For someone who hates clutter, the gift that works is one that gets used up. A make-your-own kit is consumable by design: a box of ingredients and instructions goes in, an evening or a week of making happens, and what comes out is eaten, drunk or given away. By February there is nothing left but the memory and maybe an empty bottle they were going to reuse anyway.
That is the whole brief for this person. Not smaller, not cleverer, not more tasteful. Finishable. Below are three kits that leave nothing behind, and a few notes on giving them in a way that does not accidentally create a new pile.
What does a clutter-hater actually object to?
Rarely the present itself. What grates is the aftermath: the decision about where it lives, the guilt about not using it, and the eventual awkward disposal of something a person they love chose for them. Decorative objects are the worst offenders because they have no natural end.
A consumable gift removes every one of those problems. There is no shelf to find, no decision to defer, and no guilt, because using it up is the point rather than a failure to treasure it. You also get the nicest sort of thank you, which is a photograph of what they made.
Why kits rather than food hampers?
Hampers are consumable too, and there is nothing wrong with them, but they are passive. A kit gives the same clean ending with an activity attached, and the activity is what makes it memorable. Somebody remembers making their first mozzarella for years; nobody remembers the fourth box of biscuits.
Kits are also better at the space question. A single box goes into a cupboard, is worked through, and the packaging goes out with the rest. Compare that to a gadget that has to earn its place on a worktop for the next decade.
The gin kit, gone by the end of January
The Gin Making Kit is the neatest example of the type. It turns a bottle of inexpensive vodka into a London-style gin by steeping juniper with coriander, citrus peel, allspice and lemongrass, and infuses in under a week. There is no distilling and no equipment to store afterwards.
They taste as it steeps with the pipette, strain it when it is where they want it, and bottle it into a cleaned-out spirit bottle. Then it is a bottle of gin, which solves itself in the usual way. The kit was named a top pick on ITV's How to Spend It Well at Christmas, where chef Matt Tebbutt tasted it, and it is a kit for adults aged 18 and over since they buy the spirit.
The bacon kit, which disappears at breakfast
The Bacon Making Kit is about a week of low-effort project followed by several very good breakfasts, and then nothing. It dry cures a pork belly three ways, as pancetta, as fennel and juniper, or as chilli and garlic, and the difference from supermarket bacon is obvious in the pan: dry cured rashers crisp rather than leaking water and shrinking.
The cure is measured out for them, a traditional dry mix of salt and sugar with sodium nitrite (E250) and sodium nitrate, which protects the meat while it cures. They add pork belly, or a 500g pork loin joint if they would rather have back bacon, and they always cook it through before eating. Any bacon they do not eat within the booklet's timeframe goes in the freezer, sliced first.
The cheese kit, eaten within the week
Fresh cheese is the most perishable gift on this list, which for a clutter-hater is a feature. The Cheese Making Kit, Cheeses of the World covers ten fresh cheeses including mozzarella, halloumi, paneer, ricotta, mascarpone, chevre and burrata, most ready in around an hour.
These are fresh cheeses, not aged ones, so they are eaten within a few days to a week, sealed in the fridge. The box has vegetarian rennet, citric acid, cheese salt, a thermometer, moulds and cheesecloth, and the moulds and cloth are the only lasting items in it, both small enough to live in a drawer. The recipient adds fresh whole milk, never UHT, which will not curdle.
How do you give a consumable gift well?
- Do not add a novelty extra. The temptation to bulk out a modest box with a mug or a tea towel undoes the entire point. One kit, well chosen, is the gift.
- Attach the fresh ingredient, or the promise of it. A bottle of vodka for the gin kit, milk on the day for the cheese kit, a pork belly bought together in January for the bacon.
- Keep the wrapping simple. Plain paper and string, or nothing at all if it is going straight to them.
- Send it direct if they are elsewhere. Enter their address as the delivery address at checkout and it goes to their door rather than yours.
Buying early is fine. Our food and drink kits carry a shelf life of eighteen months from packing, cheese kits twenty four months, and each kit leaves us with at least twelve months still on the best before date, so an October purchase is in no danger by Boxing Day.
Clutter-free gift FAQs
What is a good gift for someone who hates clutter?
Something consumable with an activity attached. A make-your-own kit ends in food or drink, so the present is used up rather than stored, and the empty box goes out with the rest of the Christmas packaging.
Do these kits leave any equipment behind?
Very little. The gin kit's sieve and the cheese kit's moulds, thermometer and cloth are the main items, and all of them fit in a kitchen drawer. The bacon kit leaves nothing at all.
How quickly can each one be finished?
Gin infuses in under a week, bacon takes about a week from cure to first rasher, and most of the fresh cheeses are ready in around an hour.
Is a kit too much like hard work as a present?
Not for someone who likes cooking or making. Each kit is written for a complete beginner, the ingredients are measured out, and the shopping list is one fresh item.
What should I add to the gift?
A bottle of inexpensive vodka with the gin kit, and fresh whole milk on the day with the cheese kit. Pork belly for the bacon kit is easier bought together in January than wrapped in December.
Want more presents that vanish by spring? Have a look at our gift kits.
