The Bachelor Sandwich

I've been making these sandwiches for lunch that are simply awesome. And you use bachelor ingredients, and bachelor-priced ingredients.

You'll need bread, lunch meat, and cheese.

Oh, and bacon. Of course, bacon. :)

The ingredients that I use are all the inexpensive brands that I find at the store that I think would be interesting. I use the Giant-brand Honey Wheat Bread (24 ounce/20 slice loaf), Buddig Deli Cuts lunch meat (16 oz package), Giant Cheese (16 oz block, for variety -- otherwise, if you go for the larger, more economical block, you'll be stuck to variations of Cheddar), and Oscar Mayer bacon (16 oz package).

A couple notes -- I usually end up using 6 slices of lunch meat, 3 slices of cheese (just wide enough to go across the bread), and 2 slices of bacon per sandwich.

So the first thing to do is cook the bacon. I usually have at least 2 (if not 4) of these sandwiches, and use 2 slices of bacon per sandwich, so I'll cook 4-8 slices of bacon (handy, for a 16oz, 1oz/slice pack). Then, put the bacon on the bottom of the sandwich, 3 slices of lunch meat, your cheese, another 3 slices of lunch meat, and the final slice of bread. Put it in the oven to melt the cheese -- I use 200 degrees for 10 minutes. You're done.

There is one extra step for bacon lovers. :) Do not read the next paragraph if you are one of the people who count calories and fat like piggies on your children's toes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

If you want the extra flavor, and don't mind the extra fat, while the bacon grease is hot, toss the bread into the pan where the bacon was. Fry one side of the bread in the bacon grease for anywhere from 5-30 seconds, depending on your taste and how toasty you like your bread. The fried side of the bread slices face the inside of the sandwich. But for the fat-conscious among us, this will introduce a lot of fat into your system, so don't do this if it goes against your conscience, or alternately, if you are already "treated-out" for the day. People trying to put on weight of any kind might be interested in this little delicious tidbit. People trying to lose weight should probably avoid this step. People who are just trying to maintain weight might be interested, assuming that they are of the "treats are OK" mentality...

In case you're wondering, I paired oven-roasted turkey with muenster cheese, and I'm now doing sugar-cured ham with mild cheddar. Both combinations worked quite well with the bacon.