So - I decided to join my love of food and love of letters/postcards/written mail. Through twitter and the blogverse, I discovered Foodie Penpals!
This month the person I received my wonderful box from was Rachel of Passing Daisies out of Ohio!
I could not be happier with my experience. It was so fun to shop for my penpal, and to receive such a well put together box on my door step!
My favorite item of the bunch:
I had never tried these, and even though they are sugar coated, they don't make your tongue raw like sour patch kids! I started eating them as soon as I got them out of the box, but then saved them for our evening movie plans. The movie, Safe House, and the candy, were a hit!
I also got a ton of cool drink items:
The mix of tea bags in a mason jar was an awesome idea that I might be stealing for an upcoming foodie pen pal!
On-The-Go Snacks:
I really love the Fruitzio freeze dried fruit. There is a ton in that pack and only 100 cals - for the win! I also got a super cute valentine and a ton of fun suckers :) Perfect for February!
Hearty Snacks:
I already love seaweed snacks, but I had never tried this brand, so it is good to know I universally love them. The Snyder's were also an existing favorite, and you can never go wrong with trail mix!
All in all I was so excited to get my first foodie pen pal box, and Rachel did not disappoint!
The person I sent my box to does not have a blog, but here is a portion of the email she sent me:
"I wanted to write when I was able to try everything. I absolutely love that you can go right outside and pick some fruit off a tree. I don't know if it was just in my head, but the oranges tasted much better than the ones in the grocery store. :) I was excited to see the Justin's peanut butter products. I always wanted to try them and now I will be able to. The ostrich meat stick peaked my interest. The one time I was in CA, we went to an ostrich farm near San Diego. I do have to say it was pretty tasty. The fortune cookies & roasted seaweed were very good. I love seaweed snacks and it was great to be able to compare different brands. Truthfully, I wasn't a huge fan of the bin-bin rice crackers which surprised me but my friend loved them. I'm looking forward to trying the See's candy and the TCHO candy bar. I haven't had a chance to try to jam yet but can't wait to. I really need to get to the store to buy bread. :) I think my favorite is the chocolate toffee pistachios. They rock! I'm trying not to eat a whole lot at one time so they will last longer. :) You definitely have a lot of tasty food in your area. Thank you so much for sharing it all with me."
I really wanted to send local products, so I am glad she enjoyed it. I had trouble sending a "full" box for $15, so I am glad the oranges were a hit since they were free for me to send!
If you want to participate in Foodie Pen Pals next month here is some information about the awesome program that Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean has set up.
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I'm going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!
If you’re interested in participating for March, please send an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
-WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. - this is SUPER important so you get on the right list!
You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!
***PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, you WILL GET A RESPONSE within 48 hours. If you don''t....please re-send your email or contact Lindsay via Twitter (@LeanGrnBeanBlog). Last month we had a few emails get lost as spam so we're trying to avoid that!
