We occasionally link to goods offered by vendors to help the reader find relevant products. Some of these may be affiliate based, meaning we earn small commissions (at no additional cost to you) if items are purchased. Here is more about what we do.
A List of Thoughtful Gifts for the Natural Foods Lover on Your Holiday Shopping List
For many people, holiday food baskets make popular gifts. When one thinks of common gifts, food baskets are often near the top, who hasn’t received or given a food basket stuffed full of fruit, meat, or other holiday treats.
If there is a natural food lover on your holiday shopping list, there are several natural food gift baskets that would make great gifts. These baskets put a new and healthier twist on a common holiday staple.
However, if someone is a natural foods lover, natural food gift baskets are only one of many appropriate holiday gifts. There are a number of great gift ideas ranging from accessories to help with organic cooking to organic food gifts that are sure to please any natural foods enthusiast on your holiday shopping list.
Here are five of the best natural food gifts:
Natural Food Gift Baskets
As mentioned above, food gift baskets are a popular holiday gift. However, for the natural foods lover on your list, traditional gift baskets likely wouldn’t be appreciated-they likely contain processed and genetically modified fruits and vegetables.
Thankfully, if you really want to get a gift basket for a natural foods enthusiast on your list, there are a number of great options.
Co-Op Membership
If you don’t want to order organic food gift baskets through the mail, another great option is to get the natural foods lover on your list a membership to their local food co-op.
Food co-ops often are essential for natural foods enthusiasts as they offer more obscure ingredients than what can be found at a local grocery store.
Moreover, co-ops often carry a large amount of unprocessed and locally produced foods, which many people prefer to use in their organic cooking. The cost of a co-op membership varies, but it is one of those natural food gifts that any natural foods lover will be sure to appreciate.
Membership to a CSA
Along with food co-ops, CSAs are growing in popularity in the natural foods movement. CSA is short for “community supported agriculture” and in many communities, CSAs provide customers with ready access to locally grown and organic produce.
Most CSAs have monthly membership fees that customers pay in exchange for a weekly delivery of farm-fresh vegetables. A CSA membership is a great way for natural foods lovers to support locally grown agriculture and helps them to focus on eating in-season food.
It might take a bit of extra research to get a CSA membership, but you can be sure it will be among the most appreciated organic food gifts that you could get.
Pressure Cooker
Many natural foods enthusiasts also try to minimize the number of processed and packaged foods that they buy, while others emphasize buying in bulk.
If you know that the natural foods lover on your list likes to buy beans in bulk, one of the best gifts that you can purchase for them is a pressure cooker.
A pressure cooker will allow them to prepare dried beans and rice significantly quicker than how they are traditionally prepared (in minutes versus hours).
Kuhn Rikon 12-Quart Duromatic Stockpot Pressure Cooker
I recommend the Kuhn Rikon 12-Quart Duromatic . In addition to being a standard pressure cooker, it also doubles as a canner. Many natural foods enthusiasts are taking up canning and this pressure cooker can be used as a canner that makes it a great multi-purpose gift.
I count it as one of the best organic cooking accessories I have ever purchased. This pressure cooker is expensive but it’s worth it – it’s made in Switzerland and has a nice thick aluminum bottom sandwiched between stainless steel with a 10 year warranty.
Most cheap pressure cookers are made out of straight aluminum and I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan have aluminum in direct contact with my food.
If your interested in a an electric model, the Insta Pot 7 in 1 gets real good reviews and comes stock with a stainless inner pot (a nonstick version is available as a separate purchase.
Food Processor
A food processor is another one of the natural food gifts that a natural foods lover is sure to appreciate. A food processor makes preparing natural foods much easier, as it reduces the time and effort taken up by common jobs such as chopping and slicing.
Moreover, a food processor is necessary for some natural foods staples, such as making the ever-popular Middle Eastern hummus dip.
Cuisinart DLC-10SY Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor
The Cuisinart DLC-10SY Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor is a great option that can perform any task you throw at it.
I have had mine for five years and never had any problems. Once you have one, you will wonder how you ever functioned without one. Read Foodal’s review of the Cuisinart DLC-10SY Pro Classic now.
The natural foods gifts and organic cooking appliances listed above are sure to please any natural foods lover on your list.
Moreover, all of the gifts are quite thoughtful and giving any of them will show sensitivity towards the needs of natural foods proponents.
About Lynne Jaques
Lynne is a stay-at-home mother of two boys. As a former US military officer and the spouse of an active duty US military member, Lynne enjoys traveling the world (although not the moving part!) and finding new cuisine and methods of preparing food. She also has the habit of using parenthesis way too much!
Now that Christmas is fast approaching again and everyone in my extended family badly needs discipline to curtail their food cravings, I won’t hesitate to pick out from your list of suggestions. I’m thinking of giving my relatives a basket of fruits. They’re into meat in general and are limited to banana for fruits.
I like to give and receive food baskets especially if they come from a deli or store that stocks my favorite edible items. In some ways they are items that you wouldn’t necessarily buy for yourself so they are a nice gift. Sometimes I get items I don’t need so I can re gift those. They are good for people that have everything and that are difficult to buy for.
As I mentioned on another comment on another article here, my father’s birthday is upcoming and he LOVES to cook. I saw this article while browsing through and I just had to have a peek. We’ve been thinking of getting a food processor for a long time because chopping and dicing takes forever and it is very difficult for us to make dips and salsas without one. Thanks to your glowing review of the Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor I went ahead and checked it out on Amazon, and it seems to be just the thing we’ve been looking for and I plan to surprise him with it for his birthday.
Thank you ever so much for the wonderful and informative article!
I would love a membership to a CSA or Co-op! It would be a gift I’d use every week. I pay for a co-op membership every year but if someone paid for it for me I’d be pretty happy. CSA’s are great gifts because you can sign up for several different varieties depending on your area. In mine I can get a garden box, a meat box and even a cheese and wine box. It’s a great way to discover new foods.
I won a natural food basket at a Church raffle. Yes, it was an amazing gift. When I need a quick host gift, I usually opt for a basket of snacks. A natural food basket is a very thoughtful gift and a better choice to give to someone, other than a lot of sugar.
Buying any kind of gift for someone can be stressful…add to the list, natural food lovers and i ‘ll be scratching my head until i get a patch {where hair ought to be}…am glad to come across such awesome ideas…this indeed is a life saver.
Aha! Buying a CSA membership as a gift is an amazing idea! Not only will it provide the giftee with lovely fresh, local produce all summer, it also supports a local farm. I can’t believe I never thought of that. Two gifts for the price of one. Genius!
Wow! Holidays are coming and I am excited to do the list whom I’ll be surprising with gifts. I would prefer the food baskets since most of my love ones are food aficionados. I haven’t tried giving these before, it merely pair of shoes, dress, accessories like belts, and scarfs. It would be different this time, thanks for the wonderful ideas!
I would love to get a cheese and meats basket as a present! That, and kitchen gadget. I can never seem to have enough kitchen gadgets. My husband thinks they are a waste of money, but shh… I usually buy a ton of kitchen gadgets and gift them to myself for Xmas!
Love the ideas listed here, thanks for that. I think a Steam Cooker can also be a wonderful gift. My parents for one for Christmas one year and my mom used it a few times a month, it makes food taste so good and healthy, its hard to explain but simple amazing. Gift baskets can be great too, I prefer getting the ones mixed that have healthy food and a couple unhealthy items. For the health nut though I guess it would be better to stick with strictly healthy based things.
I would love a CSA membership and think it would make a great gift. There are tons of farms around me in California and getting locally grown produce every week would be amazing! It would also be great to get locally grown, organic meat every week.
Oh, man, I would love to get a CSA membership for a present! I’d actually never heard of them until this past summer (I may or may not live under a rock…), but I’ve found tons in my area. Unfortunately, most of them are really expensive and/or have long waiting lists. Both understandable problems, of course. Still, if Santa asks what I’d like this year, I think I have a new suggestion for him.
Oh, how I would love to get a food processor as a gift. I have a pressure cooker and my husband mainly uses it. I’m not too familiar with it. There are some good ideas listed here. Thanks!
I’ve never heard of CSAs before, and I’m definitely looking forward to checking it out! I’m aware of some community gardens in my neighbourhood, but I guess I just never bothered to reach out for them as I have my own garden as well. However, I guess variety is the spice of life, and I want to see what my neighbours are growing. Thanks for the tip, and that food processor looks like a might enticing addition to my kitchen.
I don’t really know what I would do without my pressure cooker. I got it as a gift a few years ago. It than stayed beautifully packaged in the box for almost a year because I was afraid I would blow up the kitchen! I finally put on my big girl panties and started out with the basics. I cooked a ton of beans. I can’t tell you how much more flavor these beans had. I couldn’t believe it. I was then hooked and started throwing everything I could in there! I now use it for canning as well. I can’t believe I was once so scared of my now favorite piece of kitchen equipment. If anyone else out there is on the fence about trying one I really hope you do. You’ll love it!
I am hoping for a coop membership this year 🙂 I don’t mind paying the fee but receiving it as a gift would be wonderful and absolutely so useful!
It has been a year, but this post is still extremely helpful. It gave ideas that is perfect for the upcoming christmas. The pressure cooker is great to have especially this cold season, Cooking pork and beef soup with this combined with the food processor will be a breeze.
I’ve not received a natural foods gift basket before. Is it very large? I would imagine that some of the products might be highly perishable, so freshness and size would be pretty important!
I’ll be giving family members baskets of preserves I’ve made at home this year. Likely contents are strawberry jam to bring back a taste from the summer, a couple of different types of chutney and pickles, a jar of preserved lemons, a bottle of spiced crab apples, a jar of quince jelly, a pot of quince paste (membrillo) and, finally, some of the lovely Earl Grey cookies, the recipe for which I found here.
On the subject of pressure cookers, I can honestly say that I’d be absolutely lost without mine and it’s a gift I regularly give as a wedding present to couples setting up home – especially those on a budget. It allows you to cook the cheaper cuts of meat and tenderise them to a point where they could be prime cuts. It cooks pulses quickly (as mentioned above) – so much cheaper and better tasting than buying cans from the grocery store – and makes wonderful soups and casseroles. It cuts the cooking time of beetroot to fifteen minutes and of potatoes to six. They’re perfectly safe to use – just don’t let them boil dry. They’re the best money saving device ever invented!!
When holidays are coming, it can always be a bit tricky to decide on presents for a lot of family members, and some people seem to think that kitchen appliances and/or food related stuff is overdone, but I think with the right choice it can still be good. I will look into an all natural food basket for my SO! 🙂
I never heard of food co-op before this post and I am blown away. I researched and actually have one close to be on long island. I cannot believe I have been missing on this wholesale natural food option. Looking at the website they even have giveaways for members when they have a excess of certain crops. Thank you so much for the information, I cannot wait till next season!!