Back to Work, Back to sCHool!

January always has a funny hush to it, the days still long and bright, but the rhythm quietly slipping back into place. Lunch boxes come out of cupboards, shoes wait by the door again, and suddenly everyone needs feeding on a timetable.
This is the moment when sandwiches matter.
Not the thin, apologetic sort, but the proper ones. The kind you look forward to opening. The sort that make a work break feel like a pause rather than a scramble.
In Britain, the sandwich is a small piece of daily comfort. A cheese and pickle wrapped in paper. A ham sandwich with sharp mustard. Egg mayo tucked into soft bread and eaten on a park bench. They are ordinary, but they hold a lot of quiet joy.
These days, school lunches have their own set of rules. No nuts, no this, sometimes no that. Parents do their best, but it can take the warmth out of something that used to feel simple. Even so, a good sandwich still finds a way through. Soft bread, proper filling, something sharp or creamy to make it feel like a treat rather than a task.
At home, the same flavours can grow up a little.
You stand there in the morning, trying to strike that soft balance between what they like, what they are allowed, and what you hope might actually be eaten. You pack it with care, a sandwich cut just so, fruit washed, a little something tucked in to make it feel kind. Then it comes back untouched, warm from the day, and you wonder why you bothered. While the kids head off with their lunch boxes, the adults reach for a salad bowl. Not a sad one, but something piled high with leaves, roasted vegetables, leftover chicken or ham, and a good dressing. It is the same idea as a sandwich, just loosened up, all the good bits in one big bowl.
Here is one I make often, simple enough for lunch boxes, generous enough for the table.

Coronation Chicken
Serves 4
Time 20 minutes
Ingredients
500 g cooked chicken, torn or chopped
80 g mayonnaise
80 g thick Greek yoghurt
1 tbspn mild curry powder
1 tbspn mango chutney
1 tspn lemon juice
40 g sultanas
2 tbspn flaked almonds, lightly toasted
Salt and black pepper
Method
Put the mayonnaise, yoghurt, curry powder, mango chutney and lemon juice into a bowl and stir until smooth. Taste and add a little salt and pepper.
Add the chicken and sultanas, then fold gently until everything is coated. Chill for 10 minutes if you have time, it lets the flavours settle.
Scatter over the toasted almonds just before serving.
Spoon into soft bread for sandwiches, tuck into wraps for lunch boxes, or pile it over mixed leaves with cucumber and tomato for a generous salad bowl for the adults.
It is familiar, softly spiced, and quietly comforting, which is exactly what a good lunch should be.


Which is why I dedicated a whole chapter to picnics and sandwiches.
Not because they are clever, but because they sit right in the middle of real life. A sandwich wrapped in paper. A flask of tea. A rug on the grass. Food that travels with you, waits patiently, and still feels like care when you finally sit down.
The supermarket fridges in the UK are full of ready made sandwich fillers now. Tubs of Coronation Chicken, tubs of Egg Mayonnaise, tubs of everything. They do their job brilliantly..
Making your own is a small act of reclaiming something. You choose the bread, the pickle, the sharpness, the softness. You make it how your family actually likes it.
In a world of lunch rules, busy schedules and half eaten boxes, there is something steady about simple food made with attention. It reminds us that eating is not only about filling up. It is about pausing, even briefly, and feeling looked after.
That is what picnics and sandwiches have always done best. They make ordinary days softer, one bite at a time.

You can find lots more in the picnic and sandwich chapter in Pork Pies & the Perfect Pickle Cook Book here!