Mailing Food to Troops - What To Send

By Holly Aho on Mar 2, 2006 | In Journal | 1 feedback »

CJ over at A Soldiers Perspective has an excellent post on what (and how) to ship to deployed soldiers. Not only is it informative, but worth a smile too:

One of the volunteers from Operation Pinecone asked me which cookies were the best to send to soldiers. She was told not to send the chocolate one because they melt and stick together.

That’s true. But, we don’t care. My favorite GS cookies are the Thin Mints. I remember getting my boxes of Thin Mints and each roll of cookies was fused into a Thin Mint Log. Do you think that bothered me? Heck NO!! I just ate the log!! Don’t worry about sending cookies you’re not sure your soldier will like either. We watch each other’s backs. There’s nothing you can send that EVERYONE will hate. Even if your soldier hates it, he’ll find someone that likes it. Guess how many smoked salmon I got while I was there. I think I was the token guy that eats those things.

CJ's list of recommended items to send include:
Cookies
Sausage and Cheese baskets
Popcorn (pre-popped and kernels)
Candy
Pop-Tarts
Saltines
Crystal Light
flavored cappuccino powder
bean dip
(basically any food item)

And he gives a warning:

Never, I repeat, NEVER mix any personal hygiene product with an edible product. When you’re so desperate for anything sweet, you’ll eat Tide-flavored licorice. The aftertaste is pretty bad though. I’d rather just have regular licorice. I’m sure your soldier would too. Also not a good idea: Old Spice flavored Snickers (my favorite candy bar minus the Old Spice).