K-Mart Sub Sandwiches have the quaint charm of a 1960’s retro “grab it while you shop” submarine sandwich, perfect for noshing on the go.
K-Mart Sub Sandwiches
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
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K-Mart Sub Sandwiches is my recipe of the day with the blogging group Sunday Funday. Stacy has us posting our childhood favorites this week.
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I am a boomer child who grew up during the psychedelic and very groovy 1960’s. One of the things the family did was go shopping on Saturdays. We’d hit discount and department stores, then grab the groceries.
Often one of our stops included K-Mart, which had a snack bar in the front of the store (in most). There, you could treat yourself to ready-wrapped sub sandwiches and ham sandwiches, bags of popcorn, and frozen Cokes. I loved snacks, so I liked it all.
Later, after we moved to another town, the store was a W.T. Grants that had a restaurant, and when they went out a few years later, it was taken oven by K-Mart. They continued the restaurant and had the sandwiches in a case near the register.
Not too long ago, I was reading about the subs and reminiscing. Having most of the things I needed, I decided to make a few for the family and wrap them up for fun. They were a hit.
Funny that the wrapping does something to help moisten and help spread the flavor, And the type meats are perfect even with a little bologna in there (I used Boar’s Head). I know I will be making some of these again for when we go on a picnic. What a fun way to have an afternoon at the park!
I know you can put whatever you want in these. But if you ever had the K-Mart sub, give it a try with the ingredients called for and watch old memories come back to you.
Sunday Funday
Childhood Favorites
- Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles
- Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime
- Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds
- Meat Chilly Fry by Sneha’s Recipe
- Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
- Mum’s Buitoni from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Scratch Spaghetti Os with Meatballs from Food Lust People Love
K-Mart Sub Sandwiches
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K-Mart Sub Sandwiches
K-Mart Sub Sandwiches
Equipment
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 1 Hoagie roll
- 2 ounces cooked ham loaf
- 1 ounce very thin bologna
- 1/2 ounce thinly sliced Genoa salami
- 1-1/2 slices American cheese (1 ounce total)
- thin sliced red onion
- thin sliced German Barrel pickles
- thin sliced tomato
- shredded iceberg lettuce
- mayonnaise
- mustard
Instructions
- Cut roll like a hot dog bun (without slicing completely through).
- Fill with sandwich ingredients.
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for thirty minutes or more to chill.
Notes
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I don’t recall that our local KMart had ready made sandwiches but maybe I just wasn’t paying attention. Your subs are the perfect picnic food, Sue! My family would also go shopping on the occasional Saturday and my favorite treat was a stop at the JC Penney’s candy counter where my mom would buy a quarter pound of chocolate covered peanuts weighed out in a small paper bag. Good times!
I do remember those! Mom used to get things from both JC Penney and Sears Roebuck and we’d pick up her packages. We had a Famous-Barr that had a really nice candy counter too. I’m thinking the K-Mart subs at their snack bars were a company extension of the Kresge lunch counters. My memories of those are more fuzzy as they were downtown and we shopped mostly in the burbs.
I grew up eating the ham from kresge’s the kmart….it had that thick glaze, 1/4 inch or more…I miss that ham
I only recall ever going to the actual Kresge’s downtown in the 60’s and 70’s. I don’t recall their glazed ham. We’d eat at a K-mart restaurant that opened in the old WT Grant’s but not sure I ever got the ham if they had it there. We love glazed ham in Autumn and Winter. And sometimes I do a double smoked ham or grilled ham in Summer. The leftovers on sandwiches are great!
Our Kmart had a full fledged cafeteria style restaurant and I spent many a lunch there with my Mom. Thanks for the memories.
We loved sipping tea on hot days. I seem to recall a Friday night ayce shrimp and clams dinner too which we ate once or twice.
I loved the Kmart cafeteria and would love to have the recipe for the strawberry pie they had. It was awesome!
Was that the one like Shoneys that has the fresh strawberries, red glaze and whipped cream in the pie shell ?
Reading through the very popular K Mart Sub-sandwich makes for a very nice read, Sue. Especially the ones wrapped in plastic – makes it look real and inviting ..
I grew up when you did and totally missed out! My snobby mother would never set food inside a Kmart. I do agree that the plastic wrap is pretty magical in melding the flavors. This is a must try!
I don’t recall the few K-Marts around here ever selling sandwiches. Yours looks wonderful. I’m going to try to copy them on Memorial weekend. A perfect sandwich for the day.
You would know about K-Marts Sub Sandwiches if you ever shopped near closing time when they would announce over the loudspeakers that the subs that they had left were 1/2 price until gone, which happened almost immediately!
These really do scream “picnic” to me – they look delicious and I love the nostalgia factor!
If there is a theme of what we were treated with during the weekly shopping spree with parents then it will be some potato fritters. We waited for that eagerly.
My family was military, so we shopped at the BX, PX, or Commissary. I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a KMart nor had these sandwiches. But they look perfect for a summertime picnic! Thanks for the inspiration.
Our BX was sort of small and didn’t have that much. Commissary was huge but had very long lines, especially with retirees in a Florida winter. We’d shop off base mostly. But as a kid, no military- my dad left the Navy after the post WWII Occupation. My experience was while Bill served. Our fav base shop was the Class VI store. Haha! OMG the parties we had when we were young and immortal. 😀
At our Kmart in Terre Haute Indiana the sub also had pickles and yellow pickled pepper on it.that my remembering of a Kmart sub..yum!
I don’t remember that but would have loved it.
I ate that sandwich many times and have been making it for over 40 years now. K Mart was a good store and we bought a lot of goods there. Shame to see them gone
I agree. But it is part of a vanishing era.
Hi!
I stumbled on your K-Mart sub recipe; We don’t eat pork so I’m sad to say I won’t be trying your recipe, “as is”, but I had to say your story really brought back some fun memories! I loved those Coke slushes and the ice cream counter they used to have! I hadn’t thought about that in forever! Granted, I’m a skosh younger (80’s baby) but I wanted to thank you for the awesome trip down memory lane! 🖤
I worked for Kmart for many years in the deli and remember making these by the thousands on a weekend. Thank you for the memoryn
Everybody loved them!