How to Ship Baked Goods

One of my favorite things to do for far away friends and family is to ship them yummy goodies, made with love. Now that the holidays are nearing, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking about the same thing. What a wonderful way to show you care. A packaged of beautiful handmade cookies, deliciously fruited breads, and sweet, sugary fudge are some of my favorites. But when you have to ship them across the country, how do you ensure they arrive intact and are able to decorate the table of your loved one? Well, here are some simple steps I have learned to ensure a safe, and beautiful arrival from your kitchen to your friends' table.


How to Ship Baked Goods

1) Ensure that the goodies you bake are tough - That is, you want to ship baked goods that can rustle a bit. Good ideas? drop or sugar cookies, quick breads, hearty yeast loaves, fudge, brittle, marshmallows. Bad ideas? well, there aren't many of these, but thin and brittle lace cookies and the like, often don't make it.


2) Package each baked item individually - This means, don't just shove them all your items in one bag. Separate sugar cookies into small, pretty bags. Mini loaves of bread can be wrapped, drop cookies are best in a small stack (4-6 cookies), then wrapped together as such. Brownies wrapped separately. This way, the structural integrity of each item stays put.


3) Double wrap for freshness - When it comes to items like breads and cookies, staleness can come on quickly. To ensure the goodies arrive intact as well as delicious, make sure there are two layers of protection. For most everything I package I wrap in plastic wrap (to seal in moisture) and then in a layer of tinfoil (to seal again, as well as provide a more stiff barrier to protect against breakage). Drop cookies are done the same way, but in stacks of about 4-6 cookies together, to form a column. Wrapped in plastic wrap and then

4) Packing for departure - The key in this step is making sure the items in your package are stable. You want to make sure that the items do not move around inside the box, as well as being protected from being moved around a lot outside the box. This is done through two layers of protection. First, you will take your packaged items and arrange them tightly into a large container. This can be a bag, a box, a ziploc container, etc. I prefer a large gallon size bag due to it's size and shape. Make sure there is not room for the items to move around inside the container.


Your second layer of protection is padding around this container and your packing box. This "padding" will be used to secure your backed goods from moving around when the box is tossed around. Using a priority box or a flat rate priority box (these are free from the post office and I use whichever is cheapest to my destination), you place padding material in the bottom of the box, place the container inside, then more padding on the sides and top of the box and seal. Make sure the padding is filled enough so the container doesn't move much inside the box.

I prefer to reuse my daily newspaper, but you can use scrap paper, plain (no butter or salt) popcorn, packing peanuts, or whatever else you have. But I find newspaper to be the cheapest, the easiest and the least messy when your family and friends unpack. (I personally dislike opening a box and having packing peanuts fly out onto the floor).


5) Sending it off - Don't forget to address the box, bring it to the post office and send priority. In a couple of days you will get a great phone call thanking you for the beautiful goodies that all arrived intact. Mission accomplished.