Freezer Cooking: Homemade Uncrustables

This is something I did last week, and totally forgot that I took pictures of to share with you.

Last month, I saw this post on making homemade Uncrustables.  It came just as I was realizing that it would be FAR more cost effective to pack lunches every day vs. having my daughter buy them at school ($2.30 for an elementary plate lunch, and she was buying a dessert item which was bringing it up to $3.05 a day!  I can feed my whole family dinner for that much and have leftovers!).  I was looking for freezer lunch items that I could toss frozen into a lunch box and they would be thawed by lunch.

I had read this idea before, but never really thought about doing it myself, but the tips she gave made it seem sooo easy, so I thought I would give it a shot!

I had also just picked up two loaves of bread from the 99CentsOnly store, so I figured this would be a good way to use up one of them instead of having to toss it in the freezer (not my favorite way to store bread!)

My daughter does not like jelly on her peanut butter sandwiches, so that was one step (and expense) that got left out of this one.

I assembled the sandwiches whole first, and then I used a glass with a wide circle top to cut the centers out of the sandwiches.

You can see the fork that I intended to use to seal the edges, however I found that my bread was too dry, and the fork caused it to rip (my younger daughter didnt seem to mind...I decided that one could be her lunch!).  Also, the pressure of the cup did a pretty good job of sealing them.  It wasn't perfect, but it was better than the fork making them all tear.

Once I had them all cut out, I placed them on a cookie sheet, and put them directly into the freezer this way for about 1-2 hours  (don't forget about them or they will become very hard and freezerburnt).

You can see the semi-sealed state, and some peanut butter protruding from the sides.
 I think if I had used fresher bread, this would not have been an issue.

Once they were frozen, I bagged them individually (ready to toss in the lunch box), and put all the small bags into a large freezer bag and placed them back into the freezer.

I was not quite as ambitious as the author of the original post I saw.  I did not attempt to turn my leftover bread crusts into homemade croutons!  I did save them though...to feed the ducks when we go to the park (we went that night and tried, but there were no ducks).

I put one of these in my daughters lunchbox on Friday, and she loved it!  The first freezer item (aside from dinners) that she has actually not complained about!  Woohoo!  We have a winner!  LOL.

I'd love some more freezer lunch ideas!  Leave a comment or a link below if you know of any!