Every month I try to find ways to cut down on single-use plastic and overall waste. With this being the holiday season, the focus is going to be on reducing plastic as it relates to gift giving. I have 3 strategies to help with this eco friendly holiday goal. Last week, which was strategy #1, we learned how shopping locally can help with eco friendly goals. This week, strategy #2, we’re going to take a look at easy homemade gift options.
Eco Friendly Holiday Gifts: Meals or Mixes in a Jar
Jar meals/mixes are quick and easy to make and fun to receive! Making sure you have all the supplies is probably the hardest part to putting these together. Because you are making these as gifts, be sure to use shelf stable ingredients and include a recipe card with additional ingredients and instructions.
It can take a few tries to convert a regular recipe to a ‘meal in a jar’, so if you have your own tried and true recipes that you like, definitely use those. Otherwise, I recommend these resources: 100 Easy Recipes in Jars* by Bonnie Scott, Meals-in-a-Jar Made Easy by Jodi Weiss Schroeder, Azure Standard’s recipe page, or Thrive Life’s recipe page.
Some ideas for the jar mixes/meals are: soups, just-add-water meals, muffin mixes, cookie mixes, breakfast mixes, granola, and cocoa mixes. Once you find a recipe you like, it’s time to get to work assembling the jars!
What you’re going to need:
- Glass jars – don’t forget your local thrift store probably carries some of these.
- Lids that fit your jars
- Ribbons and labels – repurposed from other items if possible
- Bulk dry food – you can use your local bulk food store for many jar ingredients. If you don’t have a bulk food store, check out Azure Standard*.
- Freeze-dried food – I use Thrive Life* because they have really good quality and a large variety of freeze-dried foods.
Don’t have time to assemble a meal in a jar? This is when you’re bulk food store can really come in handy! There are 2 bulk food stores near me. Both of them carry granola mixes and chocolate covered fruit as well as regular bulk ingredients. They even carry loose-leaf teas and coffee that work great in a beverage gift basket. Don’t have a bulk food store near you? Check out Azure Standard* for natural bulk foods.
Really quick but useful handmade crafts for gifts
I love giving homemade gifts when I can. These days, I’m focusing on crafts that have an eco friendly vibe to them. Not only are they free from plastic packaging, they can help reduce waste when people use the item. All the fabric and knit items below are also machine washable, so they can continue to be reused (and sanitized) many times over.
Some ideas for quick but useful crafts are:
- Dish scrubbers – replace sponges
- Wash cloths – replace loofahs
- Wipeable bowl covers – replace plastic cling wrap
- Bread Bag – replace plastic bags
- Fabric coffee sleeve – replace paper coffee sleeve
- Homemade sprinkles with natural food dye – replace artificial colored sprinkles
The homemade sprinkles are actually from Cara Reed’s book, Decadent Gluten-Free Vegan Baking*, which I just added to my bookshop.org reading list.
Gift Baskets for Eco Friendly Holiday Gifts
Gift baskets are a great way to bring all the little eco friendly holiday gifts together! You can use items from your local thrift store and/or used bookstore to support the circular economy. Shopping local will also cut down on shipping waste. Want to gift a book but you’re not sure what book would be best? Pair it with a themed gift basket. Don’t have a local bookstore? Check out bookshop.org* to support independent bookstores with your online purchases.
Here are some themed gift basket ideas to get you started:
- Gardening basket – Include seed paper card, little flower pots, seed packets, gardening book
- Baking basket – Include a homemade baking mix, baking book, and muffin tin/mixing bowl
- Chocolate basket – Include a homemade cocoa mix, book on chocolate, and a fun mug
- Knitting basket – Include yarn, knitting needles, and a pattern book
- Tea and Coffee basket – Include tea and coffee from the bulk food store, tea infuser, mugs, book on tea or coffee, and a homemade cup sleeve
- Soup basket – Include homemade meal in a jar, wooden spoon, soup cookbook, and a kitchen towel
- Plastic free kitchen basket – Include bar dish soap, homemade scrubbers, homemade bowl covers, eco friendly living book, and silicone food pouches
The list of quick homemade gifts can go on and on since I’ve only pulled from simple knit and sewing categories. But as you know, there are so many crafting categories out there, and this article only scratches the surface for gift ideas. For more ideas, I would recommend checking out sites like Yarnspiration and Ravelry, which have extensive pattern collections.
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