Review: Christmas foodie gifts

If you’re looking for inspiration for gifts for your foodie friends and relatives, i’ve got a nice little round-up of some of the stuff I’ve been sent to try or just like the look of from my online browsings… hope some of these ideas help you with your Christmas shopping!

Lakeland Buttermere hamper

I’m a huge sucker for hampers. The contents need to be special treats, and the basket itself something you’d re-use for picnics or just for useful but attractive storage solutions. This Buttermere Hamper from the lovely team at Lakeland is priced at a reasonable £49.99 considering how much you get in it, and makes a wonderful gift for a special relative. Here’s what it has inside:

• Cocoa Lane Assorted Chocolates (80g).
• The Ultimate Brandy Butter (190g).
• The Ultimate Plum Pudding (120g).
• Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake Tin (170g).
• Lakeland Liqueur Truffles (100g).
• Farrer’s English Afternoon
• Loose Leaf Tea Tin (100g).
• Hawkshead Cumberland Sauce (120g).
• Romney’s White Chocolate Fudge (150g).
• Claire’s Lakeland Farmhouse Chutney (200g).
• Claire’s Very Fruity Strawberry & Elderflower Jam (227g).

Check out Lakeland’s hamper range 

I heart Prosecco

Deliciously light and fruity and packaged in a fun but classy bottle, this is the perfect bottle of fizz to turn up at a Christmas party with. It’s easy drinking from a company called I Heart Wines who aim to share the wines they love with you.

It costs £9.99 and you can get hold of it at Tesco, Budgens, Londis and Rhythm & Booze. Tesco Wines have a good offer going, if you buy a case of it you get 25% off.

Black Dog Deli

I was sent a selection of these products to try, and I was hugely impressed with both their quality and gorgeous packaging. I also love the fact that some of the proceeds goes to a dog rescue charity. So if you have animal loving foodie friends, you’d definitely be barking up the right tree if you got them some of this lovely stuff 😉

Get hold of it from Food HQ, the luxury hamper costs £45

Lavazza Favola Coffee machines

I’ve had my Lavazza coffee machine for a good couple of years now and it’s still an essential part of my mid morning coffee ritual. I’m loving these lovely red and white machines they have out at the moment, so if you’re looking to buy someone special a capsule coffee machine that delivers, I’d definitely recommend one of these.

Festive offer! You can get £40 off one of these machines until January 5th 2014. Selfridges, John Lewis and Currys all stock them. That means the one pictured will set you back £89 instead of  £129. You can get the little coffee capsules from Waitrose, Ocado and John Lewis, as well as on Amazon. I tend to stock up when they’re on offer.

Filippo Berio Limited Edition Tin

Foodies will always appreciate a decent olive oil for dressing their salads, dipping hunks of bread into or making their own pesto. This gorgeous limited edition tin featuring “The Lady of Viareggio” from the stylish Tuscan resort which is home to Filippo Berio, packages it up nicely for the festive season and is a reasonable £7.49 from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Farmer’s Choice

This boned and rolled turkey breast is a great alternative to a whole turkey, easier and more practical to cook. I’ve ordered this little number with some extra trimmings like chipolatas, dry cured streaky bacon, fresh cranberries and pork, apple and cranberry stuffing. I cannot wait to cook it up for the family on the big day, and if you wanted to give this as a gift to the person cooking the Christmas Dinner in your family i’m sure they’d be hugely chuffed!

Farmers Choice turkey breast joint £16.00 for 1kg Available at Farmer’s Choice

Popcorn!

Popcorn has been a huge food trend in the last couple of years, and looks set to continue. It’s great fun to make with children and is a pretty healthy snack if you’re careful about what flavours you add to it.

This fun book takes the fun one step further as it’s packed with recipes of delicious things you can make with popcorn. I think it’s the perfect present for a child who’s into cooking. A lot of the recipes would make fab home made gift ideas for the festive season too.

Nab yourself a copy over at Lakeland where it’s priced at reasonable £8.00. You can also find lots of cool popcorn making kit there too.

White antique look black board

Every kitchen needs a black board for chalking up shopping lists and meal ideas, and this one is, I think, just gorgeous. It’s from the dotcom giftshop which is one of those websites you can properly lose yourself in on the quest for gifts.

This blackboard costs £19.95

Thanks for all the samples that have been sent to me for the purpose of this review feature, I will be updating this page with further ideas, so watch this space!