R&V Harvest: Sustainable Gifts for the Foodie in Your Life

If you ever feel like you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for new and noteworthy gift ideas for your friends and family, look no further. Believe it or not, everybody eats, and everybody will need to keep eating until the Lord comes (and maybe even after that… who knows).

Food can make phenomenal gifts at Christmas.

Beyond the fruitcake, fruit baskets, and popcorn bins, we’ve got a smorgasbord of creative and sustainable gifts that will help you show your sweeties just how much you love them and their stomachs… without trashing the environment in the process.

Subscriptions and Clubs: The Gifts That Keep on Giving the Whole Year Through

Maybe Clark Griswold didn’t appreciate the Jelly of the Month Club, but there’s a whole world of subscription gifts out there that can surprise and delight your loved ones all year long.

For those who live in the Great Lakes region, you can order a meat subscription box from Marrow Detroit Provisions. Marrow Provisions Packs support the local food system. They include hand-pick cuts of steak, house-made sausages, bacon and more, all sourced from farmers in the Great Lakes region.

If you need a gift idea for the vegan in your life, consider gifting a box of Mosaic Foods, which offers meal plans you can customize for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s all shipped in 100% recyclable packaging, too.

There are lots of different options out there to satisfy the palates of wine aficionados, tea drinkers, and coffee addicts, not to mention those who need a little something for their sweet tooth now and then. Prime Roast Coffee offers an organic fair trade gift subscription, Plonk Wine Club features organic wines from sustainable producers all around the world, and Divinitea’s tea club provides recipients with two new organic teas every month. The chocolate lover in your life will devour Bar and Cocoa’s monthly chocolate club, featuring four full bars of chocolate each month from chocolatiers who are all ethical, sustainable, and eco-conservative.

The Spice Adventure from Raw Spice Bar would make another affordable and fun gift for the chef in your life. Each month, 100% natural, freshly ground, global spice blends are delivered to your door, paired with a seasonally appropriate recipe. If your loved one loves to try out new recipes, this is a package that is certain to delight.

There are lots of other options out there, from cheeses and breads to beers and snacks. If you know what they like, it seems to me that you can’t go wrong with a subscription gift this year!

All of these vendors also offer one-time gift packages, too.

Local Ingredients, Curated by You

If a subscription gift isn’t what you had in mind, consider curating a basket of locally sourced ingredients or independent sellers for their kitchen this year. Find local honey, maple syrup, organic olive oil, fair-trade coffee, artisanal vinegar, local fruits, nuts, and cheeses, etc. that is a sampling from your local farmers and growers. 

This will pack an especially nostalgic punch for those family members who no longer live in their hometown.

Homemade, Straight from the Heart

Some of the most meaningful gifts are homemade, and that includes the edible kind. If you have a favorite recipe for soups, granolas, cookies, desserts, or special drinks, assemble them in a mix and give the mix as presents. You can use Mason jars to cut down on plastic waste in the process.

Prepare a tray of desserts, scones, or other special baked goods, or make a large batch of your favorite pickled vegetables, apple butter, or jams (homemade jellies are far superior than Jelly of the Month Clubs…). Give candied nuts or chocolate bark delivered in fabric-wrapped parcels, biodegradable bags, or paper boxes.

Spice up someone’s life with savory gifts, like homemade infused oils or vinegars, homemade breads or crackers, or make your own homemade spice mixes, like taco seasonings, Italian herbs, or barbecue rubs.

You could also prepare a DIY kit for a special dinner, like a pasta night with homemade pasta, marinara sauce, and freshly grated Parmesan in a reusable basket.

Grow-Your-Own Kits for Christmas

Image: Markus Spiske

Is there a better way to bring fresh ingredients into the kitchen of a loved one this Christmas than a Grow-Your-Own kit? You can order all-in-one Mushroom Growing Kits, Microgreens Kits, or Herb Garden Kits, or create your own custom kits according to what your friend or family member likes the best—seed packets for basil, thyme, and cilantro paired with small pots and organic soil can get them started.

Cooking Experience Gifts

Shop your local area for cooking experiences that they can do on their own or with you this year. You might schedule a Farm-to-Table Dinner Experience to a locally sourced meal or farm event, or sign up for a sustainable cooking class that focuses on zero-waste meals or plant-based recipes.

Sustainable Gifts for the Kitchen

Maybe moving in a more sustainable direction is a new goal—help your loved one along with eco-friendly cooking tools, like reusable food wraps, wooden or bamboo utensils, cast iron or carbon steel cookware, reusable produce bags, glass storage containers, spice rack refills, and compostable dishcloths.

Food-Themed Books

For my 30th birthday, my cousins went in on a cooler filled with various cooking products and ingredients, including two Paleo cookbooks (they had caught on to my current food fetish). It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I’d ever received! 

Give the gift of knowledge and recipes to someone who is hungry for a more sustainable diet. Try The Zero-Waste Chef or Vegetable Kingdom, or give the gift of an inspiring read about food, like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. 

Long-Lost Recipes

After years of pinning on Pinterest, there seems to be a big swing back to collecting family recipes to share with relatives. Write up those favorite family recipes and give your kids recipe cards this year. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you could put together a sustainable recipe book for documenting family recipes, with extra pages or cards to organize them.

Maybe you’ve been holding out on handing out the recipe to a famed dish you’ve prepared for family gatherings for years. Is this the year you disclose the secret ingredient?? It could make a pretty fantastic gift!

May your holidays be filled with good food, sweet treats, and the joy of loving company. Taste and see that the Lord is good!