She’s the Earl-y of Sandwich.
A super-organized mom has divided the internet after divulging that she makes five weeks’ worth of school lunches in five minutes to save time.
“They defrost well overnight,” the woman, named Elise, wrote in a Facebook group while describing her “time-saving” hack, per the Daily Mail. The prepper parent claimed that she whips up a giant batch of 27 sandwiches, which she then pops in the freezer.
After letting the noshes defrost overnight, the mother then places a sandwich in the child’s lunchbox, theoretically freeing up time to spend with her kid that would otherwise be wasted making lunch.
Accompanying photos show the mom’s massive sandwich cache — which evokes the grinder equivalent of Fort Knox, or China’s legendary frozen pork reserve.
Social media skeptics had questions about her time-saving hack with some wondering whether it turned the bread to mush or if the fillings were still frozen in the morning.
“I’ve never frozen a sandwich, I just don’t think they will taste the same defrosted,” said one concerned parent. “Is the bread soggy or still taste fresh?”
Another commented, “I didn’t realize ham was safe to freeze and eat defrosted.”
Responding to the backlash, Elise declared that she never let her child eat “soggy” or “frozen” sandwiches.
“They are defrosted the night before,” the mother reiterated, adding that the secret to preventing the bread from going soggy is to use “foods with a low water content.” As such, she avoids including greens such as lettuce or cucumber.
“We add all those things (veggies) on the morning of eating,” Elise explained. “Let the sandwich defrost overnight on bench and then add the salad that morning.”
For the sake of variety, the mother said she lets her child choose the meat, which in the past, has included everything from corned beef to roast lamb and poached chicken.
Interestingly, Elise wasn’t the only parent who prepares her curricular vittles well in advance with many commenters saying their folks swore by his time-saving hack.
“My dad was a single father raising three children and worked full time — he always did this on a Sunday night for school lunches,” one woman wrote. “We never complained, always tasted just fine.”
Another added, “As a kid who ate defrosted sandwiches for school lunch, I always remember them tasting nice and fresh.”
A third woman said she employs the same shortcut except with fresh bread.
“I have about a three-week supply of sandwiches as I have three kids and a hubby as well,” she said. “It works great…I make sure I go to the bakery and buy my bread fresh and do it on the day! No complaints here from anyone.”
The general consensus among health experts is that deli meat can be safely frozen for at least two months.
When it comes to defrosting, however, these proteins should be thawed overnight in the fridge to avoid them becoming a microbe-brewery.
The risk of bacterial growth is exponentially greater once food reaches a temperature above 40 degrees, and food left at room temperature for two hours or more is in the “danger zone” for pathogens.
Meanwhile, the idea of eating frozen anything has been deemed sacrilege in some culinary circles.
When Bon Appetit asked Gordon Ramsay in 2009 if there was any food he wouldn’t eat, the “Kitchen Nightmares” host responded, “Any ready meal [frozen meal].”
“It’s so easy to prepare a quick meal using fresh produce, such as a simple stir-fry, but people still resort to ready meals that all taste exactly the same,” the UK epicure declared.
That same year, the Michelin-starred restaurateur came under fire after it came out that some of his gastropubs were serving frozen food that was prepared off-site, Mashable reported.