Yep you read it correctly ‘freezer sandwiches’ – sandwiches that are frozen in your freezer! I can't tell you how much this has given me sanity on school mornings, along with my Lunch Box Meal Planning (read about Lunch Box Meal Planning next week).
A Small Background On Me
I am a ‘work from home mum’ – running the This Mum At Home Blog & 2 x This Mum At Home Vlog Channels, also incorporating a personalised invitation business Josabella Kids. Up until a few months ago I was also running my own Photography Business that I have had going for the last 7 years whilst having Joseph (7) & Isabella (2). I have only recently slowed down with that, due to This Mum At Home & Josabella Kids growing and taking more of my time :) Yes I'm busy! However everything contributes financially so I can stay home with my kids, raise them, be their for their schooling needs (yes we have nightly homework even in grade 2) & just give them as much of me as possible for the best foundation I can to their life. So even though I'm exhausted at times it's totally worth it being so busy!
In saying that I have many many many late nights working which results in little sleep before getting up to start a school day. So when it comes to school I have to be super organized with everything to do with school and that includes the lunch box.
My Lunch Box Routine
Generally speaking Sunday is my day to do my Lunch Box Meal Planning, which involves preparing pretty much everything for the entire week of school.
On week nights when I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner, showering the kids & helping Joseph with homework, I am also packing his lunch box! Pantry items such as popcorn, muesli bars, fruit, rice cakes etc are packed into the lunch box from my prepared school snack box from Sunday’s planning. My cold items such as custard, cheese & other fruit/veg are also mostly prepared on the Sunday where I can and put into a special section in the fridge. They are then ready to grab in the morning quickly and throw into the lunchbox with a icepack.
What I Use To Do
Now WHAT I USE TO DO WITH JOSEPHS’S SANDWICH was make it fresh in the morning, because my husband brings fresh bread home every morning from the bakery. The problem with this is I’m always running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get myself ready and yelling at Joseph to get ready and not be playing! So a lot of the time I’m packing the lunch box from the fridge and making the sandwich right on the time we should be running out the door. Granted I could get up earlier, but with the amount of sleep I get (or don’t get) as it is, I don’t want to get up any earlier than I have to . . . to be honest I couldn’t emotionally do it. I suppose I could also make it the night before, but with everything I already have to do it’s one more thing I do not want to have to add to my evening of chaos.
What I Do Now.
MY IDEAL PREPERATION OF THE SANDWICH is to have them all done along with everything else on the Sunday as part of the weekly Lunch Box Meal Planning. This SAVES ME SOME PRECIOUS TIME that I need for other things. Obviously making 5 sandwiches and storing in the fridge for a week is not a great idea. The freshness, quality and ‘food safety’ of it is not acceptable. However, MAKING AND FREEZING MY SANDWICHES is an ideal solution to saving time and keeping to an acceptable food standard to pack for school lunches.
Now that I prepare my sandwiches on a Sunday for the week, all I need to do is pull one out and place in the fridge the night before I need for a easy pack in the morning. It’s now part of my Meal Planning & takes seconds to do. It's given me a piece of sanity in my mornings!
Watch the video below to see how I make mine, along with tips on WHAT TO & WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN FREEZING SANDWICHES.