The Postal Service expects to process more than 30 million pounds of mail destined for overseas military installations during November and December, including war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Foods that ship well include pound cakes, cookies high in sugar and shortening, bar cookies, brownies and fudge. Shortbread, sugar cookies and nut bars also ship well. Avoid cookies with perishable fillings such as cream or custard. Fruit and nut fillings work best. Soft, moist cookies will mold quickly in humid climates.

Coffee blends are easy to pack into decorative plastic or metal containers and ship.

Dried foods, nuts and dry mixes (spiced teas, herb blends and party mixes of cereals and nuts) are good choices. Delicate cakes that crumb easily, pies and yeast breads are fragile and spoil easily. If sending cake, do not frost before mailing. If frosting is desired, include a package of frosting mix or commercially canned frosting in the package.

When sending food to military troops, do not send fresh, cured or smoked meat, pork or pork by-products and poultry. Dry beef such as beef jerky or beef slims is safe to ship. Do not pack food in glass containers or place glass items in with food. Aerosols are not allowed.

Consider the weather conditions where the recipient is located and how the food item you are shipping will hold up.

Consider commercially processed, durable foods such as canned foods with pop top lids like tuna, chicken and franks and beans.

Commercially packed cakes and cookies in tins such as fruit cakes and dry cookies like ginger snaps and crackers will hold up well in many weather conditions.

Microwavable soups, macaroni and cheese, brownie mix and popcorn are items often re-quested by military personnel.

Raisins, apricots and other dried fruits, canned nuts, fruit and commercially prepared and packaged trail mix as well as shelf-stable pudding cups are good choices for mailing. Individually-wrapped cereal, protein, granola, energy bars, chips and cakes are also rec-ommended as snack food gifts for varying weather conditions.

When choosing a box, make sure it's roomy enough to allow plenty of packing material on all sides. Start filling your mailing box with a layer of packing material such as newspaper, foam pieces or plastic bubble wrap. Center the gift in the middle of the mailing box. Then overfill the box with cushioning material, making sure there's no air space left in the box. Do not use popped corn or puffed cereal as cushioning packing material because they at-tract insects.

The food gift can be placed in clean boxes, metal food tins or plastic boxes or bags. If packaging a cake, use a container that is only slightly larger than the cake.

If packaging cookies in the gift container, wrap flat cookies in pairs (back to back) with waxed paper between them and foil or plastic wrap around them. For cookies that are not flat, wrap individually. Put crumpled wax paper or padding in the bottom of the container to cushion cookies. If cookies are layered, put waxed paper between the layers. Put heaviest cookies on the bottom and the lightest ones on top. Bar cookies and brownies are best packed uncut in the baking pan or a box the size of the baking pan.

Jars and bottles can be shipped within the U.S., but the U.S. Postal Service requires that they have screw tops or locking lid devices. Use plenty of absorbent packing material (news-paper, mover’s packing paper or paper toweling) in the mailing box to absorb the liquid in case the jars break or leak. Remember, do not ship food in glass containers overseas.

Families and friends who wish to mail food gifts to service members should send them directly to the addresses provided by the military postal service. Priority mailing deadlines for APO/FPO AE ZIP 093 is Dec. 4, 2009; APO/FPO AE ZIP 090 and 092 is Dec 11, 2009.

All 2009 military mailing deadlines according to zip codes can be found at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2009/pr09_094.htm?from=2009HolidayPress-room_Center&page=MilitaryMail.

Kristen Smith is a family and consumer sciences/energy educator and Dade/Walker County Extension agent. She can be contacted in Dade at (706) 657-4116, Walker at (706) 638-2548, or by e-mail at kcsmith@uga.edu.