Lunch at Work: How Do You Keep Your Sandwiches from Getting Soggy?

The other day we took this sandwich to work, only to bite into a very soggy piece of bread come lunchtime. We made a few crucial mistakes—ones we remedied the next day. Here are our tips…

We don’t make sandwiches for lunch that often, so when we put mayonnaise on one slice of bread, topped it with juicy tomatoes and the rest of the vegetables, then smushed our sandwich into a container and let it sit for four hours, we weren’t really thinking of the consequences.

Since then, we’ve been experimenting with a few different techniques:

• Put a single layer of deli meat on each slice of bread and spread the condiments on those. The meat creates a barrier between the bread and the rest of the ingredients. You can stuff more slices of meat in the middle if you want.

• Just pack the separates and make the sandwich at work. We’ve done this, too, with success. Bread goes in one bag or container, meat and vegetables in another. A little dollop of mustard and mayonnaise go on the edge of one container (or maybe you have packets of those in your office snack room).

• Set tomatoes, pickles, or other drippy ingredients on paper towels while you make the rest of the sandwich. It helps cut down on some of the excess moisture that might otherwise get absorbed by the bread.

• Use cheese as a barrier. Same idea as with the deli meat—and works for vegetarian sandwiches.

Not really rocket science, but sometimes the simplest ideas work best. What do you do to keep sandwiches crispy and fresh for lunch? Any packaging tips that make a difference? Tell us in the comments.

Related: The Spanglish Sandwich with Avocado