Stock your freezer with these hot sandwiches. Summer’s arrived and the kids are here to stay. Save yourself some time and try these easy-to-make and tasty sandwiches. Kids love them and they’re great for a low-key meal or snack; DIY quick meals.
**Scroll down to the bottom of the post for all the printable recipes and quantities. Let’s do this!**
Hot Sandwiches: Sloppy Joes
This is an American classic! It’s meaty and saucy and perfect. You can cook up the filling and make the sandwiches or just freeze the filling to throw onto salads, casseroles, tacos, baked potatoes, noodles. The possibilities are endless and delicious!
Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Instructions:
Throw five pounds of ground beef into a big pan. I like this pan.
Chop up 2 bell peppers and 2 onions. Throw them into the pan with the beef and cook until the meat is cooked and the onions are translucent.
Drain the fat from the ground beef mixture. There’s a lot of it so make a good effort to get most of it.
Add three cups of ketchup, 1/4 cup yellow mustard, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground black pepper.
You DON’T need salt. Or at least try it before you add any.
Mix everything together and cook a couple more minutes just to make sure it’s all heated through and incorporated.
And that’s the filling, all done!
To make the sandwiches you need at least 2 loaves of sliced Italian bread. I use the kind you can get from the bakery at Walmart. You also need about 4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
Scoop a generous 1/4 cup of filling onto a slice of bread and top it with about an 1/8 of a cup of shredded cheese. add another slice of bread and throw that into a sandwich bag.
Repeat until you’ve used up all the bread and filling. It should make about 30 sandwiches. Put those into some gallon freezer bags and make sure to label them with the sandwich type and the date. They should last 4-6 months. But they’ll likely be eaten way before then.
To reheat: throw the sloppy joe, in the bag, into the microwave for about 1 minute and 15 seconds. Let it sit for about a minute and then enjoy.
Hot Sandwiches: Basic Meat and Cheese
Use whatever meat or cheese you have on hand for this one. I like to do ham and cheese because I have someone in my family who can’t eat any kind of poultry. So I don’t do big batches of turkey or chicken lunchmeat sandwiches.
Make the sandwich like this: Slice of bread, 3-4 slices of ham, one slice of American cheese, top with a slice of bread and done!
Repeat until you’ve used a whole loaf of bread. To make about 15 sandwiches you’ll need 1 loaf of sliced Italian bread (from the Walmart bakery), about 60 slices of ham, and 15 slices of American cheese.
Toss each sandwich into a sandwich bag and throw those into a gallon freezer bag.
This is so simple and yet it’s still so good and satisfying, My husband likes to warm up a sandwich and then add pickles and sauces and whatever else he feels like eating.
You can even warm it in the microwave and add hot scrambled eggs for breakfast.
I especially like these because they are great on-the-go meals. We went to the neighborhood pool over lunchtime so I threw a bunch of these babies into a bag (still frozen), along with some fruit and it was a perfect, no-mess meal. They were (mostly) thawed by the time we were ready to eat and the kids chowed down like it was their first experience with food.
Hot Sandwiches: Reubens-ish
When I say “Reuben” I mean a quick version that resembles a Reuben but is just as satisfying and delicious.
Typically, a Reuben is a grilled sandwich. It’s made with corned beef, swiss cheese, Russian dressing, and sauerkraut, on rye bread. At some point I’ll make a post about making full-on grilled sandwiches and this will definitely be in that post.
Minus the rye bread. I cannot get on that bandwagon.
I’ve tried rye bread many times thinking “I was just a kid last time I tried it. I used to eat tortillas with warm sour cream on them for a treat. Only warm sour cream. I like tomatoes and tabasco sauce now. My taste buds must have matured. I can handle it“.
But no, I can’t. Rye bread is always disgusting.
My version of a Reuben has some kind of tangy meat, some kind of white cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing on plain-ole white bread. And you eat it hot and dripping. So good!
Here’s how you make it:
Spread 1 tablespoon of dressing on a slice of bread. Place 2 slices of ham on top.
Scoop out about a tablespoon of sauerkraut and squeeze all the juice out with your hand before you place it on the ham.
On top of the sauerkraut, add two more slices of ham and two slices of the salami.
Add about an 1/8 of a cup of shredded mozzarella OR one slice of swiss cheese.
Spread another tablespoon of thousand island dressing on the second slice of bread and add it to the pile of meat to finish the sandwich.
Repeat until you run out of bread then throw each sandwich into a sandwich bag and toss all those into a gallon freezer bag.
To re-heat, stick it in the microwave for about one minute and 15 seconds. You could even butter the bread, after it’s thawed, and then grill it like a grilled cheese sandwich.
Either way, it’s a delicious, meaty meal.
Let me know which is your favorite:) And Don’t forget to subscribe to my weekly newsletter
Here are some other posts you might like:
WHIP UP THIS EASY, CHOCOLATE-COVERED, EGGLESS COOKIE DOUGH | TRUFFLES
HOW TO MAKE THE FASTEST HAMBURGER | GROUND BEEF RECIPES
HOW TO STREAMLINE A KITCHEN | A HAPPY HOME
Print it for later!
Sloppy Joes
These warm, saucy, meaty sandwiches are perfect to feed a lot of people or for meal prep. Throw them in the freezer and enjoy them one at a time for a no-fuss lunch or dinner.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds ground beef
- 2 onions
- 2 bell peppers
- 3 cups ketchup
- 1/4 cup yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 2 loaves sliced Italian/French bread
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Chop the onions and bell peppers.
- Cook the ground beef, onions, and bell peppers together on medium high heat until the beef is all browned and the onions are translucent.
- Drain fat from the meat mixture.
- Add ketchup, mustard, garlic powder, brown sugar, and ground pepper.
- Cook for another few minutes until everything is hot and incorporated.
- Scoop a generous 1/4 cup of the filling onto a slice of bread.
- Add about 1/8 cup of cheddar cheese and top with another slice of bread.
- Put each sandwich into a sandwich bag.
- Repeat until the bread is used up.
- Keep sandwiches in a gallon freezer bag for 6 months.
- To re-heat: place one frozen sloppy joe, still in the sandwich bag, into the microwave and heat for about one minute and 15 seconds.
- Enjoy!
Easy Hot Reuben Sandwiches
Try these easy, tangy, delicious sandwiches. Make them for a picnic or throw them in the freezer for meal planning.
Ingredients
- 2 loaves sliced Italian/French bread
- 60 slices ham lunchmeat
- 30 slices hard salami
- 30 slices of swiss cheese OR 3 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
- 1 cup sauerkraut
- 1 cup thousand island dressing
Instructions
- Spread a tablespoon of thousand island dressing onto a slice of bread.
- Add two slices of ham.
- Take a tablespoon of sauerkraut and squeeze the juice out with your hand. Place the sauerkraut on the ham.
- Put two more slices of ham on top of the sauerkraut.
- Add two slices of salami.
- Add 1 slice of swiss cheese OR 1/8 cup of shredded mozzarella.
- Spread another tablespoon of thousand island dressing on the second slice of bread and place it on the sandwich to finish it.
- Put each sandwich into a sandwich bag.
- Repeat until all the bread is used.
- Store the sandwiches in a gallon ziplock bag, in the freezer for up to six months.
- To re-heat: Place frozen Rueben in the microwave, still in the sandwich bag, and heat for about 1 minute and 30 seconds.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Once you thaw them, you can toast these sandwiches in the broiler of your oven or add some butter and grill them in a pan.
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