I ordered 6 fried pies from a company in Tennessee. They were sent Priority, which takes about 2 days usually. They were in waxed paper envelopes, with a small piece of bubble wrap and a paper towel in the much too large Priority box. The box had a hole in it by the time I got it and had been taped up with some post office tape. The pies were still good though. I've never shipped pies or cinnamon buns. I have shipped a lot of non-food items. My mom (in SC) shipped some frozen fig preserves to her brother in Washington state a few years ago. It was this time of year, and of course they thawed, but were cold when he got them. I think I wrapped the freezer bags in as much thin white packing foam as would fit, and put them in a Priority Flat Rate box. I used flat rate because it was heavy, and cheaper to use flat rate than regular Priority. A round pie wouldn't fit in a flat rate box though. She wanted to send him some souse meat this year but I talked her out of it. It might not stay cold enough. I have ordered haggis from Florida in June. It was about a 2 lb. package, frozen when it was shipped for overnight delivery (expensive), it was packed in a thick styrofoam ice chest, with packing peanuts and frozen gel packs around the haggis. It was thawed but still very cold when I got it. Sorry I can't be more help.

I would never pack a pie to ship unless it could be frozen. I have shipped cinnamon rolls (rolls, not buns because of their smaller size), but only after baking and freezing first; shipping for overnight delivery. No problem if baked in a foil container, topped with aluminum foil, packed in peanuts.

I used to send these to my dad/father-in-law as a special treat during the holidays/birthdays. It sounds like you may have some Lucky Recipients!

What kind of pie? Some say they've had good luck shipping pecan pies, but I'm not sure I'd try it myself.
Shipping is pretty expensive these days, so I'd guess that your shipping will be more than the food cost. Price varies depending on distance shipped and the size of the box now as well as weight. You can go to usps.com and look up the size and weight of the box you'd be sending to get an idea of whether you want to spend the money. At this time of year, you'd probably not want to send any way other than express or maybe priority.

Grace

I've shipped sponge cake and cookies at Passover to my lucky kids when they were at college. But the shipping has always come out to be far more than cake and cookies would cost. But mine are much better than store bought.

The type of pie would be critical. I don't think a juicy pie like a fruit pie would do well unless you could ship it fast enough to be sure of it keeping frozen.

I order kosher meat from NY at times that comes overnight in a styrofoam box and it arrives frozen even in summer and even when the shipping company messed up and took an extra day, but there is usually 20 or more pounds in a box so it has lots of very cold mass. And they choose a box that is tightly filled by what they send.

With a smaller amount of cold stuff, it won't stay cold as long. You could pack with some dry ice, but I don't know how small a piece you can buy. I ordered something once that came with that. Another downside is if the person opening the box doesn't realize what it is they could get hurt by it.

Thanks for the advice. I'll skip shipping the pies, I'm going to make some more Danishes instead and that with the cinnamon buns should fit nicely in a flat rate Priority Mail box and if they thaw out they'll just have to be eaten as soon as they are received.

Or would you ship fresh and give the recipient the option of then freezing?

Hi loves2cook...
I think I would ship the Danishes & the buns frozen so they would be less likely to get dented or mangled in shipping. The recipient would always have the option of refreezing.

irislover7b, what is souse meat???? Or did you mean moose meat?