Any military families?
I was wondering if any of you folks have anyone in the military? I sent a pkg. this week to my nephew, who is stationed in Iraq. He is 21, and is the son of my youngest brother. My brother passed away 3 yrs. ago and his son has remained very close. He calls my son just about every weekend. 2 weeks ago, I spoke to him and asked him what he would like from home. He listed the usual candy and snack food , but then he said, "Aunt Barb, what I'd really love are some of your homemade dill pickles!" I said ok, but he was worried that I could not ship a canning jar. I put the screw cap back on the jar, triple-wrapped it in bubble wrap, and put it in a plastic coffee can which I duct taped shut. It did not move!! Packed in the box with the candy , cookies, chips and salsa..I am pretty sure he will get his pickles! When he was little, he'd come to my house and eat the garlic cloves out of the pickle jar..I made sure to send him a jar with some really nice garlic. Just thought I'd share, cuz it was on my mind and I was curious about military family members on this site.
Re: Any military families?
we have been told that when it comes from home, if it is reasonably intact that it is still wonderful...
Re: Any military families?
BK, my sister got me a Reynolds Handi-Vac sealer for my birthday last fall, and I love it! It's a lot cheaper than those $100 models. It runs on 6 AA batteries, which I just had to change after running that thing for 8 months. (Couldn't believe they lasted that long!) You can get quart or gallon size bags for it, and they are available at Krogers and Wal-Mart, and probably most other stores. I use mine for everything from veggies to cheeses to frozen meats and it works great for keeping things fresh and freezer-burn free. I think you'd love it for your cookies!
Re: Any military families?
BK, ask around and see if anyone has one of those food-sealers. They cost around $100, but a lot of people use them now.
I know I love mine for meats in the freezer... I can find New York strip steaks (whole) for around $2 a pound sometimes and I slice it and seal them for the freezer. It's the only time we can afford steak! (Indiana/Michigan people... Shelton's in Niles... they have an ad in Monday's South Bend Tribune each week.)
If the cookies are sealed in those, they will last a long time, because it's air and moisture that turns them bad.
You might find it's worth it to get one for this.
Re: Any military families?
Well, we were a military family, my nephew was killed in Afghanistan last month, he was walking home in the morning after duty and died during a grenade attack, we are all still devastated...He left behind four little kids, two boys, two girls and I don't think his Mom will ever be the person she was before. I have been trying to decide how I feel about the whole picture since, seems the things I thought were right are now questionable......
Re: Any military families?
my condolences, also.
Please do not make his noble sacrifice be for naught by deciding that it wasn't the "right" cause.
Re: Any military families?
Cheryl, my condolences for the lost your family has had. I wish I had words that would make it better for you but I don't. I live every day in fear of men in uniform coming to my door with the same news. However, I will share with you a conversation I had with Scott. I forget the reason for it but we were talking about war protesters and military families that were protesting the war. It was something on the tv news, and he looked at me and said "Don't you ever do that!" (meaning protest) We talked about it and the thing that I remember most about our conversation was he felt that if he should die while serving our country the worst thing I could do in his memory was protest or not support the reason why he died. He felt that it would give his service to his country and death no meaning. For those of us who are not military this is a radical thought, but for those who are serving our country, this is how they feel. They love our country so much, they are willing to die for it. By questioning their deaths, they feel that we are questioning their service which they choose to do.
May God be with you and your family at this time. My thoughts and prayers with be with you and every military family who has love ones serving our country.
Re: Any military families?
BK, thanks for the kind words, I forgot about Scott or I wouldn't of said what I did, I don't want to remind you of anything more to worry about, I am still a firm believer in the military, my dad and my husband are veterans, it's just hard when I look at the complete and utter sadness on my neice's face, the lost look on her two older boys, it breaks my heart and I find myself letting hatred slip into my heart, this stuff is so hard to wrap my mind around, this is the first GI that I have known personally that has been killed and it threw me for a loop, but thank you again and I will be keeping Scott in my prayers........
Re: Any military families?
My condolences as well! We have had an ex-sil there, our other sil was there, have had cousins there & currently have our nephew there for the 3rd time since 2003. We haven't lost anyone there, but our nephew was injured by an IED during his 1st tour.
One of the biggest mistakes I think people make is that they mistake supporting our troops with agreeing with what is occurring. We should support our troops regardless of our personal feelings on the issues.
I think in our families through the years, we have had everything except the Merchant Marines & the Coast Guard covered!
Re: Any military families?
LOL, I was just going to tell Barb that BK could offer some advice on the subject!
Re: Any military families?
Yep, I know how to pack those boxes in a way that every inch of space is used so that I'm getting my 12 dollars worth of postage
Re: Any military families?
My son is an army officer deployed to Afganistain right now. I was sending him a care package every week due to him being in the middle of nowhere. Some of it is for him but also some of it for his men who don't have the family support like he does. Also ANY mail he gets, takes a month or more to get to him only because they are 200 miles from the nearest APO so they only go there that often. But he is getting a new assignment (he will be the commander of his own platoon, still in the middle of nowhere) and he asked that I hold off sending anything more until he gets to it. I send food items, but because he is in the middle of nowhere, I also send personal care items. What he would love for me to send, and I'm not sure how to get it there with the month in between, is my home made cookies. Any suggestions on how to send them so that they stay fresh for the month it takes to get there is well appreciated.
Re: Any military families?
In about 1968,my oldest sister's boyfriend was in Vietnam. My mom used to ship him cookies that she baked . She packed them in popcorn(unseasoned) inside of a coffee can. He said they arrived perfectly..I was only 8 at the time, but thinking about it now..maybe he was really hungry or really homesick!! I would guess that it would work, the popcorn may get stale but it would make a great cushion and probably help keep the cookies fresh. Thanks for sharing your story with me!!
Re: Any military families?
Thanks for the suggestion! I might have to try it if he get desprate enough for home made cookies!
Someone suggested to me to use one of those hand vac food sacks that are popular right now (they are suppost to take all the air out of the bags which is then suppose to keep them fresher longer). But I've never used one or have found any one who has to find out how long food stays fresh in them.
Re: Any military families?
You can also use Pringles cans to pack them in. Then I would be inclined also seal them in bags to help keep them fresh. But they don't move around much inside of a Pringles can.
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