Hi ASJunkies,

When you send individual servings of oatmeal, coffee, tea, hot chocolate -- do you take them out of the boxes and repackage them in ziplock bags? I could fit more in the box that way, but I don't want the stuff thrown out if its not in the original box.

Thanks for the advice!

Thea,

 Hi.  My way of doing that is usually to put all of them in the same baggie with at least a cut-out portion or portions of the labels since the packets don't always have the instructions or ingredients listed on them.  I would prefer to be able to just stuff them in the box the best way they would fit, but fear for one that they could get a small puncture that might allow contamination with all the yucky stuff floating around, or spill all over everything, I fight my urge to do so.  Another thing that some of us have done when sending drinking cups or mugs is to put hot cocoa mix packets or tea bags in them and then put them in baggies with the remaining bags and labels.

I take hot chocolate and oatmeal out of its box and put the packets in vacuum sealed bags.  For those I use the Food Saver.  Reynolds or Glad also make one.  I can get more in the box that way.  I also do the same with the individual drink mixes.  Air is a waste of space in those boxes as far as I'm concerned.

When it’s possible to fit individual servings of things in an FRB in the original packaging, I do.  If I know a package has a lot of extra space (from using the product myself) I’ll ‘double-stuff’ the box on occasion.  If I do ‘double-stuff’ I include a note taped to the box explaining what I’ve done. Otherwise, I leave the original seals intact.  I don’t want to give my contacts any (additional) reasons to doubt me and what I send.

Which is a good and valid point.  However, the individual drink mixes are in individual packets, as is the oatmeal and the hot chocolate.  I would NEVER take foot powder, shampoo or anything like that out of its original container and repackage it.  Those are sealed with packing tape and put in a baggie to prevent any spillage and/or leakage.

I have done something similar to Gran with  instant food, drinks I include the orignal box but flattened so they  can refer to directions/ ingredients.

I also group individual servings of packaged items [cocoa, cider, drink mixes, oatmeal, microwave popcorn] into a ziploc bag. I only include the directions from original box if there are none on the individual pkg itself. I never break the seal of any other pkg or toiletry before putting them into a ziploc bag, with the one exception of feminine hygiene items--those I also group into ziploc since they're self-explanatory.

One product that is new to me and might provide another "taste of the holidays" is the individual servings of instant oatmeal from Ocean Spray: they contain dried cranberries!

Man, that sounds good and I'm not an instant anything eater!  Think I'll be lookin for some of that next time I go to the store.

I do like JoCee and 'stuff' the original boxes, on drink mix, oatmeal, pop corn, cocoa, etc.   I tape the box shut, mark out the original number and put in big marker ink the new number of packets.   No wasted space, they have directions if they need them, and it's easier to pass out or store (I think anyway)    Also stuff cups/bowls/storage containers.

Anita