Do it yourself butties
Last updated 09:27, Saturday, 02 August 2008
According to Sainsbury’s, more and more of us are taking home-made sandwiches to work for our lunches, rather than buying ready-made ones.
The supermarket chain sold a third more lunch boxes and sales of its sandwich bags were up by a quarter in the last month.
Alison Austin for the store says that for under £4 – the average cost of one sandwich and a drink from a take-away – customers could buy ingredients for two week’s worth of packed lunches.
She says: “Buying the ingredients on the weekend and planning ahead or using leftovers can save a huge amount. We think ‘fake-aways’ are here to stay – you know what food’s going into them and you can use up food that would otherwise be sent to landfill.”
But economy might not be the only reason for a Bring Your Own (BYO) sarnie.
An investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme broadcast this week into the 2.7 billion shop sandwiches sold annually in the UK revealed that one bought on the high street contained more fat than a cheeseburger, while another brand contained as much salt as several packets of crisps.
Researchers measured levels of fat, saturates and salt in 100 sandwiches against the traffic light system created by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) designed to help consumers.
A product is given a red light for fat, “something we should be trying to cut down on” according to the FSA, if its fat content is more than 20 per cent.
Researchers claimed that while only 14 per cent of Boots sandwiches earned a red light for fat, 69 per cent of Greggs sandwiches, 68 per cent of Pret A Manger’s and 47 per cent of Marks & Spencer’s sandwiches earned a red light.
M&S’s British Oakham Chicken and Pancetta Caesar sandwich allegedly contained almost 45 grams of fat – nearly a third more than in a Big Mac.
And Subway, the UK’s fastest growing sandwich chain, reportedly got a red light for 93 per cent of its sandwiches because of the salt content.
The company’s 12-inch meatball Marinara was found to contain the amount of salt equivalent to that in eight packets of ready salted crisps.
If you need inspiration for making your own butties, take a look at a new book: Sandwiches, Panini And Wraps.
Our favourite ingredient in Britain is chicken with cheese (including ploughman’s) a close second, followed by ham, egg, tuna, prawn, and bacon.
But author Dwayne Ridgaway’s 50 recipes for hot or cold sandwiches use ingredients in refreshingly different ways.
n Here’s how you can rustle up a lunchtime feast with Dwayne Ridgaway’s Apple Cider Chicken Sandwich.
The recipe makes about four sandwiches, or can also be served on top of a green salad.
Ingredients
115 ml mayonnaise
1tbsp (15g) Dijon mustard
20g/1oz apple cider jelly or apple jam
2 spring onions, finely chopped
40g/1.5oz chopped celery
1 green apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
90g/3oz chopped, toasted pecans
2tsp (2 grams) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2lb (680g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
16 slices bread
Salad leaves
Method:
1 Combine mayonnaise, mustard, jelly (jam), spring onions, celery, apple, pecans and parsley in a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine thoroughly.
2 Add chicken, toss to coat, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Use bread to make the sandwich and toast if desired.
Serve with salad leaves.
n Sandwiches, Panini And Wraps, by Dwayne Ridgaway, is published by Apple
Press, (£8.99).
