Recommendations for Shipping small amounts of meat to friends/family.

[bobr1]

I’ve looked around some in the forums but almost everything I have found is for shipping large amounts of meat from different areas. I got 2 shoulder season elk earlier this week in Montana and I’d like to send some meat to some family members that are spread out over the US, just a few places. I would probably just send like maybe 5 to 10 lbs each and I am trying to figure out what the most cost efficient way is to do it if possible. I would probably freeze it and also probably need to add dry ice and send it. But trying to find small cooler boxes seems to be difficult to find locally or are really expensive online. Am I going to be spending a ton on this small amount regardless? Or are there other reasonably priced ways of shipping it? Normally I would just have some when family visited but due to some of their advanced age and health issues they will not be able to visit me anymore.

Anyways, I’d appreciate any recommendations or feedback. I especially need someone to talk sense into me if this is not a practical thing to do.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[BRTreedogs]

Just buy some foam board insulation at the hardware store and line whatever size box you want with it. Order some ice packs of Amazon and toss one in with frozen meat.

 

[def90]

Frozen, wrapped in newspaper, in a box lined with foam shipped over night should be fine. Shipping also depends on how far you have to go. For instance anything coming from any of the neighboring states to Colorado is going to get here overnight even if you ship ground.

 

[MTPipeliner]

You may try hitting up your local thrift store for small coolers. Another avenue is to talk to your pharmacy, they get items shipped in styrofoam boxes and may be willing to give you a couple.

 

[dieselchessy]

Box lined with 2” foam, whatever foam is cheapest, probably the white foam.
Dry ice if you ship 2 day, ice pack or no if overnight.

You’ll just be doing it as a gift. It will not be cost effective.

I used to pay $70 to $100-ish to ship halibut and salmon from Washington to mid Texas.

I’m not sure elk is worth it. Maybe if you had elk Sumer sausage or similar.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Can you not just ship a small cooler?
I honestly have no idea, never done it.

 

[Bowhuntone]

 

[dtrkyman]

Use Pirateship once you figure out packaging! Tell folks it's coming and have them thaw and use it promptly, then no concern on going over board with packing! If it thaws partially no big deal!

 

[roosiebull]

Can you ship with dry ice? I figured that may not be allowed. I want to ship some salmon to a friend in La when some springers show up but have also wondered about logistics. I know it will be expensive, especially now, but I’m ok with that, I just want to make sure it gets there in good shape, so following the topic

 

[Marble]

We just shipped an entire bull to our hunting partners on Texas from California. We did 3 day select UPS. We used some older ice chests we didn't want anymore. Two of the ice chests were placed in boxes. One was just sealed really well. It was somewhere around $850 to send them. And that's a significantly reduced price since we have a commercial account.

The weight of the packages isn't always the issue. It's the dimensions.

All the meat was still frozen when it got there and it actually took 4 days.

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[Marble]

And we did put about 6 to 7 pounds of dry ice on each package.

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[dieselchessy]

Generally for air freight the max is 5.5# of dry ice and you are supposed to put the hazmat label on it for the dry ice.

I’ve done that several times, but also had issues with it. I’ve had cases where postal folks at distant hubs that didn’t know the deal decided due to the hazard label that the package could only go by truck resulting in lost meat.

Something to consider.

 

[cnelk]

Last week I shipped 45lbs of frozen processed venison to my daughter. Colorado to Texas

I put the meat in a contractor bag, then in an airline insulated fish box, and shipped it UPS - Ground

$70 - it got there 3 days later and was frozen solid.

Dont overthink it

 

[fellerr]

Check with a vet clinic for foam coolers. We get vaccines shipped to us all the time. Anything 2 day shipped and ice packs are always still froze. We always have some on hand for free if anyone needs them.

 

[Abear8]

Always used cheap Walmart coolers when I can’t find insulated boxes

 

[Marble]

Last week I shipped 45lbs of frozen processed venison to my daughter. Colorado to Texas

I put the meat in a contractor bag, then in an airline insulated fish box, and shipped it UPS - Ground

$70 - it got there 3 days later and was frozen solid.

Dont overthink it

I think your method would have been better than what we did. But the receiver wanted it packaged in a particular way. He paid so...

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[RS_Non-Res]

I've done this. Shipped a couple pounds each ribeye, ground, roast to each of several friends and family. It's not much different than shipping medical or environmental samples across the country. But yea, it costs $$$ to keep frozen stuff frozen. Just need good packaging and fast shipping.

Save costs by booking through a commercial account (haven't tried pirateship but I will check it out for next time).

Save those U-Line boxes and old coolers. It's cheaper to ship the empty used boxes around than it is to buy new ones. We use them multiple times and seal with lots of tape and custody seals. I've reused some that I got when receiving mail-order icecream.

Dry Ice needs to be declared and package labeled when shipping. It's sort of a "Dangerous Goods." Regular water ice works well if shipping overnight, just need to package it to keep it from leaking all over the place. If your product is hard frozen and if shipping in the winter or overnight, then dry ice may not be needed, and that will save shipping weight/cost.

 

[bobr1]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Check with friends if they have any of the Omaha Steak styrafoam boxes. Those things are great for shipping. Otherwise, buy 1/2" 4X8 sheets of dense foam insulation and triple line cardboard boxes. Fill them with frozen meat, tape the crap out of them and pop the whole thing in the freezer for a couple days. The frozen meat should stay frozen for a couple days.

 

[roosiebull]

Generally for air freight the max is 5.5# of dry ice and you are supposed to put the hazmat label on it for the dry ice.

I’ve done that several times, but also had issues with it. I’ve had cases where postal folks at distant hubs that didn’t know the deal decided due to the hazard label that the package could only go by truck resulting in lost meat.

Something to consider.

Is there a way to find out if it will be an issue beforehand or are you just rolling the dice?

I’m trying to figure out if it’s better to vac pack, freeze, dry ice, or vac pack, fresh, and lots of gel ice…

If it was game meat I wouldn’t overthink it, but it will be fish in my case and I don’t love the idea of freezing knowing it will that and then be frozen again