How to CookSandwich
How to Wrap a Sandwich
by Elana Carlson
• September 24, 2013
• 12 Comments
Inspired by conversations on the Food52 Hotline, we're sharing tips and tricks that make navigating all of our kitchens easier and more fun.
Today: Wrap your sandwich like the gift that it is.
Your much-needed lunch break finally rolls around. But you open up your brown bag only to find that your sandwich, a light at the end of a midday-tunnel, has turned into a sad, disheveled mess. "I don't understand," you think to yourself. "It looked perfectly pristine this morning." Or, even worse, you carefully prepare a sandwich for someone else, but they open it only to find it damaged in transit.
Sandwiches, though, just like any other present, can (and should!) be mindfully wrapped, with neatly creased corners and tucked-in edges. And, as a bonus, no tape is required. Our preferred method uses wax paper, but parchment paper works just as well.
More: Check out our exclusive sandwich wraps in Provisions for the ultimate sandwich-protection.
The size of paper is important, so tear off a piece of wax paper that is larger than your sandwich and twice as long as it is wide. Place the sandwich directly in the middle of the paper. Line the edges up and form a tent above the sandwich.
Create a 3/4-inch fold and continue folding over until you reach the sandwich, and lightly flatten the fold.
Fold the additional flaps on either side into an arrow shape. While maintaining the horizontal 3/4 inch fold, tuck the right side arrow underneath the sandwich. Repeat with the left side.
Now, this sandwich is ready for adventuring. Don't forget to slip in a note!
More: Check out our 9 Back to School Sandwiches.
What's your go-to portable sandwich? Let us know in the comments!
Comments (12)
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over 3 years ago DragonFly
My mum always wrapped our sandwiches like that, good old fashion wax paper.
over 3 years ago Lani
When we were kids, before the days of plastic wrap, we learned to wrap our sandwiches like this. My Father called it the "Drugstore Wrap". I don't know why.
over 4 years ago Bob Ress
Those of us born before Glad Bags already know this. Everything old is new again.
over 4 years ago Patricia Schreiber
Or you can buy a couple of sandwich containers and stop throwing away so much wax paper. I've found them at Target for $1
over 4 years ago Elana Carlson
Yes, Patricia Schreiber that is definitely a great and sustainable alternative! Depending on how messy the sandwich, the wax paper can be reused for multiple lunches.
over 4 years ago Macintosh Collen
At first when I started cooking and preparing food for myself I don't even know how to wrap a sandwich but eventually I have learned it. - Lindsay Rosenwald
over 4 years ago Mark Oviatt
Didn't everybody's mother wrap sandwiches like this? Mine did.
over 4 years ago Elana Carlson
My mom used plastic sandwich bags. Although, how great the sandwiches were made up for their packaging!
over 4 years ago DragonFly
Just like when I was a child, I always remember my mum wrapping our sandwiches this way!
over 4 years ago Christycreme
No tape required? It looks cute from above, but if it flips over during your commute, it will come undone. Is it possible I missed a step?
over 4 years ago Janet
This is how my mom wrapped our sandwiches every school day of my childhood--they never came undone, and I do my kids' the same way if I am not using a bento box for their lunch. If the wax paper is flattened and the flaps are tucked, it doesn't come undone and should stay folded even if the sandwich gets turned over.
over 4 years ago Elana Carlson
Christycreme, as Janet mentioned if you tightly tuck the flaps under the sandwich it should stay put. Thanks, Janet!
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