What to bake for a college bound care packages ...

Homemade biscotti travel well and keep in an airtight container for a long time. I've done everything from basic almond, to currant/cornmeal, to chocolate chip/dried cherry. Sometimes I send a pound of their favorite coffee from our small local coffeehouse to go with it - always a hit.

I also send my kids bags of raw almonds, cashews, homemade trail mix and banana chips. No breakage or spoiling worries there either. (I'll throw in some good chocolate, if it all starts looking too healthy ;)

Chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. To pack them: wrap pairs of cookies, bottom sides together, in foil or plastic. Then pack all of the pairs in a freezer baggie. Pack all in a box protected all around with bubble wrap or crushed paper.

homemade quick oatmeal packets: baby oats, sweetener (maple sugar, brown sugar), minced dried fruit, chopped nuts, cinnamon, powdered milk, and instructions to add boiling water, cover, and let sit for a few minutes.

quick soup mixes (i was skeptical when i saw this idea recently, but i made a batch for friends with a new baby, and it's tasty!): for every 1/2 cup of mashed potato flakes, add 1 teaspoon powdered vegetable broth (i get in bulk at the health food store), 1/4 teaspoon dried chives, and a little black pepper and shake well (i made about 8 servings in one container). send with instructions to add 1 cup of boiling water to make 1 serving. totally addictive.

if they have a hotpot or stove (or rice cooker), make lentil soup: 2 cups dried lentils, 2 teapsoons powdered vegetable stock, 1-2 teaspoons curry powder, dehydrated onions, minced sundried tomatoes. add intstructions to simmer with 6 cups of water until lentils are done.

and big thumbs-up on the granola. it's easy to make and is so much better than any boxed version.

Something healthy! There's so much crap at college...I like the suggestion for zucchini bread

To be honest, my daughter never cared for the condition of any baked goods we sent. I enjoyed sending and she enjoyed eating these at home, but she just never found 4 day old baked goods appealing. Instead I send goodie boxes of random things I collect from closeouts and sales, boxed items that mix up easy. Stuff she likes from Trader Joe's like pepermint JoJo's, dried tropical fruit. If you can, us USPS flat rate boxes--they arrive in 2 days and the weight imit is very high.

I discovered Anzac cookies when I married an Australian and am totally addicted. The recipe is from when wives wanted to send cookies to their husbands who were in the Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and they had to survive in the mail via naval ship. They are really simple and delicious and there are tons of recipes on the web if you google it.

I send my niece home made granola and granola bars. Keeps and travels VERY well, super healthy, and she can eat it in her dorm room for breakfast on yogurt, or pack a bag of it as a snack in her backpack during the day. I send it to her by the shoebox full, and now I'm getting requests from her dorm floor mates for more.

Brownies, blondies, cookies if they are packaged well they will keep for days.

I don't have kids in college to ship but to my guys overseas in the military I have had good results with unfrosted brownies, quick breads such as banana bread or zucchini bread, fudge, popcorn (some pack cookies IN the popcorn), cookies that aren't crumbly (you can use a pringles-type can to stack them) ...