Looking for recs for care package candy and testing thereof

[MelodyByrne]

Since I'm in charge of buying items for and packaging the care packages, I've been hunting up and down the aisles of Halloween candy looking for anything individually wrapped that is capable of surviving the trip and whatever happens to it after arrival.

I've obviously stayed far away from chocolate and anything else with a horrendously low melting point, but I really have no idea what would survive the trip.

So I've devised a testing mechanism, and I'd like to know what y'all think.

I'm going to package these individual candies in freezer bags (at least 3 candies to a bag), and make three different packages with all candies. The first set I'm going to package in a box and throw in my truck for a week. It's still 100 degrees out here, so the truck goes through some nice temperature variations daily between the highest internal temp (140 or so) and turning the ac on full blast every time I get in. I figure if every time I get in and out I throw the box around a bit (or let it slide free in the trunk, even better) that I'll have successfully replicated shipping conditions.

The other two sets of candies I will stick in the bottom of the kids' backpacks for exactly the same reasons, with the addition of being thrown a lot.

I figure whatever survives these testing conditions will survive being put in a care package and a soldier's pack.

Does that work for testing? Is there anything else I can throw at these things to mimic shipping and packing conditions?

Also, I'd like recommendations for what kind of candies will survive. Obviously I'm testing everything I put in (and will write it up of course) but I'd like some suggestions, especially from anyone who knows any individual soldier preferences. Right now I have:

Starburst, individually wrapped in twos (I don't expect these to survive, they are more of a control)
Skittles in the Halloween size
Dum-Dums
Jolly Ranchers

I'll pick up some more candy types this week.

Thank you for your help.

[Highspeed]

Do you get Haribo brand candy in the US Melody ? It's a soft jelly style product and our blokes in the Stan love it, so it must survive the trip OK.

[Aglifter]

Jolly Ranchers will melt also. If I can find some of the commercial contacts, I'll see what I can find.-- they tend to be much higher quality/cheaper -- I've just never bought them wrapped, but the same companies, I imagine, make small packages...

I believe you need things made more from cane sugar than from corn syrup, although enough time, heat and humidity will wreck any hard candy.

[randy]

Don't know how well they'll hold up to the testing, but I always carried lifesavers (cherry in my case) any time I might be using water purification tablets. One or two in a canteen after the purification tablets made it much more pleasant to drink.

[Bill Heinbach]

Try the bulk packages (not rolls) of Life Savers Wint O Green flavor, usually available in the supermarket (green bag). They're individually wrapped so even if one does get broken (not easy) you can still pop all the pieces in your mouth.

[workinwifdakids]

A guy in Iraq says to please send more Sugar-Free See's Hard Candy, because they're tasty and apparently made to withstand a nuclear holocaust. He understands they're not optimal b/c they really want/need the sugar, but says See's sugar-free hard candy won't 'separate' (his words) like the other candy does.