Really easy edible gifts

Last Modified: Dec 13, 2024

If you're short on cash, a personal gift can be really special and satisyfing to both give and receive. I think it's beautiful and radical to forgoe monetary expense for other qualities. There are actually lots of edible gifts that are simple and safe to make, even if you don't consider yourself very adept in the kitchen. I've provided some examples and tips, and a big list of resources for more ideas and inspiration.

This should go without saying, but follow your recipe carefully and make sure your gift containers are clean. The following are the most low-effort edible gifts that involve minimal prep time, and no baking/cooking.

Infused alcohol

Sloe gin, rhubarb gin, limoncello, alcohol infused with Xmas spices, bitters, etc. As long as these are made with spirits, and ingredients are either covered, or the bottle is shaken up every day or two, they will stay safe at room temperature due to alcohol content. Once infusion is finished, strain off the fruit/spices etc to reduce the risk of ingredients becoming exposed to oxygen, which could give mould a place to grow. Should keep shelf stable, after straining, for several months.

Examples:

Shelf stable pre-mixes

These are mixes of ingredients that would separately be stored at room temperature anyway, such as: Infused sugars and salts with herbs/spices, DIY cookie jars (premixed dry ingredients for cookies) and herbal tea blends.

Tea blend digression

With tea blends, you can easily make a cheap version of a favourite brand-name loose-leaf tea blend by checking the ingredients on said tea, buying the ingredients, and blending it yourself. I reccomend doing small test batches of the tea to ensure you have the right proportions before committing to a big batch.

Also, avoid buying powdered herbs and spices, and if possible, buy the whole spice and grind to a tea-leaf consistency, so that it doesn't make the tea gritty. Buying the ingredients can work out a bit expensive, but it will be nowhere near the same price of the brand-name blended tea.

Examples:

Vinegar-based pickles

If not canning, fill the jar as full as possible with pickling liquid. There needs to be minimal headroom and low pH to prevent bacteria growing. The pickle should be able to stay sealed at room temp until opened, at which point should be put in fridge, but do as the recipe advises.

To avoid

Infused oils – I see these on a lot of Christmas gift articles, but without canning, homemade infused oils have a much higher botulism risk than other such gifts. Oils with ingredients suspended in them create an oxygen-deprived, low-acid environment, which is where botulism spores thrive the most effectively.

General tips

Decent articles

This is a selection of articles with a wide variety of interesting ideas for gifts.