Spoonfuls' Holiday Gift Guide: For the festive foodies and philanthropists
Shopping for good gifts this holiday season? These gifts give back by helping your loved one reduce waste, sharpen their cooking skills, enjoy locally grown food, and support their community. Whether you’re shopping for the home chef looking to minimize wasted food or the friend who is always hosting, we’ve got you covered with these ideas inspired by food recovery – and the community fueling our work.
Our favorite zero-waste cookbook: “Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking”
This cookbook by Spoonfuls’ Culinary Board member, Irene Li, is a go-to for anyone who wants to waste less in their kitchen with ease. Chock-full of adaptable recipes and practical skills, it keeps food waste reduction simple and delicious. It’s the perfect gift for the eco-conscious home chefs in your life, and pairs perfectly with Spoonfuls’ Food Waste Challenge.
Savvy food-saving kitchen tools
Food recovery work is all about minimizing wasted food, but 45% of food is generated by consumers in and out of the house. This means that everyday choices in the kitchen can make a real difference, and our gift guide is here to help kickstart that change!
Here are three kitchen tool ideas that keep food from the trash that range from budget-friendly to investment-worthy.
- Reusable beeswax-coated wraps, like Bee’s Wrap. Instead of single-use plastic, these beeswax wraps help seal containers to keep food fresh for longer. When your leftovers are gone, just scrub with cool soapy water, dry, and reuse!
- A pickling and fermentation kit. For those who love a DIY weekend activity and a savory snack, a pickling and fermentation kit is just the thing. From jar to recipe, a comprehensive kit helps reinvent vegetables on the other side of fresh.
- A handheld vacuum sealer. From bulk-buying to meal prepping, a vacuum sealer ensures that food you’re not ready to use yet is expertly preserved and fresh for its next use. Perfect for a friend who lives alone to make the most of family-sized portions.
A baking class with the pros
If you have a cookie-lover in your life, here’s another from a Spoonfuls’ supporter and Culinary Board member: Joanne Chang’s “Bake Like A Pro” MasterClass, a session where they can learn the legend’s award-winning tips and tricks for the most delicious bakes, all the way to buttery brioche, and all in the comfort of their own kitchen!
Goodies from Spoonfuls’ local farm food donors
The farms that donate to Spoonfuls grow some of the best produce in the region, and many of them sell gift-worthy goods you can purchase yourself! Our partners like Volante Farms, Land’s Sake Farm, and Allandale Farm are just a few of many selling fresh treats, from hearty root veggies to seasonal pies perfect for gifting. Shopping with them supports the farmers who support our mission to deliver food with purpose.
Want to gift something that lasts well beyond the holidays? Consider treating your giftee to a CSA share with a Spoonfuls partner, like Red Fire Farms, to keep the local farm goods flowing for months to come.
An Ultimate Tailgate-inspired treat
At our biggest fundraiser of the year, Ultimate Tailgate, folks are invited to try bites from dozens of the region’s best restaurants to support our mission. While it won’t roll around again until next fall, you can still treat those in your life to all the deliciousness that our restaurant friends have to offer at their restaurant locations or with their product this holiday season! Try fresh tortillas from Taqueria El Bario, an e-gift card to Shy Bird for some cluckin’ good takeout, or get a little luxe with a gift card and an advanced reservation on the books at Dalia. For more inspiration, check out the full lineup of restaurants that joined us at Tailgate this year. You can’t go wrong – each spot is as good as the next!
The gift that keeps on giving: A donation to Spoonfuls on behalf of a loved one
We’re biased, but some of the best gifts don’t come wrapped. A contribution to Spoonfuls on behalf of someone you care about enables the delivery of nutritious food to the 270+ community programs we serve, helping to ensure that someone experiencing food insecurity gets the food they need and deserve. Plus, it ensures less food that would otherwise end up in the waste stream, honoring the resources it takes to get food from farm to fork.
For just $35, you can enable the recovery of enough food to feed a neighbor for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week. That’s a gift that you and the person you’re gifting can feel good about long after this holiday season. Donate today and check someone off your gift list early!