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Panic! Someone made Christmas 25th December!

It’s a terrible thing. No one warned you that Christmas was coming, and this year it was going to be on December 25^th. How inconsiderate!

 So, you can face into it being a very cold and lonely Christmas sat out in the shed if you buy nothing at all. Or, worse, buy something really horrid and nasty in a panic. And really, there is no need. If you’ve got a corner shop or even garage shop, you could even bring them into play, but with a note of caution! We’ll be using them to supplement or complement a gift, rather than being the gift. Here’s some suggestions:

 1. This is a good time to either renew or set up suitable magazine subscriptions for them. Of course, there’s Olive and Delicious, and even Food & Travel, but you could stretch the reading matter a bit. Try a subscription to Cook Vegetarian, Taste Italia or Great British Food or go further afield and buy them a subscription to an overseas mag. I would think Donna Hay or Saveur would be good choices, or even Everyday Food, the latest from the Martha Stewart stable. You should be able to print out an e-card, or at least make your own, from most of the providers, and you might even be able to find the latest copy in your local corner shop so you could pop that in their stocking with the e-card.

 2. A lot of the gift experience companies will let you print out the details of the experience or e-vouchers when you’ve paid, and many of them have upgraded their gourmet offers. Try Red Letter Days, which has everything from sushi making to Indian cooking masterclasses, Borough Market gastro tours with Celia Brooks Brown to tea tasting and blending with Alex Probyn. If you want to go upscale, Buy A Gift offer an intensive masterclass with Jean Christophe Novelli himself, and includes a luxury night away. At the opposite end of things, £20 would bring 3 months of spices arriving through the post, which is interesting, and your corner shop might have some spices you could wrap up to go with the e-voucher. I’d go for something like whole nutmeg if you can get it, or cinnamon sticks, as they both look really festive.

 3. On a similar theme, you can always print out e-tickets for any kind of travel reservation. Where would you take a foodie? Well, really, you could go anywhere with the right research. Whitby, for the best fish and chips. Morocco, and perhaps get them taught how to make the perfect tagine. Or even Bruges to just take in mussels, beer and chocolate. Just Google your destination and best restaurant etc, and you’re bound to come up with a decent itinerary. I really like i-Escape for their edited choice of places, or there’s always Alastair Sawday. If anyone wants to book for me, I’d like a few nights at Riad Alkantara in Fes. Please.

 4. Use the power of modern technology and download stuff. Putting “cooking” into the search bar over at the iTunes store throws out a whole load of cooking videos and podcasts, with everything from Korean to vegan. More interested in the liquid stuff? There’s everything from wine tutorials through to cocktail shaking. Load it up, wrap it up and they can watch and learn something new.

 5. Try a gift voucher, or the virtual version, for a great foodie shop. FoodFullStop is one of my favourites, and you can order any value you like. You get a code emailed to you, and I guess you could get creative with a bit of imagery and the printer. There are great things they’ll be able to choose from, like goodies from the Inverawe Smokehouses or The Cheese Shed, at their own leisure, and then enjoy this gift all over again when the stuff arrives.

6. Bake. Not sure it matters what, but I would go for something easy and always welcome, like

When in doubt, bake brownies!

chocolate brownies. Doesn’t take long, and it’s hard to be mad at anyone bearing a plate of deliciously gooey chocolate brownies. The corner shop may even be able to yield up a suitable tea towel to wrap the plate up in, so that it feels like a present. Flapjack is another good one; just don’t try anything too complicated, particularly if you’re going to have to raid the corner shop for the ingredients. For instance, the average shop may not provide everything you need for the fabulous Dulce de Leche cake, and there may be a lot cursing whilst you attempt a genoise sponge late on Christmas Eve.

7. Try the corner shop but don’t buy anything that looks remotely festive. Wooden spoons, always useful (although perhaps avoid a rolling pin), and likely to be in stock. If they’ve got an extra virgin olive oil then go with that. Bottle of champagne, not original, but better than nothing (move away from the Lambrini though). I know my corner shop is not typical, but they stock Tiptree jam and a range of local pickles and chutney. If yours does anything similar, then good choices, likewise local honey.

  So, may these be a lucky seven for preventing Christmas out in the cold. If you need last minute wrapping paper and the festive stuff looks really naff, my best tip is go with brown paper and decorate it yourself (come on, you remember how to do potato printing) or buy up all the copies of the Financial Times in the shop and use those.

 And just as a head up, Christmas next year is on 25^th December. Put it in your diary now.

Great photos by nate steiner and dichohecho over on Flickr.