Looking for good cookie recipes to send to the troops & how to pack them?!
Looking for good cookie recipes to send to the troops & how to pack them?
Answers:
Choose a really popular recipe so that the soldiers will be more likely to enjoy them. Chocolate chip or sugar cookies are probably your best bet.
Packing:
Go to the nearest craft store and pick up some tin containers, you might even find some with holiday themes.
Place a piece of wax paper on the bottom of the tin and put in the first layer of cookies. In between each layer of cookies, place another piece of wax paper. When the tin is full, put a piece of wax paper on top before replacing the tin lid. Make sure the tin is as full as you can get it. Leaving extra room will allow the cookies to move around and break or crumble.
Seal the tin by running tape along the edge of the lid. Some stores even sell decorative tape that adds a nice touch. Doing this helps to keep the tin airtight. Put a ribbon around the tin to keep the lid from popping open during transport. All of this looks like decoration, but it really helps to keep the cookies from going stale in the week or two it can take to reach troops overseas.
SHIPPING:
Put the cookie tin into a shipping box that fits it really well, since you don't want bouncing around in there. When you close the box, use the shipping tape around all the edges of the box to make sure nothing gets inside. Shipping homemade food overseas can mean that it passes through places where insects might be a problem. I have always used packing tape to seal the box and then along all the folded edges of the box to make sure that nothing gets inside, and it has always worked.
Make sure you have the box stamped "perishables" so that mail handlers can be sure to recognize that it contains food and might need more careful (and clean) treatment.
Why not send calling-cards instead?
The troops probably already get more than enough of everybody's cookies!
Heres a really healthy cookie recipe for your loved one...
Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies..
ingredients:
1 cup trans-fat-free margarine(or regular margarine)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp.baking soda
1 tsp.cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt(optional)
3 cups oats, uncooked
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
How to make them:
Preheat oven to 350.Beat margarine and sugars togaether until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla;mix well. Combine next 5 ingredients; add to sugar mixture and beat well. Stir in oats, then cranberries and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-14 min. or until golden brown. Cool slightly before transferring...Makes about 4-5 dozen..
Packing and shipping:
Put in plastic containers
put plastic containers in shippable box and off they go...
good luck to our troops and your loved one..I hope he is safe..or she..
Some cookies last longer and travel better than others. When my dad was in Vietnam, we found the following cookies travelled best:
sugar cookies, chinese almond cookies, gingersnaps - especially gingersnaps!- Also, store-bought cookies have preservatives, so things like oreos are a good option.
Put the cookies in tins, with layers of paper towel in between. Make sure the cookies don't rattle around! Fill with more paper towel as needed.
I've sent chocolate chip cookies to friends in Iraq, but it can be a little iffy. Don't send anything really soft, like brownies and avoid things like raisins. They're pretty "iffy", too. The only exception to this rule is fruit cake, which lasts forever! Fudge and other candies do well, too.
Best thing to do would be to contact the post office with the APO or FPO address and ask how long it takes to arrive. I usually give it 10 days.
A complaint I often heard from friends on the front lines is the fact that, when generous people like you send things to "the troops" in general, there is often not a lot left over by the time it reaches the front lines.
You may like to consider speaking with friends, family, church, and find someone specific to send goodies to. My friends overseas were always happy to distribute things.