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Grow Tomatoes Review: Packing Tomatoes for a 400 Mile Road Trip

August 3rd, 2009 | Author: Dot

A Large Christmas Gift Box Reused to Send Heirloom Tomato Gifts Packing

DoT’s Thot: Heirloom tomatoes are so wonderful to eat, but can be more delicate than the hybrid tomatoes. I have now sent tomatoes on a 400 mile road trip twice to Berkeley from Orange County, CA. The tomatoes arrived in great shape and I thought you might like to see how an amateur enthusiast shared her heirloom tomato gifts with others.

Save and Reuse Large Flat Christmas (or other) Gift Boxes for Packing Tomatoes

I had saved some Christmas Gift Boxes and took the largest one for packing tomatoes. First, I doubled the box by putting the bottom of the box into the box lid to make it stronger. Next, I put in some crumpled up newspaper pages to give some cushioning for the precious heirloom tomato gifts.

Write the Name of the Heirloom Tomato Gifts on Paper Towel Quarter-Sheets

Then, I selected pretty specimens of the various tomato types. I cut paper towels into quarters and wrote the tomato’s name on the paper towel piece. Then I gently nestled the tomatoes into the box, rearranging and adding crumpled newspaper as the filler. The effect was quite impressive.

Most times, I would have had a large insulated bag to slide the box into (the bag is one that looks like a large over-the-shoulder-bag). Not having that this time, I then took a kitchen tall plastic bag and slid the box into it and made sure that this sat on the top of the most level and cushioned position in the trunk of the car.

For good measure, I wrapped one of those frozen “blue ice” packs in a towel and nestled that next to the box to keep the ambient temperature cooler around the tomatoes. The tomatoes made the trip quite nicely.

Hope this helps– Aloha, DoT

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