Christmas Food & Festive Treats
Australian Christmas is a grazing day. Lunch is at two, people arrive at eleven, and what carries the three hours in between is whatever is sitting on the table. That middle stretch is usually the bit nobody plans, so it ends up as one sad bowl of chips. Buy for it deliberately instead: mini artisan crackers, Kangaroo Island olives, black truffle potato chips, honey popcorn, a fig and almond pyramid for the cheese board, and Belgian truffles for after the pudding.
All of it is shelf-stable, so you can order in November, hide the box, and stop thinking about it. Orders of gourmet food over $100 ship free, tracked Australia-wide.
$84.95
Build the table in three layers
The eleven o'clock layer is savoury and salty, because people are drinking and nobody wants sugar yet. Valley Produce Company mini artisan crackers, Kangaroo Island olives, VPC roasted peanuts, Mr Filbert's nuts and Hunter's Gourmet black truffle potato chips do that job and survive being out for an hour in the heat. A jar of The Regimental Condiment Company tapenade turns the same crackers into something that looks like effort.
The cheese layer needs sweetness against the salt. A Valley Produce Company fig and almond fruit pyramid is the single most useful thing on a Christmas cheese board, because it goes with cheddar, blue and brie without argument. Add more crackers and flatbreads than you think you need and a bowl of olives for people who wander past.
The third layer arrives after the pudding, when nobody is hungry and everyone eats anyway. Chocolatier Belgian chocolate truffles, caramelised cashew brittle, Buttermilk caramel sea salt fudge, Pimlico fruit jellies and Borgo de Medici macarons all work here, because they are picked up one at a time with coffee.
What to buy in November
Almost everything on this page is pantry stock, which is the whole point. Popcorn, crackers, nuts, jellies, shortbread and chips keep happily until the day, so the only genuinely last-minute items in a Christmas shop are cheese, seafood and fruit. Getting the dry goods done early also means you are not choosing snacks in the last week of December, which is when choice runs out.
- Buy twice as much savoury as you think, and half as much sweet
- Keep one unopened tin of shortbread or biscuits back for unexpected visitors
- Chocolate wants a cool dark cupboard, not the bench, from the day it arrives
- Leftover crackers and tapenade become Boxing Day lunch without any cooking
Snacks for the days either side
Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and the drive to wherever you are going all need food that does not need a plate. Small bags of nuts, popcorn and chocolate travel in an esky or a glovebox better than anything you would put out on the day, and the same items work for the week of house guests afterwards. If you are stocking a holiday house or a rental, the wider snacking range covers the sweet and savoury end together.
If it is going to someone else's table
Sending food rather than serving it changes what you buy. A gift needs to arrive presented, so a boxed Christmas hamper with a gold ribbon and a free personalised gift card does the work that a shopping bag of the same items cannot. Most hampers also ship inside an insulated shipper box, which is what keeps chocolate honest in an Australian December.
Christmas food questions
What Christmas snacks hold up in the heat?
Anything dry and salty: crackers, popcorn, nuts, chips and brittle. They can sit out on a table all afternoon. Chocolate and macarons are best kept in the fridge or a cool cupboard and brought out in batches rather than left in the sun.
How much should I put out for a grazing table?
Plan for people to graze for two to three hours before a late lunch. Three or four savoury items, one sweet-with-cheese item like the fig and almond pyramid, and one bowl of olives covers a table of eight without competing with the meal.
What can I serve that is not chocolate?
Pimlico fruit jellies, caramelised cashew brittle, shortbread and honey popcorn all read as a treat without being chocolate, which helps at the end of a long hot lunch and with children who have already had plenty.
When does an order of Christmas food ship free?
Gourmet food orders over $100 ship free. Hampers are handled differently, because each one is packed and posted as its own parcel, so each hamper is assessed for shipping on its own rather than counting toward a combined total.
And no Christmas table is finished without Christmas bon bons, handcrafted crackers with gifts worth keeping.
One page for the whole season
The Australian Christmas Guide pulls every guide we have written into one page: what goes on the table and when to buy it, how much food to cook for the number coming, what to put in a hamper, and the dates to work backwards from.
Plan the Christmas table
Five guides for the weeks before the day, from what to buy in October to how much to put on the table.
- Christmas Food in Australia: What Goes on the Table and When to Buy ItThe whole day laid out, with a buying order that starts in October.
- Building a Christmas Grazing Table That Survives the HeatWhat holds up on a table for three hours in an Australian December.
- How Much Food to Buy Per Person at ChristmasHam, prawns, cheese and crackers, in grams per head.
- How Many Christmas Crackers Per Person, by Table SizeWorking out bon bons for a table of eight, twelve or twenty.
- When to Order Christmas Food and Hampers in AustraliaThe calendar for pantry stock, hampers and the last posting dates.
Christmas food questions
What Christmas food can I order online in Australia?
Everything that does not need refrigeration. We ship biscuits, crackers, condiments, chocolate, nuts, bon bons, gingerbread kits and complete hampers Australia-wide, with free delivery on orders over $100. Fresh seafood, ham, dairy and produce are better bought locally in the last few days. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday leave our Corio, Victoria packing room the same day.
How long does shelf stable Christmas food keep?
Unopened jars of chutney, mustard, relish and marinade keep for months in a cupboard. Once opened, most labels ask for four to six weeks in the fridge. Sealed crackers and biscuits also keep for months but soften within days of opening, so buy small packs rather than one large one. Nuts, brittle and boiled lollies are the most forgiving of all.
What Christmas nibbles can I buy instead of making?
Nearly all of them. Nuts, olives, crisps, crackers and tapenade are shelf stable, arrive ready to serve and need only a bowl. The one thing worth making yourself is a dip you have a strong opinion about. Everything else is a bag, a jar or a canister, which is why the whole course can be bought in October and left alone until Christmas Eve. Most of it sits in our snacking range.
What crackers go with cheese at Christmas?
Plain water crackers suit soft cheeses such as brie, camembert and fresh goat's cheese. Sturdy rustic crackers suit aged cheddar and other hard cheese. Fruit and nut seed crisps suit blue and washed rind, because the sweetness balances the salt. Flatbread and pita belong with dips. Buy two styles and let plain make up about half the total. The range is under crackers.
What is inside a Christmas bon bon?
A paper hat, a joke or motto, the card snap strips that make the bang, and one gift. The gift is the variable. Cheap boxes tend towards plastic novelties nobody keeps, while handcrafted trays hold something you might, such as a keyring, a bottle opener or a game the table can play together. Designs are listed under Christmas bon bons.
How many Christmas crackers do you need per person?
One each, plus two spares for the table rather than two each. The spares are not padding: one cracker in a tray pulls badly, and someone always arrives with a partner nobody mentioned. Six seats wants eight crackers, eight seats wants ten, and twelve seats wants fourteen. Nothing in a cracker is perishable, so leftovers keep in a cupboard until next December.
What Australian made Christmas food is worth buying?
Nutworks coat Australian macadamias in Australian Manuka honey. Kangaroo Island honey popcorn is made with honey from the island's Ligurian bees. Sovereign Hill raspberry drops are hand made at Brown's Confectionery Factory in Ballarat. All of them are shelf stable, so they can go in the cupboard in October and come out on the day. They sit beside the imports in our snacking range.
What goes on a Christmas grazing board?
Six things, repeated along the length: crackers and crisps, cured meat and olives, four or five cheeses weighted towards hard, two or three spreads, something sweet such as fruit paste or chutney, and fillers like nuts and pastry cases. Fresh fruit and good bread finish it. The pantry half keeps for months, so only the cheese, the meat and the fruit are a last-minute job.
What sweets and chocolate should I put out at Christmas?
Hold the sweet things back until after lunch, when people actually want them. Chocolate, shortbread, brittle, boiled lollies and fruit jellies all keep sealed in a cupboard for months and need nothing more than a bowl. Chocolate is the fussiest: keep it somewhere cool and out of the sun, because an Australian December will find it. Our chocolate and confectionery ranges sit together.
What Christmas food can I take to someone else's house?
Something shelf stable you can set out yourself: a jar to spread, a packet of crackers or seed crisps, a bowl of olives, and pre-baked pastry cases if you want it to look like more work than it was. Ask the host first so you are not the second person bringing it, take your own bowl and board, and stay off their oven and fridge.