shipping a pie

[keyser Söze]

what is the best way to ship a pie so that it gets there in one peice? and honestly how long can a pie last in transit if it needs to be kept refirdgerated? is there something i can put in the box to keep it cold and how long will that last?

thanks

[AprilB]

This is funny, but the only experience I've had is when my mom would send pumpkin pies to my sister from LA to NYC at Thanksgiving.

So, now that I've completely qualified this as just guessing:

For 2 crust fruit pies or pumpkin/custards, (that type), I'd wrap the entire completely chilled pie in saran, then foil, line the bottom and side of box with peanuts (the styrofoam kind) and a few well placed frozen gel packs.

I wouldn't try this with anything gooey, but firm cream pies (without whipped cream...the receiver no doubt can figure out the whipped cream part) can probably withstand it as well.

My mom sent decades worth of pies over the years to my sister with little or no damage. Not that she cared. It was the thought that counted.

Firmly wrapping it would certainly help circumvent the "no speeky ingy" part when dealing with the morons in the postal service that like to play hacky sack with boxes labeled "FRAGILE". No guarantees, but it helps.

Now, if you want it to look 'purdy like' on the other end, you might want to find a restaurant supply store that has the plastic bubble pack (like you find commercial pies in markets. ) and you'd still have to pray that the shipper can read the "THIS END UP" arrow....

Lastly, if you are sending something as an example for a business contact, You'd have to pay up the wazoo for handling so that your product doesn't get totally mangled.

(am I sounding like I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the mail handling trade?)

You also might want to add a disclaimer about the moisture content making your crust a little damp. I don't think there is a real fix for this apart from little silicon gel packs? (of course, being me, I'd probably try taping little coffee filter bags of rice to the pie under the saran)

Like I said, I'm just guessing, but the ones my mom sent turned out pretty good.

April

[cookieguy]

If it's the type of pie you can freeze, fruit or pecan, etc., freeze it completely. Then package the pie carefully as above in its own pie box. Then use the smallest foam cooler you can. Pack the pie box in the cooler taking up all space with whatever.

You must include either pre-frozen chill packs, which you can buy in the store, or, better, get some dry ice from the local ice cream distributor. Pack the chill packs or dry ice, maybe 1 pound, in the cooler.

The cooler must be packed inside a cardboard box for shipping. Tape very well, no strings. Use FedEx or UPS overnight. Don't ship on a Friday because it won't arrive until Monday and it will be thawed before it arrives at its destination.

Cream pies I wouldn't bother. Also, don't waste your time writing "Fragile" on the box. In the highly automated world of UPS and FedEx it's meaningless.