Christmas Gifting Guide 2022: The Best Meals and Meal Sets for Long-Distance Gifts
It used to be clumsy to give away money. If our current economic times are any indicator, those times are over. But what’s the next best thing to giving money? Meal. We all need it. We all love it.
However, everyone has different tastes, dietary restrictions, allergies and the like. But there are more options — especially healthy ones — available for nationwide shipping, not fewer — than ever before.
Here is a list of recommended groceries, gift baskets and meal sets to order online this holiday season.
For many young professionals, having the time (let alone money) to cook quality food is out of the question. You can make it a whole lot easier for your new favorite graduate (even if it’s just for a week or a few days) with top-notch meal service. From Executive Chef Daniel Humm of New York’s acclaimed Eleven Madison Park restaurant comes Eleven Madison Home, a plant-based cook set with a menu touted as being intentionally prepared with modern life in mind. Weekly Box delivery comes to your door for a full day of plant-based meals — from breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts — plus a selection of pantry favorites from EMP chefs. The inspirational ethos is similar to Meatless Monday in that it aims to encourage diners to eat only plant-based at least one day a week. Every delivery is different, with a weekly changing menu that showcases just how delicious plant-based foods can be. And every box purchase includes a donation to Rethink Food, a New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to tackling hunger and food inequality.
Speaking of staying healthy, there are plenty of smaller and more budget-friendly options to encourage a healthy diet and daily wellness regimen. After selling over 100 million of its daily effervescent green tablets, 8Greens is launching a new flavor: Peach Tea, designed to taste pristine like Snapple’s popular summer drink. Made from eight real green plants – spinach, aloe vera, wheatgrass, kale, blue-green algae, spirulina, chlorella and barley grass – the Farm-to-Table tablet contains as much vitamin B5 as 15 cups of broccoli, vitamin C as six oranges, vitamin C B6 as six cups of spinach, vitamin B12 as seven cups of milk, and zinc as three cups of raw peas. Simply add one tablet to a tall glass of ice water and you’re ready to fill up on your vitamins for the day.
For carb lovers, Eat Me Guilt Free produces what it calls a “better-for-you” line of protein brownies, breads, tortilla wraps and cake mixes. Two years in development, Eat Me Guilt Free’s new and improved formula is lower in sugar, non-GMO, and uses modified atmosphere packaging to eliminate unnecessary preservatives. It contains ingredients from Europe, where regulations against food additives are stricter than in the US. The brand’s low-carb brownies and cake bars are ultra-portable for those who need a sugar-less hit on the go. walk. (And they give new meaning to breakfast cake with 14 grams of protein at less than 200 calories per serving.) The variety box is a good start, with two of all six flavor profiles: Chocolate, Peanut Butter Bliss, Red Velvet, Tuxedo, Birthday Cake, and ” galaxy” (that’s chocolate with sprinkles).
Over the last decade, as smoothies and green juices have gone from a diet fad to a daily mainstay for many people, there’s been a rush to make a product that’s simpler, cheaper, and doesn’t require a blender. Kencko really achieves that goal with its instant smoothies through a freeze-drying process that the brand says locks in the nutrients of fruits and vegetables in a durable way. When ready to be consumed, the fruit and vegetable packets are instantly made into a smoothie simply by adding the liquid (i.e. water, juice, milk or non-dairy milk, etc.) the consumer desires. Available by subscription or in boxes of 20, deliveries come with a reusable, travel-friendly shaker bottle, and Kencko’s packaging is fully compostable.
Locale is a highly curated food delivery platform featuring some of the most respected award-winning restaurants across the country. But what really sets it apart is the delivery. Consumers can mix and match their favorite items from their favorite suppliers and get it all in one shipment for just a $5 flat fee. Menu options include breakfast burritos from Los Angeles’ popular Cofax, baked goods from Craftsman and Wolves (often hailed as one of San Francisco’s best bakeries and cafes), and pantry staples from New York City’s celebrity hotspot Carbone.
Mosaic Foods, a direct-to-consumer delivery service for quick frozen meals for vegans and vegetarians, recently launched a line of plant-based pizzas. Touted as the most requested product by Mosaic customers, Mosaic’s pizza range includes seven chef-prepared flash frozen pizzas and a two-pack of delicious broccoli crusts for DIY pizzas at home. These ready-to-bake pizzas are vegetarian, wheat-free, and healthier than ready-baked take-out pizzas. Each pizza is made with 100% natural ingredients and features traditional and globally inspired topping combinations including four cheeses, mushroom lovers and aloo chaat and chutney. The pizzas are delivered to your door frozen and take just 20 minutes to bake.
Virtually everyone has at least one cheese lover in their life, and what’s better than a whole basket of cheese? Northbay Creameries serves as the online store for Bay Area sister brands Laura Chenel, Marin French Cheese Co. and St. Benoit Creamery, all of which make locally made goat and cow milk products that are better for you. Northbay offers a variety of themed gift baskets, including a build-it-yourself option for holiday entertainment and gifts, and prices range from $42 to $118. And UPS shipping is free for delivery in California, Oregon, and Nevada for purchases over $60.
It would be easy to stock your fridge with most of Splendid Spoon’s products, as the brand makes a bevy of ready-to-eat and nutrient-dense plant-based smoothies, soups, cereal bowls and pastas. Tasty dishes include plant-based dan-dan noodles, coconut curry rice, black bean plantain rice (pictured) and vegetable bolognese. The women-founded company also has some new functional smoothies (Pineapple Passion Fruit and Blue Majik) with unique superfoods like Sea Buckthorn Berry, Blue Spirulina and Tocos, all of which not only have nutritional value but also beauty benefits like antioxidants, vitamins and collagen production.
Founded by acclaimed chef and cookbook author Pierre Thiam, Yolélé launched this fall with a special line of African-inspired spiced rubs, available in gift packs just in time for the holiday season – perfect for home cooks. For the novice cook looking to explore new cuisines, the Fonio Starter Pack is a great introduction to cooking with the West African grain Fonio, which can be used as a base for grain bowls, pastries and more. The gift set includes a bag of classic fonio, a bag of fonio flour for baking and a signed copy of The Fonio Cookbook by chef Thiam.
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