Food Packaging 101

About author / Rebecca Michaels

Queen of the desserts and pastry chef extraordinaire; graduate French Culinary Institute; Golden Scoop Award winner; Flying Monkey Bakery founder

I recently sent a box of baked goodies to a friend in Scotland. Fortunately, it arrived safe and sound, so I thought I'd share some tips with you so your home baked treats get to their destinations safely throughout the holiday season.

First and foremost, consider what exactly you'd like to send. Obviously, some items are sturdier than others. Brownies and cookies that aren't too delicate are perfect, not only because they are physically strong but also because their shelf life lends them particularly well to traveling through the postal system for days on end. Also, items that have liquor or very high sugar content in them will stay fresher longer. Be careful though--the booze seems to increase as time goes by. My mother sent me a rum cake once that took a while to get here. Once it did, I wouldn't even light a candle near the thing for fear it would have ignited!

A word about chocolate. I do not ship chocolates to any warm climates or anytime during the summer. Your recipient is guaranteed to have a gloppy mess. I don't even recommend overnighting chocolate during warm months because frankly, once that box is out of your sight, you never know where it will be sitting. With my luck, it would be smack in the middle of a concrete parking lot for 12 hours straight. Yuck! Larger chocolate houses have access to packaging that will keep the chocolate cool enough; unfortunately regular folks like us don't. So if you want to send chocolate, use your favorite company. They'll tell you if they can do it and the costs associated with such a venture.

As far as packaging, I like to pack things tightly together without mushing. Pack different items in different baggies so you don't have a cross contamination of messes in your box. Pack smaller boxes into larger boxes for added safety. Also, if you find your items are moving around in their packaging too much, crumple up balls of foil to act as buffers between the items. It's very light and can mold around anything. This also works well when hand carrying something to someone.

When it comes to the actual shipping box, many times I will let the postal store pack it for me. They know how to pack fragile things and have plenty of Styrofoam peanuts and bubblewrap. I've never had a problem when one of these experts helps me out. It's worth the extra money to have the perfect sized packaging for shipping. Especially for long hauls.

Now, I'm not getting kickbacks from the United States Postal Service or anything. But in my experience, the USPS has been much quicker and considerably less expensive than private shipping companies. I really cannot explain this. But I have found in every instance I've shipped something that Priority Mail has been much faster than its Ground Shipping counterpart. And a quarter of the price of 3-Day. And if you're concerned about your package getting in the right hands, use delivery confirmation. It's less than $1.00 and adds a little security.

So, heed my advice on shipping. I've learned a lot through all of my experiences mailing my precious goodies all over the planet. I'm very possessive about my products--and of course I want my clients and friends to have absolutely the best quality they can get. Don't be afraid to ship. Just use good judgment: if you wouldn't leave it on your counter for 3 days, don’t ship it. Bring it over to your nextdoor neighbor instead!