Copycat Crustless Sealed Sandwiches: The Ultimate Make-Ahead Lunch Hack 

Keeping an arsenal of make-ahead school lunches on deck for the week can set your family up for success on busy mornings. If you love the idea of those popular crustless, sealed sandwiches, but don’t love the ingredients, you may want to try making your own at home and storing in the fridge (or freezer!)

We tapped recipe developer Aubrey Devin to create two copycat sealed sandwich recipes using only wholesome, better-for-you ingredients. One is an allergen-friendly take on the classic PB&J that uses sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter, and the other is an updated tuna melt that offers a serving of protein that’s easy to pack in a lunchbox. One is sweet, one is savory, but both are fuss-free school lunch hacks that your little ones will actually be excited to eat. 

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Shop all the ingredients for these make-ahead lunches at member-only prices when you start your Thrive Market. Learn more here. 

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Allergen-Friendly Strawberry and Sunflower Seed Butter Sealed Sandwich Recipe 

Yield: 3 servings
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

6 slices sandwich bread of choice
2 tablespoons Thrive Market Organic Strawberry Jam
4 tablespoons Thrive Sunflower Seed Butter (or nut butter of choice)
½ banana, thinly sliced
1 ½ teaspoons hemp seeds 

Instructions:

Start by slightly marking each bread slice with your ring mold (a large Mason jar or a small glass prep bowl works great here, since they have thicker rims that seal the pressed bread well). 

Inside the marked ring on each bread slice, add a heaping ½ tablespoon of sunflower seed butter; the nut butter will create a seal so the jam doesn’t make the bread soggy.

On three of the slices of bread, add a heaping ½ tablespoon of jam in the center, slightly spreading it but keeping it within the circle mark.

Add 3 thin slices of banana on top of each jam dollop, then sprinkle ½ teaspoon of hemp seeds on the banana slices.

Cover each of these jam-covered bread slices with one of the remaining slices with nut butter, making sure that the nut butter side is facing down. 

Take your small glass or jar, place it perfectly in the center of the sandwich, and press down firmly until the glass reaches the surface below. Remove the excess bread from the edges and pop out the sandwich. 

To store: Place each sandwich into a small bag or wrap in beeswax food wrap, then keep in the fridge until ready to eat.

To freeze: Lay the sandwiches flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for 1 hour, or until hard. This prevents the fresh sandwiches from getting squished if stacked and frozen. Once frozen, tightly wrap each sandwich in food wrap, then place in a small freezer-safe baggie or stack them in a large freezer-safe bag.

To thaw: Let sit at room temperature for about 30–60 minutes, or put the frozen sandwich directly into a lunch bag in the morning—it will thaw and be ready by lunchtime! 

Tuna and Cheddar Sealed Sandwich Recipe 

Yield: 3 servings
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

6 slices sandwich bread of choice
1 (5-ounce) can Thrive Market Chunk Light Tuna, drained well
1 ½ tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Thrive Market Organic Kosher Dill Pickles, finely chopped (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon Thrive Market Organic Fire-Roasted Red Peppers, finely chopped (optional)
Thrive Market Organic Yellow Mustard, to taste
2 slices cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a small-medium mixing bowl, combine the drained tuna, mayo, pickles, and red bell peppers, if using. Mix well until fully combined. Season with salt and pepper, then taste and adjust, adding a little more mayo if needed. Set aside.

Slightly mark each bread slice with your ring mold (a large Mason jar or a small glass prep bowl work great here, since they have thicker rims that seal the pressed bread well). 

Spread a thin layer of yellow mustard on top of each bread slice, inside the marked rings. 

Tear the cheddar slices into a few pieces and layer inside the ring marks of three bread slices. Divide the tuna mixture among the same three slices, mounding it in the center of the cheese and spreading just inside the ring mark.

Take the remaining three mustard-topped bread slices and place them on top of the tuna, mustard side down. 

Take your Mason jar or bowl and place it in the center of each sandwich, and press down firmly. Remove the excess bread from around the edges, then pop out the sandwich. 

To store: Place each sandwich into a small bag or wrap in beeswax food wrap, then keep in the fridge until ready to eat.

To freeze: Lay the sandwiches flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for 1 hour, or until hard. This prevents the fresh sandwiches from getting squished if stacked and frozen. Once frozen, tightly wrap each sandwich in food wrap, then place in a small freezer-safe baggie or stack them in a large freezer-safe bag.

To thaw: Thaw in the fridge overnight, then reheat in a toaster oven, air fryer, or skillet with a little butter on both sides.