So, the boy is in Afghanistan. I talked with him on Skype today, and the Italian mother in me is in full overdrive. He’s lost weight, he’s too thin! My first instinct, of course, is that he needs me to make him a lasagna. This is complicated by the fact that he is in Afghanistan. Then I thought…there are some really smart engineery-types here on the Dope…perhaps someone here has some clever ideas on how one could ship a lasagna overseas, and have it arrive intact and edible. Anyone?
I don’t think you are supposed to ship perishable food.
I know it seems like a nice gesture, but it is probably not possible.
I really don’t think that you can ship a lasagna, unless you employ dry ice and/or refrigerated vehicles. I know the urge, because I tend to make a lasagna or a pot roast chicken for someone when I’m worried about them, but honestly, if the lasagna has to spend a couple of weeks in transit, it’s not going to be a package that is welcomed.
Military food is vastly improved from when my father was in Korea. He says that the only thing that kept him going was Chef Boyardee ravioli, so you KNOW that things were bad back then. He’s probably getting enough food, he’s just too busy to eat.
You could ask him if there’s something that you could send him. He might want something that you can send easily.
Cookies, brownies, and many other baked goods are considered non-perishable, transport well, have thin-reducing properties, and can double as currency for favors. Things that are local favorites in the sweets or snack food category that are non-melty and relatively break-resistant are also favorites. (My brother loves getting fruit roll-ups in the mail, for example.)
I was in Afghanistan for a year and visited several forward operating bases. The food there was better than at the embassy so I wouldn’t worry too much about his diet. Embassy staff would actually make special trips to Camp Eggers on Friday for surf-n-turf night!
Cookies and the like are definitely the way to go. He’s going to have difficulty heating up the lasagna anyway. (Except in a microwave. Pfuii!)
I guess I should clarify. I, myself, am military. I’ve been to Afghanistan myself, as well as one other deployment. This is my son’s second deployment. When I was in Afghanistan, he was deployed to Iraq. I am intimately familliar with military food when deployed, as well as the traditional contents of care packages, and my last care package to him weighed around 70 pounds, and cost about $150 to ship.
My boy does not need DFAC food, fruit roll ups, candy or cookies. No, my boy needs some of his mother’s home cooking. I do very much appreciate the concern and suggestions, but what I’m really after is some clever idea to ship food that I couldn’t think of. This being the biggest brain trust I’m aquainted with, I though maybe someone could help.
How about if you canned the lasagna? Several food co-ops around here used to do custom small batch canning in metal cans. Maybe you could can the sauce and send it to your son for a do-it-yourself project. The sauce is the most important part, right?
If it is possible to send glass jars you could possibly do the canning yourself.
Then perhaps we should ask you; does the military allow packages containing lasagna to be shipped to soldiers?
I don’t know of any specific anti-lasagna regulations, but as far as I know, food of any sort is ok. As someone mentioned above, innumerable cookies, brownies, candy, etc., etc get sent every day. We got pies from various sources at Thanskgiving, and many other things I can’t remember. It’s not the permissability of it, it’s the practical shipping that’s the problem.
Cub Mistress, canning is an intriguing idea…maybe a version of lasagna that’s kind of like ravioli…
Let us know when you perfect that recipe for lasagna cookies.
Send it to me! I will hardily enjoy it wile toasting him with a glass of chianti 
I’m no expert on canning (either in actual cans or glass jars) but I don’t see any reason why you can’t make a normal lasagna then hack it up a bit to slide into cans/jars, maybe through in some extra sauce, and do then doing the canning thing to make it sterile/keepable in shipping.
Oh my, we are snarky, aren’t we. I’ll make sure to do that.
Definitely a good idea…I’ve sent items in glass before, they just need some extra packaging.
I was going to suggest canning, as well. It may end up looking more like Beefaroni than lasagne, but it’s still Mom’s Home Cooking, and I bet it will taste delicious!
Oh, no, wait…I mean, it might taste terrible. You’d better send a test batch to me, first. I’ll take one for the team. 
When a friend in Seattle moved to Alaska, a bunch of us decided to send her some of her favorite foods – stuff she couldn’t get in Juneau.
Bad idea. The dried stuff came through okay, but her favorite veggie chili (packed loosely in plastic) exploded. Not sure why – maybe because it traveled by air, in a non-pressurized (or pressurized?) part of the plane.
I don’t know where you are, WhyNot, but I’m conveniently located in Japan, so Mama can send me her lasagne, and I’ll do her overseas-shipping taste testing. Maybe send that first batch to you, [del]then if you live,[/del] then the second batch to me.
Heh…how about this…maybe I create a jarred/canned lasagna experiment and send it to multiple people to test first?
Pork and pork by-products are not permitted be sent to service members in Afghanistan. That would include italian sausage, if your recipe is that type.
Hmmm; lasagna, cookies, brownies, candy; one of these is not like the others.