When shopping for a Christmas gift hamper, you are bound to come across several options. Some popular choices include chocolates, sweets, cheese and wine, and food hampers. There are a number of fresh produce hampers available and many people wonder if it really is a good idea to send such a hamper over the holidays.
The first thing to remember is that hampers that contain such products are carefully packaged with freshness being the number one priority. In other words, the smoked ham or salmon in the hamper is specially packaged to allow it to last. Unlike fresh meats, smoked varieties also don’t spoil as quickly which is a plus for the sender and the lucky recipient. The only fresh produce hamper item that isn’t smoked is fresh fruit. In this case, different types of fruit are known to last different amounts of time and there’s no real way of slowing this down apart from proper storage.
Some gift hampers include delicious whole hams or a full, smoked salmon. In this case, the meat is usually packaged and chilled during transport to ensure that it does not get too warm as it makes its way to its destination. In simple terms, hamper vendors make sure that these kinds of hampers are properly transported in order to prevent the meat from spoiling.
The key when sending fresh produce hampers is to keep the expiration date in mind. While you might want to place your gift hamper order early, you should only have it delivered closer to Christmas or whenever you plan on making the delivery. If, for example, one of the items in the hamper is a large ham and it needs to be consumed within three weeks, then you don’t want to receive the delivery two or three weeks before Christmas. You should have the delivery made a couple of days before Christmas so that the recipient has more than enough time to enjoy it!
If you are planning on having the hamper delivered to your home before making the delivery yourself, then you should store any fresh produce (apart from fruit) in the fridge. There’s no need to refrigerate the entire hamper. Do your best to undo the wrapping without breaking it and place the fresh products in the fridge. When you are ready to make the delivery, simply place the items back in the hamper, close it up and deliver! Another alternative is to have the hamper delivered directly to the recipient. This way, they can open it early and store everything appropriately.