Snack stick shipping

[mcmillenbr]

I made some Jalapeño snack sticks, I live in Indiana and my brother in California wants me to send him some. If I send them in a vacuum sealed pouch will they be ok to eat?

[PaulGrant]

mcmillenbr following… I have a few friends that want me to ship them some.

[Jonathon]

mcmillenbr If you pack them with dry ice and ship them next day they should be okay but other than that we can’t recommend you do it as I am assuming you don’t have a pH or water activity meter to ensure that your product has the required pH and water activity level to be truly shelf-stable.

[Big DLD]

My brother in Florida has successfully shipped frozen fish to me here in Nebraska!
Start with a good thick foam cooler, like the ones Omaha steaks uses. Line the cooler with hard frozen ice packs, tape in place. Then a layer of lightly wadded newspapers on the bottom and all sides of the product, for insulation. Make sure to freeze the sticks as cold as you can. Another layer of newspaper on the top and tape the seam of the cooler lid with packing tape.
Do all this as close as you can to last shipping times. We used 3rd day priority USPS and it arrived with only a 1/4" of the top package starting to thaw. Vacuum seal packaging works best. We did this in mid-fall. You may want to use 2nd day or next day in the summertime, if you can spare the expense.
Saved us a ton on shipping compared to shipping with dry ice, next day.