Loaves of Sandwiches

I love to cook, it is one of my great passions. But when cooking becomes the never ending chore of filling pie holes, just to satisfy hunger, on a contiuous basis, with no end in sight, I grow very weary of my passion. One cooking chore which ranks up there in passion busters is packing lunches. I would rather run a rusty file up my shin than pack lunches every day (my kids love my "I rather" statements.)

One day while whining on the phone to my mom, I confessed my hate of lunch packing. So my mom had told me that years ago our cousin Yoshi used to make a weeks worth of sandwiches and freeze them. So my first attempt was the ever easy peanut butter and strawberry jam sammie. I made each sandwich, using the entire loaf of bread, individually wrapped them in plastic wrap, placed each back in the bread bag, labeled the bag, and froze. The next morning, I packed the frozen sandwiches which defrosted by lunch time but still remained cool.

I took this concept to new heights and started making “loaves” of cold cut meat and cheese sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches (place cheese between two pieces of bread, butter the outsides of the sandwich and wrap, grill later.) I even experiment with different rolls, breads and croissants to keep it interesting. Do yourself a favor and freeze a “loaf” of sandwiches for this coming week.

Note: Most vegetables and fruits will not freeze well. Avoid egg salad, mayonnaise, and sour cream as these do not freeze well. Mustard, relish, ketchup, and anything pickled will hold up. Any herbed cream cheese and Laughing Cow™ brand cheese spreads freeze well and are a good substitute for mayonnaise.