Plastic-free Christmas gifts for foodies

Foodies are the easiest and the hardest people to buy for. They'll love anything good to eat, but they've usually already got the obvious stuff. So here's what we'd send the food lovers in our lives this Christmas: gift boxes and a few stocking fillers from small UK makers, all packed without a scrap of plastic.

Every Pear Post box is packed by hand in our shop in Clare, Suffolk. The packaging is plastic-free and fully recyclable, right down to the paper tape, so there's nothing left but a box for the recycling. Think of it as a Christmas hamper without the wicker or the cellophane.

For the grazer: Snack The Halls

Snack The Halls is four festive treats to pick at between the presents and the pudding. There are two bars from GNAW in Norfolk, Merry Christmas Milk Chocolate and Gingerbread Milk Chocolate, a bag of Christmas Pudding Mixed Nuts from Olives Et Al in Dorset, and giant chocolate snowflakes from Coco Pzazz in Powys, in honeycomb milk chocolate or dark chocolate with mulled wine spice.

Why it suits them: it's for the person who keeps wandering into the kitchen to "just check on things" and comes out with a handful of something.

For the early riser: Up At Dawn

Up At Dawn is everything for a slow Christmas breakfast. There's Organic Christmas Tea from Hampstead Tea, orange and clementine juice from Maynard House in Suffolk, Mothernutter's Smooth Mince Pie Peanut Butter and Mulled Plum Jam from Fruits of the Forage, which is made with a little red wine.

Why it suits them: some people think breakfast is the best meal of the day, and Christmas morning is the one breakfast nobody rushes. It's also one of our smaller boxes, so it works well for neighbours and teachers.

For the sweet tooth: The Sweet Spot

The Sweet Spot has six sweet things in it. Harth Original Hot Chocolate, which Harth make in small batches at their workshop on the edge of Bath using unalkalised cocoa. Purple Pershore Plum Jam from Fruits of the Forage. Wildflower Honey from Number Eighteen in Boxford, Suffolk. Organic Lemon Curd and Salted Caramel Spread from Thursday Cottage in Essex, and a chocolate slab from Chococo in Dorset.

Why it suits them: it's for the person who has a spoon in the jar before the toast is out of the toaster.

For the one who reads the labels: Taste Of Triumph

Every item in Taste Of Triumph is a Great Taste Award winner, with eleven stars between them. It has Blood Orange Marmalade and Salted Caramel Spread from Thursday Cottage, Wildflower Honey from Number Eighteen, Purple Pershore Plum Jam from Fruits of the Forage, Marvellous Milk Chocolate from Chococo and a Passion Fruit Martini from Edmunds in Suffolk.

Why it suits them: it's for the friend who likes to know why something is good, not just that it is. The martini means someone aged 18 or over needs to be in to accept the delivery.

For the chilli fiend: The Savoury Stash

The Savoury Stash is six savoury things with a bit of heat. Yok Chan's Chilli Oil from Essex, Dylan's Gochujang Sauce from Anglesey, Cajun Bayou Chilli Nuts and Sunshine Rosemary & Garlic Whole Olives from Olives Et Al, a Bombay Mix snack can from Curry Smugglers in Kent and Sweet Dill Pickle Chips from Pickle Project in London.

Why it suits them: they're the person who carries hot sauce in their bag and will find a use for every jar by New Year.

For the honey lover: The Bee's Knees

The Bee's Knees has three jars from Number Eighteen in Boxford, here in Suffolk: Wildflower Runny Honey, Cold-Smoked Chilli Honey and Mixed Nuts with Honey. Alongside them are a pair of beeswax dinner candles from Five Bees Yard in Hertfordshire and a maple wood honey dipper.

Why it suits them: it's a quietly lovely box for someone who'd rather have one good thing than lots of fuss.

For the host: The Aperitivo Hour

The Aperitivo Hour is four canned spritzes from Aperitivo Club (Aperitivo Spritz, Peach Bellini, Negroni Sbagliato and Gin and Lemon) with three bowls' worth of snacks from Olives Et Al: Chipotle Smoky Chilli Nuts, Hot Honey Nuts and Sunshine Rosemary and Garlic Olives.

Why it suits them: it's for whoever is hosting this year and deserves something for the hour between the guests arriving and dinner going on the table. It contains alcohol, so someone aged 18 or over needs to accept it.

Stocking fillers from the shop

A few favourites from the shop for a foodie stocking:

• GNAW chocolate bars, from the same Norfolk chocolate makers as the bars in Snack The Halls.
• Christmas Pudding festive mixed nuts and Pigs In Blankets nuts from Olives Et Al, for the cheese board or the sofa.
• Christmas Chutney from Thursday Cottage in Essex.
• Harth Winter Solstice Spiced Hot Chocolate, from the same Somerset makers as the hot chocolate in The Sweet Spot.

Or build your own box

If you know exactly what they like, build your own Pear Post box. You choose four to six items at the same price as in our shop, with no markup, and pay £12 for the box, packing, handwritten note and tracked delivery.

Christmas order dates

Order by Thursday 17th December for free Royal Mail Tracked 48 delivery, or by Friday 18th December with Express (£4.99). Same Day Dispatch (£8.99) is available until midday on Monday 21st December. These dates follow Royal Mail's last recommended posting dates, so the earlier the better.

Every box comes with your message handwritten and tucked inside, and there's no invoice or price in the box, so you can send it straight to them. If it needs to wait for the big day, add a free "Don't open until" sticker. You'll find all our festive boxes in our Christmas gift boxes, and the rest in food gifts by post.