It had never occurred to me to make peanut butter sandwiches ahead of time and freeze them. I didn't even know you could freeze peanut butter, had no idea what it would be like once thawed. Not wanting to send my Pickle off to school with a sandwich that might not be to his liking, I experimented first. I used my SweetBytes heart sandwich cutter since it made 2 symmetrical hearts I could put together, so if it didn't turn out well I'd only be wasting one slice, and if it did turn out, Pickle could have it for an after school snack. I suppose in retrospect I could have just folded the one slice in half - but that wouldn't have looked as cute :)
So here it is, a plain peanut butter sandwich on white wheat (no butter or maragarine). I spread it thick so I could see if the consistency of the peanut butter was affected.
Lacking sandwich baggies, I wrapped it in plastic cling wrap and put it in the freezer overnight. Frozen, the peanut butter looked about the consistency of fudge. I don't know why I thought it might not freeze well - after all, I put peanut butter balls in the freezer and they come out just fine :)
When I packed the sproutlets' lunch bags, I put the frozen PB in a lidded sandwich box to thaw until noon, so I could see if it got mushy from condensation, and what it would look like to Pickle by lunchtime if I gave him one packed frozen.
When I opened up the sandwich box at lunch time, I was pleasantly surprised - it was perfect! There was no moisture in the container, the bread was soft, and the peanut butter seemed to have returned to it's original consistency - only slightly darker in colour. And the best thing was, it had not soaked into the bread at all! Peanut butter sandwiches packed freshly made don't look this good hours later - the peanut oil seeps into the bread - but this frozen and thawed sandwich looked freshly made!
Pickle did have it for snack after school, and ate it right up - success!
Now I can make a whole loaf of bread into sandwiches and freeze them, then just grab one in the morning and pack it frozen :) Hooray for time-savers!
Holy cow batman! That is awesome. It's one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments. Thanks for experimenting and sharing!! :)
ReplyDeleteKids really like those Uncrustables which are basically the same thing, but I'm sure full of stuff they shouldn't be eating. I've been a little wary of them myself, although I've heard from adults that they are really good frozen too. Think I'll have to try your version and see if my son will eat it. Wish my daughter ate PB sandwiches because it would sure make my life easier since she's the one that goes to school!
ReplyDeleteOooo That would be sooo good with the bread thawed and the PB still frozen-y... Like in Tillamook's Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream! I wonder if you could just spread and freeze PB onto wax paper...
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