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Dried fruit allows us to enjoy seasonal fruits all year round. It’s completely guilt-free and can make a great gift for the health conscious friends or family in your life that love fruit.
Best of all, you have control over the fruits that you use. If possible you can select locally grown fruits, fruits that are in season, ripe, and organic, and when all is said and done… there won’t be any added sugars or sulfates.
There are so many fabulous jars and containers on the market these days. I always have my eyes open for creative ways to present edible gifts in.
Bob and I visited IKEA… holy smokes, I was ready to pitch a tent and camp overnight… that place is HUGE. Thank goodness I brought my water container with me to stay hydrated. We didn’t really have an agenda when we entered the doors, we just wanted to see what this place was all about.
After a few hundred turns, I stumbled upon these really nifty cream colored tins. They came as a set of 2 for $8.99. Now that’s a deal worth sharing. I am not sure how long they keep things in stock, but for now, you can find them (here).
I lined the inside with brown parchment paper and added the dried apples. If it will be longer than a week till you give this as a gift, I would put the dried apples in an air-tight bag and put that inside the tin. This will help keep them fresh.
This is also an excellent opportunity to reuse and repurpose containers from around the house. I had some gallon sized plastic containers that dried beans had come in.
Bob and I toted them around for years. They bounced between the garage, my craft room and then into my pantry. I just hated the idea of throwing them away because I just knew that one day the perfect project would come along… and so it did! To dress them up I made my own labels on my home computer and printer, spray painted the lids and added a drawer pull to the top for some added flare.
I also use jars for any opportunity of gift giving as well. I found an excellent site that sells adorable lids that come in several colors. It is called Factory Direct Crafts. That is where I got the brown rustic lid in the photo to the right. Shoot, you could put dried beans in that jar and make it seem like an exciting gift. :)
I created a whole new category for dehydrated fruits and shared the links here to get you started. The ones with a * after it indicates new recipe/technique. The techniques are simple, but I thought it worth sharing anyway. I will add more over time, but there are enough here to get you started or to give you at least some ideas.
Oh Amie Sue, you have outdone yourself! These are so dang cute! It is such a creative idea….I am totally gonna do this for gifts! Thank you for always being one step ahead of us in the creative arena! I just LOVE your ideas! God bless you today! Audrey (Loving it from England)
Good morning Audrey… oh you made my day! I share what I do to inspire others and to read your excitement just blesses me. It can be the simple things in life that can really touch others and we often forget that. I hope that you have fun making your gifts! Happy holidays and many blessings to your and your family. amie sue :) hugs!
Years ago I used to make dried fruit leathers and other dried fruit goodies to give them to the kids of my friends as Xmas gifts where I would often spend the holidays. The kids were allowed to open one gift Christmas Eve and always looked for mine to open to start enjoying the dried goodies.
The I quit making dried fruits as my teeth became very sensitive to all sweets including dried fruit. So that year, I bought each a small gift I thought well suited to their interests. As usual, they chose to open my gift first and I wish I had had a camera to snap a picture of them as they saw their gifts unwrapped. A look of total disappointment on each of their faces!
Good morning Jeannette,
It sounds like a great time to start making some homemade treats for your loved ones. You will bless their lives and touch them in ways unknown. :) I know that it can be hard to make some foods that you can’t particularly enjoy yourself but giving the gift of “health” to others is one of the greatest gifts you can give. I hope that you have a blessed holiday Jeannette! hugs, amie sue
Dear Amiesue,
I just wanted to take a moment of your time to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas, and thank you for
your hard work and compassion for sharing such an amazing
website. You’ve inspired me way beyond what I could imagine for myself. I started a little dessert business in my home-town and it is taking off like wild fire.
Your ideas and suggestions have helped me create my own twist on healthy desserts. I wake up every morning and make sure I check to see if you posted anything new, it is so fun to learn new and healthy ways to feed our souls. Many blessing!
Good morning Michelle,
What a glorious message to wake up to! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with me. It truly means a lot. I am so proud and excited for you! It blesses me to hear that you too are following your passions and for that you will be blessed.
I hope that I continue encourage, support and inspire you in the days to come. We can all use it. :) Have a glorious day and many blessings in your business adventure! amie sue
Hello my very talented friend, What Amazing, Beautiful gifts!! I just now am getting to look at all of the posts that you have sent recently. I am definitly going to be doing this next year! Your ideas/gifts , recipes, pictures all speak that you are a very gifted person, and I am very honored that you share your gifts with us all ! Thank you, Lyn :]
I understand what it is to be playing ketchup… I mean catch up (sorry was developing a raw, nightshade free ketchup today for a reader lol) We had three glorious weeks of visiting family. It was sad to to let the last one go two days ago. But what a blessing to have had them like we did. I have never seen so many blown up air beds in my house before. lol
Anyway, don’t wait till next Christmas to make these… wouldn’t they be great gifts for any occasion!? :) Ok, I must get some shuteye. So happy to hear from you. amie sue
Yes Amie Sue – They would make great gifts!! :] Lyn :]