OPERATION SEASON'S GREETINGS

Self, MoJo2001, Kathy in Alaska,HiJinx | 10-14-04 | Brad's Gramma

[diamond6]

I have a question re: food items.

Your list includes homemade cookies. How can we do that since it takes at least two weeks to deliver. Is there something I don't know because, I would love to send cookies to my solider :)

[MoJo2001]

Try Costco or Sam's Club!!
(Try Wally World as well. Oops! Walmart!)

[Brad’s Gramma]

Fawnn, oh great cook! :) Got a question for you regarding packing cookies to make them arrive fresh.

Other than, of course, mailing them to ME FIRST so I can sample them. (har!)

[WestCoastGal]

Bookmark & Bump!!

[diamond6]

Please add me to ping list? Thank you.

[BushisTheMan]

I bought mine at HEB in Texas.

Also, the Post Office sells some here.

[HiJinx]

Ummm...how are prices there?

I just purchased some on-line at $0.28/minute when used from Iraq.

I really don't know if that's a good deal. The web site I bought from says that the 'other retailer' price is as much as $0.50/minute from Iraq.

[Kathy in Alaska]

AAFES Calling-Card Best Value for Troops in Southwest Asia

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Looking to buy a prepaid phone card for a servicemember deployed to Southwest Asia, but confused about which one to buy?

Take comfort in knowing you're not alone. With so many competing companies offering different calling cards, picking the best one can be a tough call.

Just about any calling card will work for servicemembers calling the United States from Southwest Asia, Judd Anstey, public affairs specialist for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, told American Forces Press Service.

The big question, he said, boils down to which card offers the lowest per- minute talking charges.

Thanks to an exclusive contract with AT&T, DoD military exchanges offer a card that provides the lowest per-minute fees for calls placed from AT&T phone centers in Southwest Asia, Anstey said.

The Military Exchange Prepaid Global 550-unit phone card offers lower per- minute rates than other prepaid cards, including AT&T prepaid cards sold by other retailers, Anstey said. "It's the best value out there," he said.

If the card is purchased in the United States, the per-minute fees are 28 cents a minute from Iraq or Afghanistan and 21 cents a minute from Kuwait. If the deployed servicemember buys the card in Southwest Asia, the rates are even lower, Anstey said, 25 cents a minute from Iraq and Afghanistan and 19 cents a minute from Kuwait.

This compares to as much as 40 cents per minute charged by some phone-card companies after converting calling units to actual calling minutes, Anstey said.

Anstey said the cards offer additional features: there's no connection fee for calls placed, cards never expire, and the purchaser has the option of "recharging them" so the recipient doesn't run out of calling minutes.

The rest of the story

[HiJinx]

Thanks...that's who I was talking about!!

URL: https://thor.aafes.com/scs/default.aspx

You don't need to be an authorized patron to purchase, and you can have the cards sent to any US/APO/FPO address.

I had 15 sent to the Towne Center address above...

[shezza]

Ping, Louie

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Count me in!!!
:0)
Ms.B

[Fawnn]

Sorry, Gramma. I can create cookie recipes and bake cookies, but I've never packed them up to mail 'em.

In fact, the other night I was talking to my sister-in-law and said I still felt guilt because when my at-the-time-Marine-helicopter-mechanic brother was overseas in 1974-75, I'd only answered his letters; I never sent him anything! (She said he's never complained, and then pointed out as a recently divorced single parent who relocated to another city for employment, it was understandable that I had other issues on my mind. And besides, I spent a lot of time entertaining that Marine's wife....)

Because I can't "do" the post office and the forms involved now make it difficult for me to mail some things from home, I do other stuff and count on Kathy in Alaska and MoJo2001 to mail the actual packages.

Sorry for the non-answer, but I've just never had experience with worrying about keeping cookies fresh: They usually don't last that long. ;)

Attention shipping experts: Gramma is wondering how to pack 'em to keep cookies fresh (and non-crumby)!

[Kathy in Alaska]

On my last trip to Costco, I saw, for the first time, cards that actually said "International Calling Card" on them. I didn't check the "per minute" rate. If you have access to a military base, they look to have cards with the best rates.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Excellent info, HJ. I like this part the best.

You don't need to be an authorized patron to purchase, and you can have the cards sent to any US/APO/FPO address.

[HiJinx]

D'oh!

Can't believe I just remembered this!

Shipping cookies without having them break is fairly simple, especially at this time of year. Go to your local Wal-Mart, Target, Wal-Green, Osco, Rite-Aid, etc. and pick up a round decorative tin. Everyone has them. They hold a coupla dozen cookies easily. Put your cookies in a zip-lock for freshness (and to keep the sand out)! Put them in the tin, add tissue paper if they don't fit snugly. Use clear packing tape to seal the tin, again to keep the sand out.

Voila! Fresh whole cookies and a decorative touch of home to boot.

[Fawnn]

Excellent suggestion! (I think my practical, logical brain is still on vacation today.) ;)

[HiJinx]

Well, don't ask me to practical and logical right now.

We do this every year with Christmas cookies for the family. It ought to be second nature to have the answer at the tip of my tongue, rather than having it come to me nearly an hour after reading the question!

[diamond6]

I'm not worried about the breaking part, I wonder about the freshness. My deliveries to my soldier take an average of two weeks to arrive. Unless they were honey cookies, I don't know what to bake that would preserve that long.

[HiJinx]

Ahhh...zip-lock bags won't keep them relatively fresh?

We send snow-balls and crescent cookies to family every year for Christmas. They stay fresh.

To be honest, I suspect anything that doesn't start hard - like peanut butter cookies - will still be edible when it gets delivered. And I know for a fact that the recipients are going to love whatever the get from home.

Trust me, when you've been living in sand and eating MREs or chow hall food for a month, anything from home is welcome!!

[MoJo2001]

This is from my mom who is an expert at these things:

Find a cute cookie tin or some sort of tin. (THe Dollar Tree has a variety.) Make sure it's big enough to do the following things:

Get a small piece of bubble wrap and line the bottom of the tin.

Get styrofoam (sp?) and put it in to secure a somewhat snug area.

Wrap the cookies in wax paper and then put it in a baggie.

Take another piece of bubble wrap and wrap the outside of the baggie making it snug and secure.

Put it in the "snug" styrofoam tin.

Then put some bubble wrap on top of it.

My mom has done this for awhile. She has sent fudge and brownies over. This is how she's always done it.