Specifically, taking the time and making the relatively small effort to pack your own school or work lunch sandwich(es) can make a big difference in your overall health and well being – especially over the long run!
Classic Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich: There’s no purer example of the ideal
bread-borne creation, optimized for both nutrition and aesthetic appeal!
It may seem obvious to some faithful readers… But taking charge and making your own school- or work-lunch sandwich(es) can go a long way toward helping you maintain your individual health and sense of well being…
Major advantages
There are major advantages to be leveraged simply in making your own lunch-time sandwich(es). Hot the least of which is making them exactly as you like them!
I recently tripped over a post about ‘tips for ordering the healthiest sandwich’. And I immediately segued to the ultimate common-sense, logical method of achieving the healthiest sandwich for any meal or time of day: make your own!
And, as I got thinking more about it, I discovered more important points to add to my list…
Simple to sublime
A look at ingredients is the logical place to start…
Bread
Whole-grain bread or rolls with minimal preservatives and other additives is the obvious way to go. To ensure you get the best possible bread, you should cojnsier making your own, or buying your sandwich loaf or rolls from a small, local baker.
Spread
A year or so ago I might have been recommending you avoid butter in favour of some other basic lubricating spread on your sandwich. But over the past 12 months, a number of convincing, highly-reliable learned studies has exonerated butter of many of the factors that formerly placed it under the ‘unhealthy’ umbrella. Likewise, recent studies have discovered most margarine – like other fats that are solid at room temperature- are even less healthy then we thought even a few short years ago.
The next-most-popular sandwich spread has long been mayonnaise. But it’s not just the fats that make mayo such a dietary challenge: her vast majority of us don’t make ur own using healthy oil and other choice’ ingredients. And supermarket mayos – no matter how ‘original’ or low-salt they may be – still have relatively high salt, sugar and preservative contents. As well, all mayos are, by their nature, relatively high in calories…
Protein
In spite of persistent and growing cautions that we all need to get used to eating more plant-based protein, sandwiches are probably going to be the last common food form to switch over from animal-based recipes. Setting aside the obvious dimension of healthy plant-based spreads, which are rapidly grabbing sandwich lovers’ attention and admiration these days.
For now, then, we all need to remember to use the leanest, least-processed meats we can get. The least-processed ones we can access will be the ones we cook ourselves from raw, unadulterated cuts. If we cook them ourselves, we get to control what goes onto or into animal protein products. Espec-ially added salt and other ingredients that make processed meats to unhealthy.
Cheese can be considered a protein component or a topping. That’s your call, either way… It’s healthy qualities far outweigh its unhealthy ones – when used in sensible moderation, of course.
Veggies
It doesn’t hurt to limit ourselves to the ‘Three Musketeers’ of sandwich-stacking: Tomatoes, Lettuce and luscious Sweet Onions. Carrying on with the Alexandre Dumas metaphor… A handful of crunchy, sweet-sour Bread & Butter Pickle – either on the side or on top – fill the role of sidekick D’Artagnan beautifully.
There are many other potential sandwich toppings and accompaniments. But the foregoing are, by far, the most common and mutually-complementary. They also complement the widest possible range of common sandwich proteins and other ‘lead stuffings’. Tomatoes can even constitute a focus-feature sandwich ingredient all on their own!
Condiments
The veggies in the average sandwich usually manage to remain in place as stacked, and thus appear in optimal proportion in every bite. But condiments tend to perform in a contrasting often contrary way. That is, they act as unwanted lubricants allowing other ingredients to slip-slide all over the place and make a mess.
And let’s not forget that too many wet condiments in direct contact with the bread can cause a bread breakdown, in turn resulting in a total sandwich-structure failure!
Many condiments also possess strong flavours that can submerge the flavours of the key ingredients. And condiments – especially the most common, including ketchup, mustard and creamy spreads – unfailingly contain large amounts of added salt, sugar, fat and other potentially unwanted ingredients.
My take
In summation… There’s no better way to ensure that your all-important lunch sandwich(es) hit the spot than to make them yourself. You control every aspect of the flavour, texture, visual appeal and nutritional composition of your meal. And that alone constitutes a big dose of emotional appeal!
All that said, it should take you no more than 5 minutes to put together the ideal luncheon sandwich, either just before bed time or first thing in the morning. With minimal forward planning you can ensure that all the ingredients you might want on any sandwich creation are always on hand.
And that burst of satisfaction you feel when you behold your perfect, personalized, classic sandwich can’t be equalled by any other experience, when it comes to starting your day with a great, big, sweet kiss of contentment…
~ Maggie J.