Office Lunches 2022

I'm a man of relatively simple tastes, and find sandwiches the most convenient for lunch as I'm sometimes out in the field when not lunching at my computer. My general philosophy with food is that unless it involves beer or wine in hand, the cooking shouldn't take longer than the eating. I have a cunning plan that meets this requirement with lunches by making in bulk every 3-4 weeks. Time spent (excluding shopping) would average out at less than 3 mins per lunch, often closer to 2 mins.

Ingredients:

3 loaves of bread. My preference is Freya's, as it seems to freeze and revive pretty well.
2 bachelor's handbags (supermarket rotisserie chickens) - the ones in plastic bags are good, as the juices can be frozen and used as chicken stock. Alternatively, 1 chicken and a pile of ham or whatever else you fancy.
Hot English Mustard, but that's really a choice thing.

Method:

De-bone the chicken when it has cooled to "warm".
Chop into roughly 1cm chunks, skin and all, toss on a bit of salt & pepper, then roughly divide into per-sandwich piles. (3x loaves of Freya's with 3 slices per sandwich = 18 sandwiches)
Slice of bread #1 gets some mustard, and half the chicken portion. (use tongs for the chicken as it's easier to manage portions as a good "grab")
Slice #2 goes on, as does another dose of chicken (or ham, or whatever), then slice #3 for the lid.
Tightly seal in clingfilm squeezing out as much air as possible. This is important, as you don't want freezer burn or sandwiches that dry out as they thaw.
Load completed sandwiches back into the empty bread bags, squeeze out any air, and toss in the freezer.

Production time will decrease as you find your method - I have sufficient bench space to build and wrap 2 sammies at a time, and it's definitely quicker than if I did them individually.

If I grab a sandwich as I head out the door in the morning it'll generally be pretty much thawed by lunchtime, without the need to refrigerate, which is especially handy if I'm out and about somewhere.

I can already hear the groans of those who prefer something different every day, but lunch is very much a means to an end for me, and this "no surprises" approach suits perfectly because after several years I'm still not sick of them. I've even been known to go to the freezer during the weekend when out of other options, and they can be changed up by slipping in a slice of cheese and giving them 5 mins or so in the toasted sandwich maker.

Another pro-tip is to see if you can get your hands on commercial clingfilm. There is a WORLD of difference between it and the "name brand" stuff you get in supermarkets. For one, it actually sticks to itself, and secondly it's a lot stronger so maximum effort can be applied to wrapping tightly. We got hold of a 600m roll a while back, and at ~ 600mm per sandwich that's 1000 sandwiches, which will do almost 5 years of lunches.

JOB DONE!

MikeAqua

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