This Old-School 'Emergency Sandwich' Was A Staple Of The 1930s

It may not be the first item that comes to mind when you think of emergency preparedness, but life is full of difficult situations that could be defused — or at least improved — with a little bit of filling smashed between two slices of bread. In the case of this particular "emergency sandwich," however, the focus is less on overcoming danger, and more on perilously low grocery supplies.

This emergency sandwich recipe comes from the 1936 cookbook "1001 Sandwiches" by Florence A. Cowles. The filling is made from an unusual collection of ingredients, but they are things you likely have on hand. The recipe begins with chopping together sweet pickles and a hard boiled egg. In a separate bowl, you combine peanut butter and prepared mustard. These two mixtures are then combined and spread on wheat or rye bread — and that's all there is to it.

Cowles' emergency sandwich made an appearance on the Youtube channel "Sandwiches of History," wherein the host — a man well-versed in bizarre sandwiches — expressed real surprise about it. He was clearly skeptical in the beginning, but his first bite impressed him, and he declared the sandwich, "surprisingly not bad," giving it a 7.5 out of 10 rating. He used natural peanut butter — not the sugary stuff — and noted that the peanut butter was a background note that added some richness. After his first taste, he gussied the sandwich up by toasting it and adding a bit of red onion and bacon, modifications that he said brought the rating to a 9.

Emergency sandwich is a fun name for this recipe, and it is conceivable that you could whip up a batch to feed some friends when you haven't had a chance to go to the grocery store for a while. But let's be real, as far as real emergency sandwiches go, that one is pretty deluxe. Sure, it's no $200 grilled cheese sandwich, but neither is it the paltry toast sandwich of the 1800s.

There are plenty of nostalgic vintage sandwiches and many of them are closer to what might be considered an emergency recipe than the offering from "1001 Sandwiches." We really need look no further than the peanut butter and jelly. Sure, it's a staple for lunchboxes and hikes, but it is also a proper emergency sandwich. It is easy to make, has a long shelf-life, and is full of energy and protein.

If we focus on the grocery emergency that seems to be the foundation of Cowles' sandwich, hers is still pretty fancy. Whether we are talking about the uniquely Southern mayonnaise sandwich or the New England tradition of eating a two-ingredient baked bean sandwich, the depths of pantry emergencies can go much, much deeper.

We all have our favorite go-to sandwich when we need some sustenance quickly, much like we all have our own definition of emergency. This particular 1930s recipe isn't likely to get you out of too many binds in life, but it is a unique sandwich that's worth trying at least once.