What to put in a food hamper?! For a NHS staff room

[bananamuffin99]

I'm making up a hamper for the neonatal unit staff that looked after my son. So far in my Waitrose basket all I have is a few types of biscuits and bread sticks type things. I'm really not sure what else to put in! Was thinking some nice teabags and maybe hot chocolate or nice cordial?? I feel it's maybe best to stick to stuff that is fine at room temperature?? What about jam or chutney? Tia!

Biscuits, jams ( maybe the small ones) and things which are individually wrapped. Crackers.

Sachets of hot chocolate
ALL the biscuits
Tunnocks tea cakes
Those posh Florentine biscuits
Dates

I wouldn't bother with chutneys etc. Just nice drinks and treats to have with a drink.

Maybe some nice cordials for cold drinks?

So it's definitely ok to have lots of biscuits/nibbles then? Hot chocolate sachets sounds good! Same for individually wrapped things. Thank you 😊

Sweets, boiled sweets etc

My DSis is a Nurse and really appreciates individually wrapped items.

Things like small packs of packs of haribo or moam sweets are galah and vegan so can usually be eaten by all staff.

*Halal

Black pens! A heartfelt card with staff's names will be really appreciated. As it can be used for revalidation.

Nurses are gannets. Well, I am.

Maybe some posh tea bags like Pukka or Teapigs? Taylors do nice coffee bags that come the closest I've tasted to proper coffee. A variety of nice things! Maybe some spoons too, they often go walkabout 🤣

Some nice crisps?

Bonne Maman cakes & madeleines, they're all individually wrapped inside the main pack.

Definitely go for individually wrapped items.

Black Pens!

When I worked on an NHS ward, we had to buy our own washing up liquid! So some posh washing up liquid and hand cream would be nice. Cordial is a great idea, as are biscuits, tea bags (including herbal ones). The hand written thank you card with my name in it was the bit that I always wanted to receive so try and name everyone personally who has helped you. ♥️

Quite a lot of biscuits come in snack packs now - I noticed the Lotus biscoff ones the other day in Tesco, as well as Jaffa cakes. It’s definitely the way to go so you don’t have open packs hanging around.

I see I already posted on this thread a few months ago!

Mini haribo in small packets …

When DD worked in a pharmacy the customers used to bring loads of boxes of chocolates and biscuits in December.

By Christmas she couldn't face any more sweet stuff and she said she wished they would bring in savoury snacks like pretzels, crisps etc.

I imagine hospital staff might think the same, so I would definitely include something savoury.

Individually wrapped things are always good. Lots of staff won’t want to eat things that aren’t individually wrapped. Think things like Tunnocks Teacakes.

Also think of vegetarian or Muslim staff and get some things like Frutella sweets.

Ah I didn’t realise this was an old thread that had been revived.

I know it’s an old thread but for any future readers - think about cereal bars and similar things that can be eaten on the go when you’ve missed meals. Try to have mix of halal coeliac and diabetic friendly stuff too. I add small cans of the post exercise isotonic drinks too (I do festive hampers for care home staff the need is similar). And yes teaspoons and forks!

I agree that wards have too many sweets and chocolate as it is.

You can put fruit in a hamper.