Lulu is now off at college, and of course I’m trying to figure out ways to make her feel happy, and to make me feel useful. What are the best foods to send through the mail? I am assuming baked goods, and thinking cookies and bars, but very open to suggestions (keep in mind neither of us eats pork). And what is the best way to send stuff? I read that freezing baked goods first helps them survive the process, is this true? Grateful for any and all tips. Thanks! Kari
More for commercial bakers, but the tips still hold for moms and dads of all kinds. 
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I used to send cookies and pumpkin-cranberry bread to my late brother and his family via Priority Mail for Christmas. And yes - freezing cookies for 24 hours before shipping can help them stay fresh.
Here’s a link to the bread at the bottom of my post from 2021. I just wrapped it well in foil and it survived.
Maybe send her a personal popcorn popper for the microwave and some fancy popcorn kernels? I gave both as a Yankee Swap gift at Christmas a couple of years ago - it went over well.
https://www.amazon.com/Amish-Country-Popcorn-Medium-Popping/dp/B07NNZ364G/ref=sr_1_5_pp?
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I can’t believe it. I remember when she was …this high…
Doesnt time fly?
Good packaging is the answer, to stop the goods moving around too much. And send sturdy products - cookies rather than, say, a more fragile pie. And, of course, nothing that isn’t going to still be good if there’s a bit of a delay with the mail.
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Suggest cross-posting on the baking thread, and I recall a holiday baking thread along similar lines too… Will look for it.
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Decades ago, when I was at summer camp, my mom used popcorn for packing fill around the cookies she mailed. Both cookies and popcorn were much appreciated by all
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Granola always ships well.
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I can’t believe it either @LulusMom1 I’m sending my first year in college brown butter RK treats!
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I’ve shipped RLB’s Golden Grand Marnier Cake (a firm cake) to Germany and to California. Lots of clingfilm and a sturdy well-padded cardboard box. Arrived with no problem. Shortbread does not ship too well - lots broken.
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I send cookies every Christmas to out of state family. US Postal Service priority mail (not Express Mail) gets to most places in 4 days or less. Free sturdy boxes available in many sizes from the post office - order online and they get delivered to you. All cookies get frozen after baking, and placed in ziplock bags of about a dozen cookies per bag. Waxed paper between layers of cookies. The bags are then boxed nestled in a mixture of crumpled plastic bags / crumpled brown paper. I’ve use egg cartons with crumpled wax paper to ship delicate frosted sandwich cookies. Smaller cookies - 2 inches for most - work well. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, walnut bars, apricot filled shortbread, pecan tassies, cookie-press shortbread/Spritz/Peanut butter. Back in the 80’s I once shipped my college-student sister 2 chocolate-chip cookies in a metal Band Aid tin, in a manilla envelope, with a joking note about sending her “First Aid”. I don’t think bandages come in metal tins anymore, but similar humorous concept might bright LL’s day.
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This reminds me of a favorite funny story from my childhood…
My Nana Pauline flew from Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, FL to Los Angeles to visit my father and the rest of the family. My father had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and she felt sorry that he could no longer eat sweets. So she modified her popular mandel bread (for most people, better understood as “Jewish biscotti”) made with Sweet ‘n Low in place of sugar. She packed the treats in butter cookie tins and flew on Eastern Air Lines (remember them?) and when she got to our place in LA, opened her valise (she always referred to suitcases as “valises”) to find the cookie tins…but they were EMPTY! We figured the aroma of the mandel bread was too tempting to a baggage handler and they stole the cookies.
She had mixed emotions about the situation…happy that they smelled so good that they tempted someone to steal them, but disappointed/saddened that she had no treats to give to my father.
By the way, I tasted them when she made them another time and unfortunately the saccharin made them rather bitter. And to get back to the OP’s point of the post, thickly cut biscotti/mandel bread DO ship VERY well (I’ve sent some myself and can speak from experience).
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My mother sent me a gallon of plums for me to make jelly one year when I was working in a kitchen at a summer camp. The PO thought the box contained a broken bottle of alcohol. It was a mess. It didn’t make it out of the PO. 
Lesson: Don’t send ripe fruit!
I send cookies pülla, jams and quick breads all over at Christmas time. Lotsa recycled bubble wrap. The meringue kiss cookies always arrive intact.
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Thank you all for the amazingly helpful tips! Lots of great ideas here.
So it sounds like no one bothers trying to overnight anything, if that is even possible. Also sounds like not doing so isn’t a problem. I figure she will end up sharing with her roommate and friends anyway, so things won’t stick around for long (I hope).
I really appreciate the help! Classes start in about 10 days, so maybe I will try to aim to coincide with that. Thanks again!
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Following along as I think about care packages for my nephew in the fall.
Thinking ccc, cheese biscuits / crackers, maybe brownies or olive oil cake. And some dehydrated indian favorites that are apparently pretty good (just add hot water) — need to look at these as I’ve never used them.
I remember friends’ parents sending ramen, individual cereal boxes, and other small junky but favorite stuff like that when I was in college.
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Long time contributors may remember I have an interest in the Great War and have written a book about food during the period of the conflict. Food parcels from home were important moral boosters - something homely and tasty helped men remember there was life other than the danger of the trenches. The army mail service was pretty good and it was not uncommon for folk to send fresh fruit to their relatives fighting in Belgium and France. But they also send parcels to the men serving in Greece, Turkey, Palestine, etc. These would be going by ship and would take time. Many a parcel was ruined by fruit rotting before it got to the man.
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Here is a weird (to me) part of the situation: she can’t have a microwave because of the old wiring in the building. No electric kettle either. And while there is akitchen in the common room, there are no pots, pans, etc.!
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Ugh, no microwave or electric kettle certainly puts a wrench into the works.
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What about one of those electric hot water heating thingies (immersibles?) you put in a cup, maybe a very large cup?
On another note, those college ‘Egg Drop’ competetions we had in college sure helped out with future packing practices.
Your student is very fortunate to have a parent that cares! One of my roomate’s parents (is that grammatically correct?) was very generous, as was mine, in including extra items to share. Sunflower bars from The Food Mill in Oakland were frequent requests.
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I sent off my first batch of baked goods to Lulu this morning. Toffee and walnut blondies. I froze them overnight and put them in a ziplock bag. The woman at the UPS store added bubble wrap and put them in a box. Fingers crossed! She said they should get there by Friday, but if not they won’t deliver until Monday. This makes me a little nervous, as does my sudden realization that maybe once they get to her college mail room they won’t be immediately put into her mail. This is where I start learning!
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Yes, learning the mail room practices is key. What they say they do and what they actually do will come by trial and error. Can you track it and copy her on the tracking? She might be able to retrieve it…
It is so much cooler at least here in Boston and maybe other places too, so good chance of survival wherever they are going! I’m betting Lulu will appreciate the love even if they don’t arrive in prime condition.
The 2-day USPS priority mail might be worth looking into, though could be more expensive.
Such a beautiful thing, to love and give from afar!
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