Looking to do bare minimum shalach manot, ideas

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 4:43 pm

I am pregnant and on bed rest. Because of our jobs it's likely we will have a lot of people bringing us shalach manot even if we don't deliver. On a very limited budget. Looking for ideas . Originally we were thinking : pita chips, Israeli salad , and chumus (we recently made yeridah so we like an Israeli theme) but I am trying to think if there is anything physically easier that's inexpensive.

amother

Aquamarine

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 4:53 pm

Plenty of people last year gave us ridiculously simple... like a mini can of soda and a mini candy bar in a basic brown lunch sack stapled shut. It's not pretty but it's cheap and easy and seems from posts here that nobody is happy with what they get anyhow, so might as well not break yourself or the bank. For israeli you can do pita chips and a juice box. Simple as can be.

pesek zman

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 4:59 pm

In my community no one cares. I don’t think more of people who spend more money or time and I think themes are ridiculous. Your minimum is more than my norm. If you’re in bedrest than assume people who typically expect more will cut you some slack.

zaq

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:03 pm

Technically you can be yotze by giving one person a lollipop and a few peanuts or some sunflower seeds and some raisins. Btw they must be two different foods, not two different brochos, so handing the person a couple of grapes and a clementine or a cookie and a pretzel would do it. The wrapping or lack thereof has nothing to do with anything.

Last edited by zaq on Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

turca

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:09 pm

amother wrote:

Ridiculously simple?
What exactly do u expect?

sky

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:15 pm

I would do something that can be made way in advance and require no refrigeration.

You could do a large bag of something or pkg wafers or breadsticks with chocolate bar.
Or bag of tortilla chips and salsa jar.
Place in nice clear bags and tape shut.
Clean and simple.

amother

Rose

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:17 pm

Several of these , for example, the muffin and coffee, and the humus and pita chips, are things I would vastly prefer to something more elaborate, bc they are things I actually would eat.

amother

Orange

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:21 pm

I have an aunt who just buys a case of wine and chocolate bars and when someone comes to the door she hands one of each. I would buy some sort of drinks and some sort of something else and just hand it to people when they come to the door no need to wrap it

goodmorning

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:48 pm

zaq wrote:

Technically you can be yotze by giving one person a lollipop and a few peanuts or some sunflower seeds and some raisins.

Actually, technically you can't yotzei with a lollipop and a few peanuts. The size of the portions given as MM need to be significant. Some hold a minimum of a kzayis, but others hold that it needs to be even bigger.

e.g. Aruch Hashulchan, 695:15

עוד נראה לי דבזה אינו די בכזית או ברביעית, דבעינן מנה יפה. דזהו לשון "מנות", כעניין חתיכה הראוי להתכבד, שיהא דבר חשוב. ואלו ששולחין חתיכות קטנות – לא יצאו ידי חובתן

loosely translated:
Additionally, it appears to me that a kzayis or a revi'is are not sufficient, because the purpose is to be a "nice portion," as implied by the word "manos," like a dignified piece that one would serve to honored guests, so that it should be a dignified thing. And those who send small pieces have not fulfilled their obligation.

amother

Aquamarine

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:53 pm

turca wrote:

Ridiculously simple?
What exactly do u expect?

Calm down.

Yes, ridiculously simple. It's not an insult. Or a judgement. It's an observation.

Putting 2 things in a brown lunch sack stappled shut vs. a footed ceramic bowl filled with fresh fruit, good wine and expensive chocolates wrapped in organza.... yeah it is ridiculously simple. And you know what? The paper sack people didn't lose any friends over it. In my opinion they're the smart ones.

DVOM

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 7:26 pm

I have a picture of my grandma in the 1950s giving out an orange, a hamantash and a little bottle of grape juice on a paper plate covered in a doily. One of these years I am going to be brave enough to do this.

thunderstorm

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 7:31 pm

DVOM wrote:

This was a very typical mishloach manos that we received when I was a kid in the 1980s and 1990s. They just put the paper plate wrapped with purple cellophane and pink curly ribbon. Those were the "fancy" mishloach manos.

sky

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 7:33 pm

DVOM wrote:

Was it a paper plate?
My mother in law says they would put 3 things on a real plate. Carry it to a neighbor.
The neighbor would then put 3 things from her counter back on your plate and you would bring it home.

jewish613

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 7:43 pm

I agree that it would be easier if the food didn’t require refrigeration. Do you specifically want to do meal-type food or would Israeli snacks be ok? Like bamba, halva, bissli, etc. You can package them in a blue and white bag to fit in with the theme.

ra_mom

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 8:15 pm

Buy individual packets of pita chips and individual humus. Nothing homemade. Add an Israeli flag instead of the salad.

Or buy the wine size gift bags, line with tissue paper and drop in a nice size box of wafer rolls and a mini glass bottle of grape juice. You can sometimes find the wafer rolls for $0.70 and grape juice for $0.90 and maybe you'll get lucky and find pretty bags for $0.40 so you can keep it under $2.