Throw Away Those Boring Boxes, Give Food Gifts in a Jar! Ideas for Yummy Treats You Can Make at Home Plus Things to Buy Online (2019)

Food items in a jar is not exactly a new concept in India as we have been bottling up our pickles, chutneys, and sauces in ceramic and earthen jars since time immemorial. The idea behind putting pickles and chutneys inside clay pots or jars in the olden times was to let the ingredients ferment and mix well. Our jars initially were made of clay and today, this trend has re-surfaced in an exciting new avatar. Today, glass jars have replaced this ancient tradition and people are experimenting with all sorts of food items packed in jars. These range from exotic fruits, layered salads, sprouts salads and all sorts of cakes and brownies.

The transparency of the glass jars makes this idea very appealing. When you arrange vibrant food items and place them in a nice way in the mason jars, they look visually enticing. Many people decorate their jars further with cute ribbons, cards and all sorts of glitterati to enhance their look all the more.

If you have to gift some good items to someone, placing them in a jar would be unique and practical too. A tight lid mason jar prevents leakage. You don’t have to cover the food item separately and nor do you need a tray while handing over. A glass jar is leak-proof, convenient to carry, occupies less space and looks lovely when decorated like a gift.

These jars mostly come with a broad mouth. It is easy to take a spoonful of food from the jar and eat to your content and then close the lid and save some for later. These jars can also easily fit in your bags and you can carry them wherever you want. These work great when you want to carry your dose of dessert on a picnic and you can easily arrange some cake pieces, icing, fresh cream, fruits and Nutella inside a few jars.

Assembling delicious snacks, fruits, salad or cake on your own in these lovely jars is an easy DIY task and also lots of fun. You can assemble in different colour combinations by arranging layers of different food items in a jar. This activity is a lot of fun and you can also involve your children to help you with this sort of food gift packing in a jar.

An excellent idea to gift something healthy, beautiful and delicious to someone special, this exotic fruits mason jar is a superb idea. It is a lovely twist to a traditional fruit basket. You can throw in some tasty fruits such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, cranberries and others. You can add a pop of colour and also a dash of honey or maple syrup. Also, add some mixed nuts inside. Now close the lid and add a tag along with a festive ribbon around the neck of the jar. This jar of exotic fruits is a perfect gift for your friends, aunts or grannies when you go visit them.

Get a pretty mason jar and stuff in a variety of mixed nuts. You can either layer them up by adding cashews, raisins, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts etc., one after the other or just mix them up in the jar. A jar full of assorted nuts is a great gift idea for your near and dear ones during festive seasons like Diwali. Buying assorted nuts at wholesale rates and then assembling them in dainty jars like these works out cheaper than buying a ready jar from the market.

Assorted chocolates of various shapes and ingredients are readily available online today. You can choose to get these online or get them handmade from someone who specialises in homemade chocolates. As a fun task, wrap each chocolate in pretty printed foil papers and then wrap them again with a coloured cellophane paper. Fill up your mason jar with these chocolates and as a final touch, tie a ribbon on the neck. Your food gift of assorted chocolates in a jar is ready. This gift is perfect for almost any occasion. You can use it for festive occasions or even for birthdays and anniversaries.

How about gifting a jar full of delicious dried apricots dipped in chocolate sauce? An easy peasy activity, this one requires you to get some dried apricots and a mason jar. Next, you need to melt some cooking chocolate and dip apricots in the sauce. Leave them to dry on a butter paper. When dried completely, shove these chocolate dipped apricots in a jar and decorate it further with a pretty ribbon.

It’s a common tradition to gift rasgullas in a jar during birth, engagement and marriage functions. People decorate their mason jars in different themes like a Krishna theme and such others. You too can decorate your mason jars in creative ways and order rasgullas from the market.

Here are some recipes that can help you prepare your food gift in a jar right from scratch. The jars can be used as lovely containers for gifting your handmade delectable food item. In these food recipes, you are using the transparency of the jars to your maximum advantage and ensuring that whatever you pack inside looks visually appealing.

Sometimes, you feel like preparing a food item right from scratch. Here is a yummy recipe of a sweet and spicy pickle that you can make yourself and pack it in a good looking mason jar.

Decorate your jar with a ribbon and gift it to someone who loves tangy pickles.

Gift this awesome tea time snack to your near and dear ones. Here is a lovely recipe to make deep-fried mathris at home.

When the mathris are cooled, shove them inside your mason jar and your food gift in a jar is ready.

Why not fill up a jar with your favourite pudding recipe? All you need to set a pudding jar is some pieces of pineapple cake. Toss in some pineapple sharbat and some cut pieces of canned pineapples. Add dollops of whipped fresh cream inside. Give the jar a little mix and let is sit for a few hours in the refrigerator. Your pineapple pudding in a jar is ready. Since this is a yellow food item, add some yellow and white ribbons on the neck and a cute little pineapple sticker on the jar. Gift this to someone special who loves cakes and puddings.

Burrito in a jar is a great idea for a quick lunch or snack gift you want to give someone. Not only does it look visually appetising, but it is also full of healthy ingredients. This Mexican recipe can be altered by using quinoa instead of corn tortillas. Next add in some lettuce greens, salsa and spruce it up finally with some Greek yoghurt.

If you do not have time to prepare a food gift from scratch or assemble it yourself at home but are yet impressed with a food gift in a jar idea, then here are some links, which can help you get these lovely jars online. The food jars available online use items that do not get spoiled for days together and so you can easily order them online without worrying about them getting spoiled.

Velvety chocolate jar cakes are also available online. You can grab one lip-smacking cake jar from myflowertree.com. Priced at Rs. 1,399, this one has a crazy fusion of classic red velvet cake laden with rich cream. You get two jars together with this pack. The second jar has a delicious and creamy chocolate cake. This ideal pair is perfect to quench your sugar cravings and also a perfect food gift.

Vegan granolas are the recent rage for healthy food lovers. Now you can buy a jar with a granola mix online from placeoforigin.in. This gluten-free snack is power-packed with nutritious seeds, walnuts, almonds, some berries and blue agave syrup for the sweet touch. Priced at Rs. 755 for a 200 gm jar, this one is an ideal food gift idea.

A typical mason jar is a wide-mouth glass jar with an airtight screw top lid. There are some cute ways in which you can decorate your mason jars to make them look like gifts.

All these lovely ideas above are easy to follow and quite visually appealing for the onlooker. This time, make a difference with your gifts and show your efforts and creativity with these lovely food gifts in a jar.