Challenge: Part 5 of 6 in Lunch for a week under £10

Sometimes, I forget that I am a Scandinavian. I have lived abroad for something like a million years and this means that my memory of sharp cheese slicers, thin sandwiches with one layer of toppings only, brown cheese and 30 min lunch breaks in a tiny staff room towards back of the office has faded.

The minimalist Scandi lunch culture is perfect for my moola challenge, though. It all came back to me yesterday when browsing the cheese selection at Tesco. What’s up with all these thick, pre-sliced cheese packages? They’re so fat you’d think they’re meant to compete with bread.

I do love cheese. A lot - the more the better… But the truth is that the fatter the slicer, the bigger the cost. So from my childhood memories, I’m bringing back the cheese slicer to help make the cheese last longer.

For today’s lunch, I’m making an open faced sandwich. A genuine Scandi version from my past would be a single piece of bread, some butter, a thin slice of cheese, and maybe a slice of tomato…. but that doesn’t sound very thrilling, does it?  To bring a bit more excitement to the table….I’m going to add some beetroot salad and ham.

Scandi Smørbrød in the makings

For two sandwiches you will need:

• A few slices of Cheese (Cheddar is fine, but  if you’re splurging, try Jarlsberg )
• Half a tomato
• A little bit of green (I used beet root salad)
• A thin slice of ham
• Two slices of dark (preferably rye or whole grain) bread

(If you’ve got a little bit of mustard in your fridge,  try spreading a thin layer over the bread - it’s delicious!)

The Return of the Open Faced Sandwich!

Much better than yesterday’s baked potato, don’t you think?

Here’s the cost of today’s lunch (approximately):

Bread: £ 0.03 (2 slices from a package of 18 on special offer at £0.59)

Tomato: £0.09 (half a tomato from a package of 6 at £0.99)

Beetroot salad: £0.05 (about 1/20 of a salad bag at £1.00)

Ham: £0.07 (1 slice from a package of 30 at £1.99)

Cheese: £0.10 (a few slices from a chunk costing £1.80)

Total (rounded up): £0.35

Can’t quite believe this! They’re healthy, tasty, easy to make and if I had them for lunch every day during a week, I’d be spending only £1.75.  Imagine how much we could be saving over a year!

Spent today: £0.35

Spent so far: £5.85

Budget left: £4.15

It's a Wrap!