Lunch for 28 cents a day (if you really like PBJ)
Posted
Feb 12 2008, 06:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post is for all of you who complain that you don't have time to make your lunch for work. Clever Dude prepares a month's worth of lunches in an astounding 25 minutes, at a total cost of $6.99.
How does he do it? This guy is the assembly-line king of making peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches. In this very funny post worthy of the blogger's name, he gives step-by-step instructions for assembling 23 sandwiches -- and illustrates the process with photos of each step. When the sandwiches are done, he bags them and pops them in the freezer. He swears they're not mushy when they defrost.
The cost per sandwich ranges from 28 cents for those with grape jelly to 33 cents with more expensive jam. "Do you know how much Panera charges for a PBJ sandwich?" he asks. "Well, I don't either because they're too embarrassed to print it on their Web site, but I know it's at least $2 to $3 from experience!"
Clever Dude imparts insider tips that only a true PBJ master would know. Consider this: "Wheat bread doesn't absorb the jelly juices like white bread, so your sandwich isn't soggy when it thaws." And where else could you read this? "I recommend stirring up the jelly before spooning it out. It makes spreading it much easier."
He also puts the jelly on top of the peanut butter rather than on the bare slice of bread because it's easier to close the sandwich that way. When you're putting the top on, he says, "a tip is to match up the shape of the top with the bottom so you don't have unneeded overhang. Oh, and yes, I use the crusts."
