Survey for what to send ahead....

[Lindy]

Hi everyone! I'm going to try an experiment this year and send a box down ahead of time with items that are hard to find, hard to carry or very expensive on island. I'm looking for ideas. We have a list of things already maybe there are other things we haven't thought of yet. I seem to recall someone on the forum talking about how things like potato chips are horrendously expensive. We are a group of nine so we go through ALOT of snacks and other food items. We spend plenty of money in the stores once we get there but have found that some things are just not available there or there's no selection. For example, the pancake mix that we bought last year was clumpy and had little bugs in it....I recall that there was only one kind to choose from and it had obviously been sitting on the shelf for a while. We also had a hard time finding a decent cake mix. (One person has a birthday during our trip.) What are some of the items that others send to themselves? I was going to pack things like crackers, chips and I got a request for instant oatmeal packets. If anyone who's been there recently can give examples of prices for snack items I'd appreciate that too. Thanks in advance!

[Ksea]

These are the items I shipped ahead:

Shampoo
Sunscreen
insect repellent (body spray and for the villa)
Body lotion
Bath soap
Toothpaste
hairspray (dumb I know)
deodorant
6-pack crackers and cookies
oatmeal packets
splenda
individual boxes of cereal
Pop Tarts
Powdered drink mix

Once we took a cooler of food including:

Frozen burgers, chicken and hot dogs
Cheese
Lunch meat
Sausage, Bacon
Meatballs

I would do this again. We saved time and money and it was not a hassle at all. We didn't take a lot of clothes!

[Gromit]

My rules for shipping down or packing items in my bags to bring are:

1)have to be relatively lightweight.
2)have to be expensive to purchase on island.
3)Hard to find on island.
4) I have aspecific preference for a specific brand of something.
5)decision to bring based on quanitity needed. IOW I don't want to buy more of something than what I actually need on island at a higher price (see zip loc bags below).

So here's what I bring:

--Cold brew iced-tea bags;
--Favorite Coffee (unless you want some from STJ Spice);
--Equal (or articial sweetners)
--Crystal light packets
--Ghirardelli brownie mix (I take the bags out of the box and just cut out the instructions from the box and put in ziploc bags)- yes it looks like I'm transporting heroin - but I take the risk.
-- Powdered Gatorade
-- Mojo bars (or some other high energy snack bars)
--Cookies like Fig Newtons, that are chewy, also do pretty well.
--Spices are also a good bet (uness you plan to spend some $$ at STJ spice). Often houses lack an array of spices. If you are cooking at the house these ingredients can be costly and are very light to pack.
-- Cereal wouldn't be a bad option (remove from original pkging).
-- Peanut Butter and Jelly (I know these violate the weight rules, but I only pack/ship if I have room). The reason I bring these is they are always a good thing to have around and you can eat them with a spoon if you had to.

I also like to take things like:
---Ziploc bags and trash bags. Often these are much less expensive here at home (esp from costco). I remove from their boxes and put all inside one large zip loc bag.
-- Nalgene bottles (for refilling with water)
--koozies (to keep beer/drinks cold)

Of course if you are aiming to do carry on only, shipping down toiletries, bug spray and sunscreen over 3 oz will help you meet your goal.

Keep in mind though that these items can weigh a lot and shipping costs can offset any cost savings unless purchased at an extreme discount here at home.

Hope this helps!

[Gromit]

Hey Lindy -- as far as costs -- there was a thread on grocery prices a while back.

I had suggested that forumites share their grocery receipts so people could get an idea about what stuff costs. Just do a search for that thread for specifics.

Or perhaps someone would be willing to share a copy of a receipt from a recent trip?

[tipsy]

Hi Lindy,
was there this past May. We shipped almost all the food/sunscreen/bug spray,foil,paper goods,garbage bags/dry pancake & potatoe mixes,condiments(in the pkgs get from fast food places),shampoos,soaps etc that we could. Used 3 large boxes from the PO,ones you pay one price no matter the wt. so cost us $15 total.
It took 4 days for the pkgs to get there and cost us $10 for the holding fee at Connections in COral Bay.

We also used a soft sided cooler and took all our frozen meats,lunch meats/cheeses,butter & some fruits & vegies in hefty gal size bags on the plane with us as a carry-on. Meat stayed frozen just fine, wrapped them in plastic & saran wrap & then in freezer bags.

It was a real big money saver and time saver too. Found out that can't buy produce, dairy products etc. for more than 2 days at a time tops. so very annoying have to go to food stores every couple of days while on vac.

With your group size, sending down as much as can will be a real money saver.
Good luck & have a good time.

[Teresa_Rae]

We use USPS flat rate boxes and send the heaviest stuff because it costs the same as sending light stuff...then we bring the light stuff in our luggage.

Shampoo, sunblock, canned coconut cream for painkillers...

Just put anything that could absorb liquids in a plastic bag...ie, if the pressure change makes your shampoo explode, you don't want your sugar packets to taste like shampoo...

[Lindy]

Thanks everyone! Gromit - your list is almost the exact same as mine. One extra that I'm including this year are mosquito coils with the threat of Dengue and two women who are absolute mosquito magnets!

We do the cooler thing with frozen meats, bacon, sausage, meatballs, etc. Also a cooler with a whole variety of cheeses. It costs a fortune to feed such a large group when you're outside being active all day! We take a minimum of clothes too.

Keep it up everyone - this is VERY helpful!!

Lindy

[Greenskeeper]

my frugal nature. We also brought Splenda as I buy the packets by the case at BJ's and I might only use a couple dozen packets in the entire trip. The first year we went we brought noodle mixes and other dry goods and never used most of it as we just ate out. I didn't find buying sunblock etc to be very expensive and my special products like face creams, hair products etc get put into small bottles and I take advantage of my boys 1 quart ziploc bag allowance. My disclaimer: Our grocery prices on Cape are 10 - 30% higher than off Cape so I get more annoyed by paying higher prices for something to travel over a bridge than I do for it to go to a fairly remote Caribbean Island. I also usually have had a few cocktails by the time I grocery shop on STJ so my "whatevah" attitude is fully engaged.

[parafins]

Someone mentioned before,peanut butter with the jelly mixed in.This is a great idea if your mailing this down-saves valuable space! Parafins