Make Ahead Freezer Sandwiches

Did you know you can make sandwiches ahead of time, freeze them, toss a frozen one into a lunch bag in the morning, and have a thawed sandwich ready for lunch?  This is my favorite parenting hack!  This makes getting lunches ready in the morning a total breeze.

Now, whether I pack everything but the sandwich the night before and toss one in in the morning or whether Jake packs his lunch on his own, having sandwiches ready to go makes things so much easier!

 Ideas that have worked well for us:

*Ham & cheddar cheese with mayo

*Turkey & havarti with mayo & mustard

*Peanut butter & honey

*Almond butter & jam

*Grilled cheese sandwich (or grilled ham & cheese sandwich)

*Quesadilla (sometimes with chicken, cumin, and chili powder for extra flavor) 

Tips:
1. Meat, nut butters, jam, condiments, and cheese freeze and thaw well.  Veggies do not.  If you want lettuce or tomato on a sandwich, it's best to pack it in a separate bag and add it to the thawed sandwich at lunch.

2. Hot sandwiches like grilled cheese sandwiches, or even quesadillas, can be frozen.  For hot sandwiches, make sure to let them cool to room temperature before putting them in the freezer, though.  If I make grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, I often make an extra one or two that can be tossed into the freezer once it cools to room temperature.  It just helps add variety.

3. To make sure your family member will have enough time for thawing, do a test run over the weekend.  Take a sandwich out of the freezer around the time you normally leave and try eating it around the school's lunchtime.  This will help assure you your child won't be sadly gnawing on a frozen sandwich at lunch.  If it turns out there isn't enough time for the sandwich to fully thaw, you can always move one from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before.  The bread always tastes a little drier to me when I try that, although Jake never notices.

4. Once you try it out a couple of times, make a batch of sandwiches.  Either make 5 for the week on Sunday or try converting an entire loaf of bread into sandwiches in one fell swoop.

5. Frozen sandwiches typically last a month before the bread becomes kind of stale tasting when thawed.

6. When making batches of sandwiches, using cookie cutters is just as easy as using a knife to cut them.  Plus, it makes the sandwich more fun for the kid!  You could try using certain cookie cutters for certain sandwich combinations or have some holiday theme with the shapes, if you want. I often just use one shape for all of the combos, though, because that's the easiest.

7. On school nights when things are too busy to put together a nice dinner, grab a frozen sandwich and toss it in a pan, microwave, or panini press for a quick hot dinner.  Apparently toasted PB&Js are tasty!

8. I usually get ham-off-the-bone or rotisserie chicken at the deli counter of the grocery store, to avoid overly processed meats.  While there, I keep my eye open for sales.  With frozen sandwiches, it's easy to buy a pound of roast beef or something you may not normally buy, turn it into frozen sandwiches, and sprinkle them throughout the month. That way, you can basically use the sale price over a longer period of time while adding variety to the mix.

9. During the sandwich assembly process, it's easy to get the kids involved so they feel invested in their lunch.  Jake loves to be in charge of using the cookie cutters!

10. When using a cookie cutter, if you can't get a clean cut by pressing the cutter down into the sandwich, try flipping the sandwich over and pressing it down onto the cutter, like the lower center sandwich in the top photo.

Sandwiches assembled & cut

A loaf's worth of sandwiches, ready for the freezer in just 10 minutes!