Ken likes to have a sandwich in the packed lunch that he takes to work. When we first got married he explained that he liked a sandwich and some leftovers in his lunch and I have been packing it that way ever since. For his sandwich he specifically likes a certain type of store bought bread (whole wheat but not just any whole wheat), with thin sliced lunch meat (no bologna or salami!) , cheese slices and mayo.
The deal is Ken only needs lunches 3 days a week or sometimes less as he has at least two lunch meetings every week. So when I buy the stuff for his sandwiches the stuff doesn't get used up for him before it goes bad. That hasn't been a problem in the past as the kids and I would gladly eat it up but in my continual process of trying to have our family eat healthier and cheaper (which I can enforce best with the kids and I) I would rather not have the kids and I eat this so I decided to try to figure out a way to make it last longer. Here is my solution:
Lunch meat
When I buy the packages of meat (usually they are around a pound) and bring them home I then divide them up into bags in portions that can be used up before going bad and then I stick them all in a larger bag (to protect against freezer burn) and stick them in the freezer. This has worked very well!
Bread
I buy this in large amounts at the day old bread store and then freeze them until needed. I used to take a loaf out at a time and thaw it but now I just take it out and get two slices whenever I need them and stick the loaf back in the freezer. It works great. Just for your info we use my homemade bread for the rest of our bread needs.
Cheese
This one we do use more of as a family so it isn't as much of an issue but if I am trying to stretch it then I will take the pound or so of cheese and slice it up and then divide it up in a few well sealed containers and freeze it. When it is sliced prior to freezing it will still work well for sandwiches after thawing. Many cheeses will fall apart easily after freezing should you try to slice them at that time though mozzarella and Colby jack work well.
This method of dealing with sandwich supplies works well for me!
What a lovely name for a blog.I have just been finding out about Christian homemaker blogs and you are so inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good idea. We have had people give us things that they wouldn't touch (like whole wheat flour. go figure!) and we froze it until we could use it. Haven't ever had anything go bad.
ReplyDeleteAwesome idea! I can never use my sandwich meat fast enough. Will definitely be doing this next time. Hope you don't mind but I linked to your article in my latest blog post :) I had to share!
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing with deli meat for my husband. Now, I no longer run out of it b/c I generally only shop once every few weeks.
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