You go through different stages of your life. Some will be busier than others. Some times are still yet unknown but I’ve found myself having to pick up my organising game as my children get older and my husband has taken on more work hours during the day. (He usually works on-call at night.) I freeze all of my children’s sandwiches for school but I’ve had to think about more substantial sandwich fillings that are freezable for my husband so I’ve come up with the complete guide to freezable sandwich fillings.

My husband was only working maybe 1 or 2 days a week during the day and because he’s driving, he’d often stop at a takeaway burger joint and grab a coffee and one of those cheap burger deals. I know. Not healthy but it was only ever a couple dollars and it would fill a hole.

Now that he’s taken on more full time hours during the day, his appetite has increased so I thought I’d make more of an effort to make his lunch as well. With all good intentions, I’d make it the night before but a couple people in the house getting sick (including me), a couple evenings of back to back school events and I would collapse into bed early saying I’d make his lunch in the morning. Umm well, that didn’t happen.

Sunday afternoons are usually my time for preparing for the week ahead. Any baking that needs to get done plus sandwich making, getting school uniforms ready and planning the meals for the week ahead. If you’re looking for sandwiches with freezable fillings, mix and match some of these.

Breads

• Sliced bread, ie white, wholemeal, multi grain, rye, pumpernickel
• Bread rolls of any kind
• Pita pocket bread filled with your choice of fillings
• Wraps, eg tortilla, Lebanese bread, etc
• Baguette or long bread sticks
• Flavoured bread like olive, foccacia, caramelised onion
• Pizza bread that can be folded over to contain fillings, eg calzone
• Try sweet breads like raisin loaf, croissants, brioche etc for a sweeter option. These work well with cream cheese and fruit spreads.

Fillings

• Any kind of meat, eg chicken (roast, processed sandwich roll, crumbed or deli chicken meat), roast beef, roast pork, corned beef, roast lamb, turkey, bacon, salami, leftover meatloaf, crumbed chicken, lunch meats like Strasburg, Devon, pastrami, cooked sausages/hot dogs, burger patties etc
• Any kind of tinned fish, eg tuna, salmon, fish spreads, sardines
• Eggs, ie sliced, mashed with flavourings like curry powder, gherkin relish, mayonnaise, corn relish, fried, omelette
• Cheese, ie grated, sliced or cream cheese (try different types of cheese like Gouda, Swiss, mozzarella or Camembert)
• Spreads eg mustard pickles, gherkin relish, corn relish, fruit chutney, mustard, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, aioli, mint jelly, pesto, olive tapenade, tartare sauce, salsa etc
• Dips, eg French Onion, hummus, gherkin, capsicum, baba ganoush (eggplant dip), beetroot, sweet potato etc
• Vegetables like roasted semi dried tomatoes, capsicum and eggplant, leftover roast vegetables, olives, dill pickles, finely chopped or grated onion, sauerkraut

Spreads

• Vegemite
• Peanut butter, ie peanut, Nutella, other nut spreads (there are a few on the market now)
• Cream cheese with added relish or chutney (check out other flavoured cheese spreads on the market)
• Marmite
• Jam, any flavour
• Honey
• Golden syrup
• (Add cheese to any of these or combine say peanut butter and jam or honey)

Suggestions

• Ham, Swiss cheese and mustard
• Curried egg and fruit chutney
• Salami, mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes
• Tuna, mayonnaise and grated onion
• Leftover BBQ sausages and tomato/BBQ sauce
• Leftover roast lamb, oven roasted eggplant and baba ganoush
• Deli chicken meat with aoili and semi dried tomatoes
• Corned meat and pickles
• Vegemite and cheese
• Crumbed chicken, Camembert and cranberry sauce
• Hot dog with bacon, cheese and sauce, warmed before wrapping in tin foil
• Tinned baked beans, bacon, grated cheese made into toasted jaffles before wrapping in foil
• Classic Rueben: corned meat, Swiss Cheese and sauerkraut
• Cream cheese, strawberry jam and dried fruit on fruit loaf
• Classic Cheeseburger: Burger bun, meat pattie, cheese and sauce

Tips

• Use fresh bread before freezing for best results.
• Spread with butter to create a seal on the bread to avoid the sandwich going soggy.
• Wrap tightly with cling wrap to avoid freezer burn.
• Toast in the morning and wrap in tin foil for a toasted or warm sandwich if you know it will be eaten within a few hours of being toasted. You can make hot dogs with melted cheese, breakfast wraps, meatball subs, jaffles or a chicken schnitzel for example.
• To add more vegetables to the lunch, consider crudites (vegetable sticks) with dip or a small chunky salad bowl with torn or whole lettuce leaves, cherry tomatoes, cucumber chunks etc.
• No need to stock your pantry with everything on these lists. Try a couple different spreads or fillings and when they’re used up, add a new kind to try.
• Make a few extra for yourself for an easy lunch at home, for a quick and easy, evening meal or when you decide on a last minute drive or picnic.
• Write in permanent marker on the cling film what the filling is on the sandwich.
• In the warmer months be sure to add a freezer brick or frozen drink into the lunch box to avoid food spoiling.

I hope this makes your job of preparing sandwiches easier. It will be one less thing you’ll have to worry about in what’s an already hectic morning routine for me. If you’re looking for more ideas on more substantial packed lunch ideas, check out this list of ‘man-sized’ ideas.