You are probably used to buying all kinds of things by mail order – clothes, electronic goods, household appliances, to name just a few. According to some sources, the first mail order business was set up in Newtown, mid-Wales as early as 1861. Retailing has never been the same since.
Things have come a long way since the second half of the 19th century, of course, and mail order pies have now been added to the long list of products.
In this day and age, the process of ordering is made all the more straight forward and customer-friendly thanks to your ability to choose what you want from the manufacturer’s website, make your payment and simply sit back and wait for your delicious, handmade, traditional pies to be delivered to your door.
This makes buying the right mail order pies reassuringly certain that you get exactly what you see on the website. Along with professionally taken photographs of the pies in all their glory you may read a detailed description of the quality ingredients and care that goes into handcrafting the food.
Pies are such versatile food and those handmade to traditional recipes may contain meat (such as chicken or steak), vegetables or, for a tasty dessert, fruit.
Mail order, courier delivery
In the early days of mail order, your goods were delivered by standard postal methods – the Royal Mail.
Greater certainty and security is ensured through the delivery of mail order pies not by post but by special courier services. Handmade, quality pies are perishable food stuffs, after all, so you want to rest assured that delivery takes place as quickly as possible on the day indicated when you order.
Since your purchase is by mail order you may generally choose whatever delivery address best suits you – at home, at work or some other place (where you may be holding a special event or celebration, for example).
Some pie shops use an overnight courier service, to ensure that pies ordered one day are delivered the day following their collection by the delivery service. In many cases, deliveries are made on the same day each week, so you may be certain of the date on which your pies arrive.
Even so, you might be out when the delivery is made and, in that case, a specially insulated package keeps the food sufficiently cooled until you retrieve it from your doorstep – or a neighbour if it is left there.
Once you take the pies out of their packaging, it is usual to keep them chilled in the fridge until you want to eat them – which for fresh, handmade pies needs to be within the next four days.
If you want to eat them later than this, mail order pies can typically be frozen (for a maximum of, say, six months) on the day you receive them, and then thoroughly defrosted in your fridge when you are ready to eat them.
Buying your pies by mail order is quick, easy and reliable – you are probably going to find it difficult not to keep some in stock.
