Awesome Last Minute Food Gift Ideas

Are you looking for some last minute gift ideas? Perhaps an unexpected guest has arrived and you want to have a gift under the tree for them to open on Christmas morning.

Or you’ve checked your gift list of friends, neighbors and extended family only to discover that you’ve forgotten to buy or make a gift for them.

One of my favorite gifts to give are food gifts!

Why? Because they are quick to put together and let’s face it… if you’re like me this time of year, you’re in the kitchen anyways, cooking ahead and baking for the big day.

I remember one year, for several nights in December, I doubled whatever we were having for supper and put the second portion into freezer containers. I took five of those meals and delivered them to my parents for meals on nights when they were just too tired after a long day working in their shop to cook.

My mom told me afterward that it was one of the best gifts I’d ever made them!

Now obviously we’re a little too close to Christmas for you to have something like that made for Christmas Day but if you’re not getting together to exchange gifts until later in the week, you could certainly put all those leftovers from Christmas Day to good use by making freezer meals to give.

Following are more food gift ideas to help you finish up crossing people off your gift giving list:

Another gift that has always been well received are baskets of homemade bread.

First, bake a loaf of my Herbed Beer Bread… because who doesn’t love homemade bread. (If the recipient is Celiac or gluten sensitive, skip to the next gift idea.)

Allow it to cool completely and then bag it.

While the bread is cooling, make a second batch of just the dry ingredients and put that dry mix into a small plastic bag.

Put the loaf of Herbed Beer Bread, the dry mix and a can of beer along with a hand written recipe for how to make the bread in a basket, tie with a pretty bow and you’ve got a gift that will be truly appreciated.

If you’re not sure if they have a bread loaf pan to bake the extra loaf of bread in, you could add one of those too.

Or you could make an entire meal in a basket by adding a bag of my mixed dried bean soup (see next food gift idea.)

Bean Soup in a Jar… depending on the size of jar you give them, this will be a gift of more than one meal.

Again be sure to include hand written recipe cards for the dried bean soup mix as well as a recipe for Homemade Bean Soup.

When you’re making cranberry sauce, make extra and can it to take with you to other holiday gatherings for Hostess Gifts. These can be dressed up for gifting in the same way I did for the Bean Soup in a Jar.

If you’ve never made home made cranberry sauce, it couldn’t be easier.

My post for the Best Ever Home Made Cranberry Sauce shows you how as well as how to can it.

If you don’t want to go to the bother of canning the cranberry sauce, the extra could be used to make Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies

For small gifts, wrap up 4 or 5 cookies and attached the recipe so the recipient can make more.

Or add several to a plate and wrap with cellophane.

You could also give a selection of cookies and wrap them as I’ve shown above. Here’s a list of our favorite holiday cookie recipes:

Gluten Free Cherry Coconut Drop Cookies

Christmas Light Shortbread Cookies

Spicy Shortbread Cookies

Linzer Cookies

Following are some more food gift ideas to help you finish up crossing people off your gift giving list:

Angie over at The Country Chic Cottage has this delicious recipe for cookies in a jar called The Best Milky Way Cookies: Gift in a Jar

Cassie from Wholefully has 6 more dried soup mixes for you to add to jars and gift.

Turn plain old granola into a holiday treat by making Gingerbread Granola.

If they love nuts, these Sugared Pecans would make an awesome gift.

And if you still need more ideas:

Homemade Food Gifts for the Holidays

100 Ideas for Edible Gifts

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