1 Slow Cooker Menu Plans – Photo Edition Set
- 1 Recipe Binder in Whipped Cream
- 1 Wood Block Recipe Card Holder
- Total cost = $69 ($95 value!)
So go ahead, tell all your friends, and please please please? 🙂 show up here on September 29th to snag these very first new fancy boxes (tell them to join the waitlist too!)
To those of you who bought our very first slightly-dinged-up little recipe tins way back in 2019, thank you for supporting PPP and trusting us way back then to keep working to make you the perfect products.
Thank you for cheering us on, Crock-tober-ing with us, Freezer-Friday-ing with us, dreaming big and planning with us too.
As always, we're right over here on this side of the screen, truly cheering for your family and for YOU.
Hugs!
Laurie
P.S. I HATE when I see “thank yous” on social media, because goodness, I know that it IS NOT ME that makes all of this happen ~ it's truly these cuties right here working hard day in and day out. Please be sure to thank them in the thanking – they do the heavy lifting so that our crazy big dreams come to life.
Forever thankful.
Hi Laurie,
I love the idea of having pictures on the recipe cards! I was just wondering if you were going to have the options of adding them to the pdfs as well?
Thanks
Hi Kristen! Right now we do not have plans to add the pictures to the PDF, they will only be available in the new Slow Cooker box. I hope that answers your question! 🙂
Crocktober
Please do not send these to me. I’m really sorry for any confusion but I don’t want to receive them.
Thank you,
Connie Baker
Hi Connie! You will only receive the new Slow Cooker Menu box if you purchase it. I hope that helps, but if you have any more questions about it please send us an email at shop@passionatepennypincher.com and we will help you from there! 🙂
I am so excited for these! I have all of your sets already but just plan to give them to my grown daughters as I upgrade .
They are excited now too ♥️
Oh, I love this! I’m excited for your daughters to get them too and can’t wait to hear what their favorites are! 🙂
If I am understanding this Vol 1 is just like the old Vol 1 but has pictures? Moving forward all New boxes that you come out with will have pictures? So if we purchase it is the same Vol – that we have previously purchased but with pictures? I think that will be helpful especially if you are a visual person.
Yes, that is exactly right Rener. We are just continuing to update and improve our products the best way we can!
PPP Team I think that this is an excellent idea! I know throughout the years I have sent many emails asking recipe questions of you guys. I think it is a great thing that you are changing the products and moving in a positive direction. I love your products everything you guys make I own. I have purchased most all of them at launch. I started by purchasing the digital version then moved on and bought the physical version. I didn’t get any discount or “upgrade”. I see all of these comments on here and they are upsetting. That is not how life works it is a choice will I be content with what I have or do I spend the money and upgrade. I know some people who get the newest iPhone every year. My mother in law last year got a notice from her cellular company that she had to get a new phone. She was still using I believe it was an iphone 4. I don’t get to take my car back to the dealership and say I want an upgrade. I personally own the digital version, every box, the hard recipe tins, and the recipe binders. I purchased most all of these at launch. I decided to purchase each new product to make life easier for myself. The digital was great but I had trouble remembering which recipe was in what box then the phone would ring or a kid would yell Mom and I would forget where I was at in my search. So I got the boxes which I loved the front index sheet/ Table of contents. I also loved being able to go through grab a handful of cards and set them out to menu plan for the week. Well I don’t have the space to have a “safe” dedicated place for these. My 2 year old got them off my desk threw them all over the floor and ripped a box. So I got all tin boxes to prevent that from happening let me tell you that was not fun to sort through. Well the tin boxes are great but I didn’t label them so again I didn’t know what was what and I didn’t like that. I could have probably got a label maker and labeled them but I didn’t really like the idea of having to pick through the tin. When you came out with the recipe binder I bought a dozen of them at launch. I got one for each box and then one to menu plan for the month. I love being able to pull out the cards and set up a menu plan. But I would hate putting them back in the tin and a small pile would stack up before I put them away. Now my natural progression with these products and upgrading made sense to me. We are a single income family with two children. I don’t have a large sum of money to do these upgrades. For some people upgrading will make sense for others it will not. Upgrading at this launch doesn’t make sense to me right now as already this month I have had to get a new clothes dryer and the AC in my car stopped working. But if it makes sense when you have a sale I might. I am sorry that your excitement over the launch of this product has been marked with such negativity. I truly love all of your products and the amount of time and money this system saves me is well worth continued investment. I am very excited to see this upgrade to the product line. Thank You
Thank you so much, Nicole, for the sweet words and encouragement. That means SO SO much! We are very grateful for you and for your continued support of PPP! 🙂
I, too, already have several recipe boxes. Can we just order the pictures? I would love the pics, but am not going to reorder everything.
We truly appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration, Linda! We plan on continuing to add pictures to our boxes, so hopefully any boxes you decide to add to your collection in the future will have photos too. Thank you for supporting PPP~we so appreciate you. 🙂
Linda,
I also would love to just purchase the photos, as I have all of the boxes. PPP, I hope you consider this request.
Thanks,
Connie
Hi Connie, We truly appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration! We do plan on continuing to add pictures to our boxes, so hopefully any boxes you decide to add to your collection in the future will have photos too. Thank you for supporting PPP ~we so appreciate you.
I love the pictures! While I do have several of the boxes, I am SO excited to see how the meal should look. I’m a visual person and this helps! I’m saving all of mine for when my daughter moves out in a few years. By then, she’ll know what most of the recipes are or she can call and ask for a picture lol
I love that idea, Lindsey! It makes us so happy to hear that you’re excited for the new Slow Cooker box~we so appreciate your continued support. 🙂
I love these recipe boxes and am looking forward to Crocktober. I can’t remember, are some of them where you can put in the freezer to go from freezer to crockpot? For making for Freezer Friday? Looking forward to it.
Hi Kim! Our Slow Cooker Menu Planning Packs do not include freezer meals, but our Freezer Menu Planning Pack includes slow cooker meals. However, I’m sure your could try freezing some of the Slow Cooker meals that are primarily meat to cook later. Let us know if you give some a try! 🙂
Thank you, that is helpful, I am pulling some slow cooker to freezer meals out of my Freezer series boxes now. Thank you.
You are so welcome~happy to help!
Love the idea of photos! But for someone like me that has almost all the boxes, I would not reinvest. Perhaps you could offer digital versions for past owners so we could look at the photos when interested. (I wouldn’t go through the process of printing the digital copies either if I’m being honest).
I think that totally makes sense! We’re super excited to make them for those who don’t have them, but I definitely completely understand not re purchasing. Thank you so much for your feedback!
As someone who has purchased the entire collection it would be nice if we could get a digital download at a reduced rate as a continued customer incentive. I wpuld love the picture recipe cards but at this point seems like a luxury purchase.
We will definitely keep your suggestion in mind and so appreciate your continued support of PPP, Nicole!
Just seems like those of us who have supported this business are getting cheated. The new boxes will be upgraded ours wont, but can be if we repurchase? Yeah, maybe give us loyal customers a discount. We already have these products!! Seems unfair, I dont fault the improvement.
While I can understand feeling like you should get something for being a loyal customer…surely you don’t go to big businesses and expect them to give you a free upgrade just because you bought a different version than the latest and greatest that was just released.
Love the idea, the picturea are a great addition!
I’m also feeling the pain of the others who have already made previous purchases and have the complete collection.
Praying you’ll find a way to make it work for us who are fully invested with the complete collection.
Love all the menus!!
Thank you for all that the Team does!!
Love and Blessings,
Aida
I wanted the photo box bad enough to reorder and I’m planning to give my old box to a new mom, friend, etc with notes written on our favorite recipes.
I love that Kimberly! Thank you so much for sharing!
Great idea! I have already purchased the large bundle of digital recipes but will consider purchasing the photo version. I have two quick questions please:
1. I signed up to be notified when launched will this sign up also cover when the ultimate package is ready with the recipe binder?
2. Please recommend a good slow cooker and the best size to get for the recipes that include meat and veggies. We are a small family.
Thanks
Hi Yvonne, I am so glad you like the photos! Yes, the sign up should notify you for the ultimate package. For your second question, here is a link of some of our teams favorite slow cookers we recommend and use often. I hope that helps! https://passionatepennypincher.com/9-best-slow-cookers-to-buy-for-your-family/
I can understand those who have already bought the digital or physical boxes. But as someone who’s always “looked” and never bought because I couldn’t afford it, this is SOOOOO EXCITING❤️. Thank you, ladies!!!
Yay, we cannot wait for you to see these in real life Ana!
This is a great idea and they look wonderful. However, since there are not any new recipes included in the box I will not be repurchasing what I already have. I do feel badly for the people that just purchased this box under the guise that it was going away, not just being updated and improved.
We completely understand and we so appreciate you sticking to your budget. We simply did this to continue to improve our products, but we do not expect you to buy it if you already have a set. We will continue to make all future boxes with photos, so hopefully the next box you purchase you can enjoy the photos! Thank you so much for your support of PPP!
I’m so excited for you. My daughter just got married and these will probably make a lovely Christmas gift .
Just received my THIRD planner in the mail the other day. It has been a huge help the past three years as our family has navigated major life changes. Thank you for making products that inspire and encourage.
Oh how exciting! This is the perfect gift for new brides. I am so happy to hear you love the new planner and it has been helpful for you. This is why we do what we do and we are SO thankful for your support Serenity!
That’s very exciting! I know I’ve seen some reviews that mention how it’d be nice to have pictures to go with the cards so it’s nice to know you take in consideration the ideas of your customers. 🙂 I am a little sad because I literally just finished purchasing all the physical sets that are available, but I have that phone photo sticker printer thing that y’all recommended for the planner planning prep party thing (I forgot what it’s actually called) so I could always take my own pictures and stick them on the cards. Or I could give my original set away as a gift to one of my friends and maybe get them to see the awesomeness that is your entire line of products. The possibilities are endless. Anyway Thanks! You guys rock!
We always try to listen and improve our products when we are able to. We completely understand where you are coming from. Both ideas you mentioned sound like great options. We are so thankful for your amazing support Hannah!
Do you think you could release the photos to those of us who’ve already bought the physical cards? I’d love to buy them as maybe a sticker to add to the card?
I already have this box or I’d buy it! the photos make all the difference in choosing a dinner
Thank you so much for your suggestion Jamie. We will keep that in mind for future products. We so appreciate your support of PPP!
Can you send the pictures in pdf form to those who bought already? At least we’d have them as a reference
Buying the photos separately as stickers to add to the cards is a fantastic idea and would be a way to bridge the gap between those who’ve already bought the physical sets but just don’t have the pictures. Then those who buy going forward would get the sets with the pictures. Definitely think this is a great solution to this tricky situation in your newest exciting addition!!
I’m so excited! This is what has held me back from buying the recipe packs, so I look forward to building my collection as you make more of these photo bins! Also, how do we get ahold of that adorable Thanksgiving bag? LOVE IT!
So glad you are excited Ginny! We have been working so hard on this project and cannot wait for you to see them in person. Let me see if I can find the link for the bag!
Did you find the link? Thanks for looking!
Yes, those are our totes that we make but we are currently out of stock of that specific one. I know we are giving away a free tote with orders of $50 or more! We have several designs and they are super fun and randomly selected and sent with your order. I hope that helps!
I agree. For those of us that already purchased all the boxes you should have stickers of just the photos we can add.
Thanks
We will keep your request in mind for the future. Thank you so much for your suggestion and support of PPP!
I would love to have pictures, but I already purchased the menu sets. Pictures would help me so much though. Can you have stickers for them? That way I can add then to the box I already own.
We do not have that option at the moment Caren, but we will definitely keep that in mind for future product ideas. Thank you so much for your suggestion!
Hello,
I am clicking the link to join the waitlist but the next window will not accept my email and password, it says unknown email address. I have a PPP account. I would really like to try the slow cooker meals! How do I get on the waitlist?
Thank you,
Taryn
I am so sorry to hear that Taryn. Please email shop@passionatepennypincher.com and they can look up your account and help you with this!
This kinda hurts my heart. I have all the boxes then switched to digital because I bought the lunch menu plan when on sale to give digital a try. Love the easy way to search with the use of digital so I again bought all digital copy. I can’t afford to do this a third time but I do appreciate your photo idea.
I am so sorry you feel that way Lenora. We are not asking you to buy the product again, and we completely understand and appreciate you sticking yo your budget. We created this to continue to improve our products over time as pictures were not something we were able to add before. All of our future Menu plan boxes will have photos, so hopefully you can get one in the future with new recipes. Thank you so much for your amazing support over the years. We appreciate you so much!
Hi!
Trying to make sure I understand the concept here. This is basically a roll-out of new editions of current boxes that will include photos of each recipe? I have all the boxes. This is not an add-on anything that one can get for those boxes. You can just buy the new photo edition if you’d like. Am I tracking correctly?
Thanks!
Hi Joni, yes that is correct. All of the recipes are the same, we are just trying to improve our products as time goes on! This was a huge suggestion that many people wanted and we were finally able to make it come to life! All future boxes will have the photos going forward.
Will week 1 of Crocktober be the week beginning Oct 6 or ending Oct 6? Thanks!
Yes, Crocktober starts October 7th through November 1st! We will be using weeks 1-4 in the Slow Cooker Volume 1 Menu Plan. I hope that helps!
The photos are a fabulous idea! I know I will not be re-buying all the boxes I already have – not a frugal move to me. Is there any plan to print the photos as stickers for those if us that already have a box set – we could put the photo sticker on the cards we already have – win win. Reduce the cost, have the picture and not waste the set we already purchased. Just an idea – as I love your idea of photos! You guys are the best !
That is a great idea Linda. We will keep that in mind for the future. Thank you so much for your amazing support!
I’m sorry but a lot of us have paid A lot of money and gotten every single box, now you want us to repurchase them because you thought of putting pictures on? What kind of compensation or deal would we get for all the boxes we already bought. I’m sorry, not very frugal
Nobody said you have to buy the boxes again. Not Laurie, not any PPP team member, or anybody else. If you haven’t purchased a box, or get a new one going forward, there will be pictures. I personally only use digital and have never purchased a physical box due to space constrictions (plus I have a color laser printer and just print out what I use and then store in my file cabinet to use again).
I understand your frustration Denise! We are super thankful for your support and we do not expect you to buy them again if that is not something you need. We are just trying to continue to grow and improve our products to be the best they can be. This will be added to all future menu plan boxes from now on, so hopefully the next time you purchase a new box you will have the pictures for those as well!
Those that have bought the digital, will we be getting updated cards with the photos?
Hi Sara, unfortunately as of now we will only be adding the pictures to our physical menu cards! I hope that helps.
Hi Katelyn, I am genuinely not trying to be critical, but clearly there are people who feel a bit cheated (I am sure this is not your intention)at this announcement as they have purchased one or two sets already. As you respond to comments letting them know that they won’t be getting an upgrade, you might consider replacing the “I hope that helps” line. In this context, it doesn’t feel very helpful.
I am so sorry Sue, of course that is not my intention at all and I will absolutely reconsider my wording when responding to all of you. Thank you for pointing that out for me to improve!
Is the digital version going to have the pictures added to it as well? I already purchased the entire digital collection, but I would love to have it with pictures. They look amazing!
Hi Elizabeth, unfortunately as of now we will only be adding the pictures to our physical menu cards! I hope that helps.
I second this request!!
Will the pictures be added to digital? I have all the sets un digital and I would buy them again if they came with pictures
These look fabulous! Thank you, Laurie and your wonderful team!
So glad that you like them Cathleen and we so appreciate your support!
Are the recipes new or just adding photos to the cards?
Hi Roberta! Same recipes – just updated with photos. Hope that helps!
What is the secret? I have no clue what you are tal
Hi Sandra! We’re adding pictures of each recipe with our new slow cooker box. Hope that helps! 🙂