Sgt Grit Marine Forums

Buy stuff ahead of time and start to stockpile it for when your Marine is overseas??? I've been thinking about that when we go shopping at the commissary and occasionally see a good deal... not of course for stuff that could go bad before then... but for things like foot-stuff, and powdered gatorade or powdered lemonade....

We don't have alot of storage space, but I thought that if occasionally I saw a good deal I could pick up a couple of extra things, and just have a box in our closet that was designated as his "care package" box......

Didn't know if I was the only one who was thinking about this, but thought that I would put it out there.

I plan on starting to get some things within the next week or two since Mark's going back at the beginning of August.  I want to go out with him once or twice, too, and just have him pick out some stuff that he would want me to send over there to him.  I plan on starting off with the little things, then right before he leaves start buying the bigger things.  And I plan on buying things in bulk throughout the deployment.  I did that last time, and it was nice being able to grab some stuff to toss in the boxes and take up more space.

I always *accidentally* buy more than I can fit in the flat-rate boxes, so I made a little shelf in the the kitchen for his stuff.  Lots of times things like Cheez-Its, trail mix, and Oreos are on special, so I'll buy lots, then mix and match what I want in his package.  That way you have things on hand to fill out boxes.  I think it's a great idea. 

When Matthew was gone on his last deployment I was of course in Alaska, and the only comissary was in Anch, which is a 3+ hour drive, so I would always do a HUGE shopping trip and bulk buy sooooooo much stuff to send to him, I literally had boxes out in our garage that were filled with stuff for his care packages....

Its going to be a bit different this time around which is I guess why I was asking input - or seeing if anyone else had the idea too... I'm definately going to buy his stuff from there, and keep the extras - I just plan wayyyyy ahead I guess.... seeing as he wont be leaving again until at least January..... urmmmmm..... I like to be prepared..... but think that I'll hold off on this for a while

Last time when Matt was gone I didn't really know what to send him. Or what he wanted me to send him. So this time yes I'm stocking him. We'll be in the store and he'll say "man this was $2 more in Iraq" so I'll grab him to send to him this time!!! And I told him that a month before he leaves we're going to go buy a BUNCH of stuff that he knows he'll want/need so that I have it all, and i'll just buy it as I'm running out of it!!

Thats what I was thinking..... I kept asking M if he liked what I was sending - or if there was anything that he really wanted and all I ever got was "Babe, whatever you want to send me thats great." which of course I loved, but at the same time I wanted to make sure that he was getting stuff that he liked and could actually use.

Thirsty Pilgrim and I have been searching for different things to ship. For those of you in the New England Area, the answer is the small Table Talk Pies. We discovered that the local supermarket would take a special order so that the pies were the freshest available when we explained where they were going. Expiration date was ten days out when I picked up the order. Eight or ten will fit in the two flat rate boxes along with other items for stuffing it tight. Shipped on a Monday morning, arrived on Sunday and still fresh (bless those preservatives). We just got responses, and the pies were a big hit.

Yup! And it was Sis's idea too. We've got the best responses from these damn pies.

If you're from New England you should be able to get them at Stop and Shop. Apple and Blueberry goes over good. The cherry ones are the last to be picked. So don't bother with those.

And they're fairly cheap!