Why I love my stateside friends!! (Care packages)

WOW - and when I opened this thread and thought someone had sent you some cereal and other "too expensive on the island" things.

What island are you on? Toad and Tart English Pub on STT serves Shepherd's Pie. The food there is delicious.

I'll say that's a great package! A friend of mine from TX has his mother send him Velveeta (really pricey here) along with other TX goodies he misses.

What a friend, to haul something through the airports.....! Much as I love the cheap rum, I'll just pay the inflated price stateside.....t'ain't worth it, although I think you HAVE to check it now, don't you?

Hey, Trade and Beth and whoever, if you need any basics and I can help, just let me know....the Velveeta challenge....yes, it's a mighty one! We had it shipped by the case and then found that Velveeta WILL go bad if left long enough, LOL! Blech....just mustardy yellow goop - hmmmm, should have made that a half case, I guess....also, don't forget I'll be down in May - my carry-on will have to hold all my earthly belongings, so that will leave me two suitcases if anyone needs anything I can procure for them from my Wide Spot In The Road.

That is awesome!! I was expecting dry goods too..LOL.

My husband and I had dinner at the Toad & The Tart our first night on STT. AMAZING FOOD and GREAT COMPANY!!
Everyone was so nice

Jen

has anyone ever gotten fruit and vegetables in a care package?

"My husband and I had dinner at the Toad & The Tart our first night on STT. AMAZING FOOD and GREAT COMPANY!! Everyone was so nice "

Even the owner 🙂

Okay. Times have changed. My favorite care package was after Marilyn. It had freeze dried camp food (just add water and heat- YUM!), battery operated fans, shoes and scotch. Something for everyone! 😉

Thanks for the offer, Becky.. Really the only thing that we can't ever find here is McCormick California Style Garlic Pepper, and our friend Kim just brought us 8 bottles of it.

The Shephard's Pie was delicious, by the way!! They even carefully packed little ramekins of gravy in the box with the pies.

Velveeta care packages? I've seen boxes of Velveeta but the plethora of polysyllabic words in the ingredients scared me and I could never figure out what it really is. Would you say it is to cheese what movie theater popcorn topping is to butter?

Absolutely! And probably what margarine is to butter, too, the worst substitute in the world for the real thing.....but hey, it's the other food group where I came from....

Everything is better with butter! 🙂

That's really kind of you, Becky! I don't need any but I really didn't know Velveeta could go bad. Right after Marilyn, I got a big box of batteries & boy, that was like manna from heaven. Also a battery operated lamp to read by. 3 months without power & those batteries were like gold. At least it helped keep the rats from running around as long as I was reading at night. Geesh, don't want to go through THAT again. You'll sure never catch me camping.

Trade,

RATS... you means rats in your house!!? I'm not quite sure I understand that. Is this an island wide problem? I plan on bringing my (very spoiled and lazy) house cat and small dog. Will that be a deterrent. I think I can deal with water and power shortages, high prices on limited goods, "rustic"roads but RODENTS...in the house!.... that I'm not so sure.

Hi Linda M,

Not to be alarmist, but Rats Happen! That's for sure. This is the tropics and they thrive here along with many other pests, what can you say?

IMHO it really helps to adopt, keep and feed outdoor cats if at all possible. Not only are you doing a nice thing by helping out the feral cat population, but you are also helping to control any potential rat problems around your home.

🙂

Oops. Sorry everyone!

I didn't mean to get into a detailed rat discussion when we were talking food. I was just trying to answer Linda M's question. Forgive me. Maybe Islander will turn this into a new thread.

🙂

Mice and Rats can definitely happen. They love the beach and they love open fields. You will need a bug service like Termenix or Olivers to come once a month even if you dont have mice. I do have alot of empty land around me and luckily my dogs are great micers but they dont get anymore sloppy kisses 😉

Speaking of foods keep your spices in your fridge and bring them with you. Can be hard to find and very expensive here. I definitely get care packages of mexican spices from back home. Salt alone goes from ok to moldy in no time flat.

I should have explained. My sliding glass doors were blown out & the roof was gone & replaced with a FEMA tarp until reconstruction started, which took over 3 months. So I had to stay here with it all open & the rats could come & go. They came because of the dog food & even after it was kept in the empty refrigerator, they still came around.
I was able to find a place to rent for the 11 months the rebuilding took but I had to stay in my place for 3 months until then.

The dogs never even noticed. 🙁