How to Freeze Sandwiches

Did you know you can freeze sandwiches? Well, now you do!

You will find lots of tips and ideas on how to simplify and streamline your lunch-packing process in the MOMables subscription plan! A little (or a lot) of help never hurts!

Having ready-made sandwiches on hand is a great way to avoid fast food or cafeteria lunches, or just to save time later in the week. They’ll keep longer when frozen, so you can make extras without worrying about having to use them all right away either.

These work great for any meat and cheese combo, whether you plan to toast them or not—just cheese, ham and Swiss, turkey and cheddar, even a tuna melt!

If you don’t want to bother making them into pockets (why not? Pockets are way more fun!), just build your sandwiches normally and skip ahead to the next section.

1. After cutting your crusts off or using the cutter on a pocket sandwich maker, use your fingers to smush down the middle section of the bottom slice of bread for each sandwich, leaving a ½-inch “frame” around the outer edges.
2. Add in your fillings. You can layer them a little thicker than you normally would. Be sure to keep everything within the flattened area, leaving the outer edge free.
3. Use your pocket sandwich press to seal the edges. If you don’t have one, you can use a fork to seal the edges, going around the whole thing like you would to seal a pie crust.

There are a few ways to freeze sandwiches:

• Put each sandwich in a zip-lock sandwich baggie and push out all the air, then place those in a large freezer bag or double-bagged bread bags. (Re-use the bags your loaves came in! But be sure to put one inside the other!)
• Separate each sandwich with a square of waxed paper, and stack them in double-bagged bread bags or layer them 2 to 3 deep in a freezer bag (and use a straw to suck out all the excess air).
• Lay the sandwiches on a cookie sheet and freeze for 1 to 2 hours, then stack them or lay them in the double-bagged bread bags or freezer bags.

Okay, now what?

Thaw and Eat: When you’re ready to eat them, just pull one out of the freezer and let it thaw right in the lunchbox for a regular meat and cheese sandwich.

Grill: Spread a thin layer of butter or margarine on the outsides of the frozen sandwich. Then grill in a double-sided grill or panini press until the outsides are golden brown (about 4 to 5 minutes, depending on your grill).

Fry: Cook in a skillet on medium heat for around 3 minutes per side.

Bake: Preheat the oven to 400F, and cook on each side for 5 to 8 minutes. I like a toastier look, so I then turn the oven to broil and keep the tray on the middle rack and broil for 1 minute. Watch out—it burns fast!

I would not recommend using a toaster, because you risk oil from the cheese dripping out and catching fire. There are better ways to get everyone to hustle out the door in the morning.

MOM Notes: For sandwiches where the filling might soak through, spread a thin layer of soft (not melted!) butter or thick dressing (not mayo—it tends to separate when thawing) on what will be the insides of both pieces of bread for each sandwich.

Use frozen sandwiches within 3 months for best results.

And don’t worry about all those crust scraps! Save them for our Frugal French Toast Sticks or Apple Herb Stuffing recipes! Or use them to make your own bread crumbs for MOMables Healthy Chicken Nuggets, Veggie Nuggets, Black Bean Veggie Burgers, Homemade Fish Sticks, 3 Ingredient Mini Tuna Balls, Chicken Parmesan Cups, or your Grandma’s “famous” meatloaf!

Want to prep and freeze a wider variety of sandwich options? Check out this MOMables post for How to Freeze DIY PBJ Uncrustables!