Last Minute Pantry Gifts for the Holidays

Reader Contribution by Tammy Kimbler
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A well stocked pantry is the key to the good-life.  Where else can you find a ripe summer tomato in the dead of winter or crisp dill pickles for your New Year’s relish tray?  When I’m in a pinch for food ideas, I head to my pantry.  But my pantry is not just for cooking inspiration.  I go to my pantry for last minute holiday gift ideas, too. Every year I make extra just so I can give them out for gifts. I give pickles, marmalade, salsa, hot sauce, sundries tomatoes, home brewed beer and hard cider.

But not all of my pantry good are made ahead of time. There are lots of preserved items that you can make at the last minute for gifts. Refrigerator pickles, mustard, infused spirits, vinegars shrubs, syrups, and flavored salts, just to name a few. The list is really as vast as your imagination. Most of these items are stable at room temperature, or at the very least, will not be harmed by a few days of shipping or sitting on the counter due to their high alcohol, vinegar, salt or sugar content. If your food item needs refrigeration (like refrigerator pickles), just attach a tag to your jar with a “refrigerate upon arrival” note. If your food needs to sit a while for best flavor (like spirit or vinegar infusions), an instruction note that says “tastes best eaten after New Years (if you can wait that long)”.

10 Last-Minute Holiday Food Gifts

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