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Gift your college kid a care package with Amazon Prime Pantry

They might be in college, but you're still looking out for them.

Amazon Prime Pantry Credit: Reviewed.com / Kyle Looney

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When I was in college, my mom loved sending care packages—homemade banana bread, sugar cookies, brownies. But she also would delight in buying me a few essentials from the grocery store, bundling it all together, and shipping it out... just to make sure I was "eating healthy." I wasn't 12-years-old anymore, but it was sweet to know she cared. Even if that meant she was still bound and determined to make sure I didn't eat ice cream for dinner.

I don't even want to think about the time and energy she spent picking things out, finding a box, packing it all together, and shipping it to me. Luckily, she won't have to do that for my little sister. Instead, she can let Amazon do the heavy lifting for her.

Prime Pantry is a service offered to all Amazon Prime members (if you're not a member, you can get a 30-day free trial here). It's pretty simple once you understand the basics. Each item you pick from the Pantry homepage counts as a percentage to fill your box. A bag of chips is 3% while a bottle of Advil PM is 0.6%. Each box has a flat shipping rate of $5.99, which can actually be dropped to free shipping if you buy five items from a curated selection that changes each month.

Amazon Prime Pantry Care Package Graphic
Credit: George Petras, USA TODAY

In 2–5 business days, your package will be delivered with your food stacked together, Tetris​-like, with chips/cookies carefully secured in an extra layer of padding. It's not quite the same as a batch of homemade cookies, but let's be honest: Are your kids going to buy their own multivitamins?

One last note: Pantry doesn't offer any frozen goods or perishables. (Although Amazon Fresh, which is only available in select markets, will.) So, even if they wanted to use Pantry for their own groceries, your kids still can't have ice cream delivered for dinner.

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