Friday, January 28, 2011

The Process




I thought I would share with you the process that we go through about every 6 months when we head back to Angola. We spend 2 days of solid shopping.
We get a 2 bedroom or adjoining rooms at the hotel bottom floor to get everything ready. As soon as we get there we call and arrange a seat less minivan to deliver us to the airport in a couple of days.
1. Go to Lowes to get 10-12 heavy duty black plastic containers
2. pick up the ice chest from Academy the ones with wheels preferably (we got 7 this time 5 for meat 2 for produce and cheese)
3. Take ice chest to the butcher we use so he can put the ice chest in the freezer to get them extra cold. Give him our list of meats.
4. Shop Walmart first for all the none perishables, cereal, crackers, pasta's, etc. Then proceed to the perishables- tortillas, cheeses,
5. Go back to the hotel and unload and start to distribute by weight into each bin.
6. Do this process again for almost a solid 2 days with trips to the mall in between to buy shoes and clothing.
7. The night before we pick up the frozen meat and buy dry ice to top them up overnight. We duct tape them closed. (I'm not sure why because airport security always opens them up!)
8. We weigh and zip tie the bins and tape more zip ties to the top because security opens them to.
9. Call and confirm that we will be picked up by our shuttle service.
We had 25 items to be checked in. Not to bad this time.


7 comments:

Mindy said...

Wow. That is really interesting!

Heidi said...

Only YOU could handle that, Aunt Mabel. You're so organized! That would drive me crazy!

Ashley said...

I agree with Heidi, you are amazing! It sounds like you've got it down to an art! I'll be extra thankful the next time all I have to do is stop by Albertsons for everything I need.

Lindah said...

Wow, That is incredible. You are amazing-

Kayleen said...

I hope you sleep for a couple of days when you finally arrive at home! Thank you for sharing your unique life with us....it really does make us appreciate how easy we have it!

M. Moore said...

YIKES! The hard part for me would be deciding in advance what I may crave 2 months from now. I hear that you guys are famous for this kind of shipping. None of the other ex-pats do it?

Belinda said...

Wow...makes me thankful for Tesco home delivery service!!!