diff --git a/core/src/packet.rs b/core/src/packet.rs
index 255c485fbb..62bd8aba8c 100644
--- a/core/src/packet.rs
+++ b/core/src/packet.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ use std::mem::size_of;
 use std::net::{IpAddr, Ipv4Addr, Ipv6Addr, SocketAddr, UdpSocket};
 use std::ops::{Deref, DerefMut};
 use std::sync::{Arc, RwLock};
+use std::time::Instant;
 
 pub type SharedBlob = Arc<RwLock<Blob>>;
 pub type SharedBlobs = Vec<SharedBlob>;
@@ -222,23 +223,30 @@ impl Packets {
         //  * set it back to blocking before returning
         socket.set_nonblocking(false)?;
         trace!("receiving on {}", socket.local_addr().unwrap());
+        let start = Instant::now();
+        let mut total_size = 0;
         loop {
             self.packets.resize(i + NUM_RCVMMSGS, Packet::default());
             match recv_mmsg(socket, &mut self.packets[i..]) {
                 Err(_) if i > 0 => {
-                    break;
+                    if start.elapsed().as_millis() > 1 {
+                        break;
+                    }
                 }
                 Err(e) => {
                     trace!("recv_from err {:?}", e);
                     return Err(Error::IO(e));
                 }
-                Ok(npkts) => {
+                Ok((size, npkts)) => {
                     if i == 0 {
                         socket.set_nonblocking(true)?;
                     }
                     trace!("got {} packets", npkts);
                     i += npkts;
-                    if npkts != NUM_RCVMMSGS || i >= 1024 {
+                    total_size += size;
+                    // Try to batch into blob-sized buffers
+                    // will cause less re-shuffling later on.
+                    if start.elapsed().as_millis() > 1 || total_size >= (BLOB_DATA_SIZE - 4096) {
                         break;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/core/src/recvmmsg.rs b/core/src/recvmmsg.rs
index 6a57da66a5..99d5dc83ee 100644
--- a/core/src/recvmmsg.rs
+++ b/core/src/recvmmsg.rs
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ use std::net::UdpSocket;
 pub const NUM_RCVMMSGS: usize = 16;
 
 #[cfg(not(target_os = "linux"))]
-pub fn recv_mmsg(socket: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize> {
+pub fn recv_mmsg(socket: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<(usize, usize)> {
     let mut i = 0;
     let count = cmp::min(NUM_RCVMMSGS, packets.len());
+    let mut total_size = 0;
     for p in packets.iter_mut().take(count) {
         p.meta.size = 0;
         match socket.recv_from(&mut p.data) {
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ pub fn recv_mmsg(socket: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize
                 return Err(e);
             }
             Ok((nrecv, from)) => {
+                total_size += nrecv;
                 p.meta.size = nrecv;
                 p.meta.set_addr(&from);
                 if i == 0 {
@@ -30,11 +32,11 @@ pub fn recv_mmsg(socket: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize
         }
         i += 1;
     }
-    Ok(i)
+    Ok((total_size, i))
 }
 
 #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
-pub fn recv_mmsg(sock: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize> {
+pub fn recv_mmsg(sock: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<(usize, usize)> {
     use libc::{
         c_void, iovec, mmsghdr, recvmmsg, sockaddr_in, socklen_t, time_t, timespec, MSG_WAITFORONE,
     };
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ pub fn recv_mmsg(sock: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize>
         tv_nsec: 0,
     };
 
+    let mut total_size = 0;
     let npkts =
         match unsafe { recvmmsg(sock_fd, &mut hdrs[0], count as u32, MSG_WAITFORONE, &mut ts) } {
             -1 => return Err(io::Error::last_os_error()),
@@ -72,6 +75,7 @@ pub fn recv_mmsg(sock: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize>
                 for i in 0..n as usize {
                     let mut p = &mut packets[i];
                     p.meta.size = hdrs[i].msg_len as usize;
+                    total_size += p.meta.size;
                     let inet_addr = InetAddr::V4(addr[i]);
                     p.meta.set_addr(&inet_addr.to_std());
                 }
@@ -79,7 +83,7 @@ pub fn recv_mmsg(sock: &UdpSocket, packets: &mut [Packet]) -> io::Result<usize>
             }
         };
 
-    Ok(npkts)
+    Ok((total_size, npkts))
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -101,7 +105,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
 
         let mut packets = vec![Packet::default(); NUM_RCVMMSGS];
-        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap();
+        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap().1;
         assert_eq!(sent, recv);
         for i in 0..recv {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.size, PACKET_DATA_SIZE);
@@ -122,14 +126,14 @@ mod tests {
         }
 
         let mut packets = vec![Packet::default(); NUM_RCVMMSGS * 2];
-        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap();
+        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap().1;
         assert_eq!(NUM_RCVMMSGS, recv);
         for i in 0..recv {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.size, PACKET_DATA_SIZE);
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.addr(), saddr);
         }
 
-        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap();
+        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap().1;
         assert_eq!(sent - NUM_RCVMMSGS, recv);
         for i in 0..recv {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.size, PACKET_DATA_SIZE);
@@ -153,7 +157,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         let start = Instant::now();
         let mut packets = vec![Packet::default(); NUM_RCVMMSGS * 2];
-        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap();
+        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap().1;
         assert_eq!(NUM_RCVMMSGS, recv);
         for i in 0..recv {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.size, PACKET_DATA_SIZE);
@@ -190,7 +194,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         let mut packets = vec![Packet::default(); NUM_RCVMMSGS * 2];
 
-        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap();
+        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap().1;
         assert_eq!(NUM_RCVMMSGS, recv);
         for i in 0..sent1 {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.size, PACKET_DATA_SIZE);
@@ -202,7 +206,7 @@ mod tests {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.addr(), saddr2);
         }
 
-        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap();
+        let recv = recv_mmsg(&reader, &mut packets[..]).unwrap().1;
         assert_eq!(sent1 + sent2 - NUM_RCVMMSGS, recv);
         for i in 0..recv {
             assert_eq!(packets[i].meta.size, PACKET_DATA_SIZE);
diff --git a/core/src/streamer.rs b/core/src/streamer.rs
index 6cc0a93a29..b565534004 100644
--- a/core/src/streamer.rs
+++ b/core/src/streamer.rs
@@ -178,9 +178,12 @@ mod test {
 
     fn get_msgs(r: PacketReceiver, num: &mut usize) -> Result<()> {
         for _ in 0..10 {
-            let m = r.recv_timeout(Duration::new(1, 0))?;
+            let m = r.recv_timeout(Duration::new(1, 0));
+            if m.is_err() {
+                continue;
+            }
 
-            *num -= m.packets.len();
+            *num -= m.unwrap().packets.len();
 
             if *num == 0 {
                 break;