Shipping Meat Question

[krj]

So I have a buddy that has been on my butt about making him hungry every time I post pics of my food on Facebook. Last night while chatting he told me he'd pay for the meat and shipping if I'd send him some. This is well out of my knowledge base, and figured I'd see if anyone here had some experience with going through with this process.

My plan is to send him 4lbs of pulled pork and maybe a couple slabs of ribs. It will all be vac bagged and frozen. I talked with my post office lady today, and she quoted me a price on shipping a 20"x20"x20" 20lb box from me her in Kansas to him in Alabama with 2-3 day arrival time was like $57 which didn't seem too awful. Especially compared to the overnight which was like $230 something...ouch!

I'm thinking going dry Ice as the amount of time will be that long, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough. So those of you have done something like this before, or even considered it; what are your thoughts/opinions/ideas?

 

[dave schiller]

I don't know what mail priority they send their meat with, but Snake River Farms ships frozen beef from Idaho to everywhere. They use dry ice and foam insulation and it seems to work. Check out their website for ideas.

 

[clifish]

yes, Omaha steaks does it the same way, an insulated shipping cooler with dry ice on the bottom...maybe top as well. The dry ice will last a few days in there.

 

[Sowsage]

I shipped some sausages frozen to my brother in law about a month ago. They provided a box like you describe and they put the ice packs in. I added more of my own ice packs. It was 2 day shipping from Ohio to Florida. It was around $50. When he got them they were not completely frozen but well within safe refrigerated temps. There was a weight limit on that box of I think 20lb.

 

[kit s]

I have shipped to Utah, Nevada and Washington. Insulated boxes I got from Zoro made for that purpose. Found the best days to ship was Monday or Tuesday so that i did not have to worry about it sitting overnight or so in a post office warehouse. Same as what Sow stated, some thaw but within in acceptable parameters.

 

[smokerjim]

check out ups, I used them a couple years ago if I remember right they had the dry ice there(could be wrong about that) unfortunately I can't remember the cost but it might be worth a call.

 

[jcam222]

UPS store will pack it right up ice packs and all.

 

[LanceR]

Your local veterinarian is a good source for the small thick wall coolers similar to what Omaha Steaks uses. The vets get live vaccines in them pretty often. They also get vaccines in boxes that are simply lined with 1 inch foam board so make sure that they know you are interested in the ones that are like coolers with the one piece body and a lid.

My old vet had 3-4 of them every month.