Vacuum Packing for Christmas Hampers and Mail Order Food

Smoked salmon, cheese and cooked meats are what most food hampers are built around, and they're also what sells most at Christmas. All of them travel well in a vacuum pouch. The pouch stops leaks, keeps oil and smells in, and stops a wedge of Stilton tainting everything else in the box. What it doesn't do is keep the food cold. That part is down to how you ship it.

Which pouch for each hamper item?

Prices ex VAT per bag.

Item	Pouch	Per bag
Sliced smoked salmon, 100g to 150g on a board	180×275mm gold, clear front	5.7p
Sliced smoked salmon, up to 250g	200×275mm gold, clear front	6.4p
Whole side of smoked salmon	240×650mm clear	7.0p
Cheese wedge, 250g to 400g	200×200mm clear	1.8p
Cheese, branded truckle piece	200×250mm parchment	6.8p
Cooked ham or gammon, 1kg	250×350mm clear	3.9p
Salami, chorizo, cured sausage	150×265mm clear	1.8p
Pâté or terrine slice on a board	160×200mm clear	1.4p

For a hamper, presentation counts. The gold pouches and parchment pouches look like a finished retail pack, and the retail pouch guide shows both.

Packing tips for each item

• Sliced salmon: lay it on a gold or white board first so the pack has a flat face, and use around 95% vacuum so the slices don't weld together. The fish guide has more.
• Cheese: hard and semi-hard cheese takes full vacuum. Blue cheese wants 90 to 95%. Soft, bloomy-rind cheese like brie gets crushed under full vacuum, so use a low setting or breathable wrap. The cheese guide goes cheese by cheese.
• Cooked meats: pack cold from the chiller, never warm from cooking. Dry the surface first so liquid doesn't pool in the pack on the way.
• Anything oily or wet: fold the top 50mm of the pouch outward while you fill it, so the seal area stays clean.

How do I keep it cold in the post?

Vacuum packing slows spoilage. It doesn't make chilled food safe at room temperature. Smoked salmon, cooked ham and most cheeses have to stay at fridge temperature all the way to the customer's door. That means:

• An insulated box or liner, with enough frozen gel packs for the journey and a margin for delays.
• Product packed straight from the chiller, not left on the bench while the box is made up.
• A next-day courier, with dispatch early in the week. A chilled parcel that sits in a depot over a weekend is a problem.
• Gel packs kept apart from the food, so soft cheese and sliced salmon don't freeze where they touch.

Test it before Christmas. Pack a box the way you'll ship it, leave it in a warm room for the length of a slow delivery, and probe the product at the end.

What needs to be on the label?

Food sold at a distance, online or by phone, needs its mandatory information available to the customer before they buy and when it arrives. For chilled vacuum-packed food, every pack should carry a use-by date and storage instructions as a minimum. Allergens matter most of all: a hamper mixes fish, milk and often nuts and cereals in one box. Your local authority's trading standards team can tell you exactly what your products need.

Shelf life follows the same rules as anything else in a vacuum pack. Fresh and cooked chilled products sit under the FSA's 10-day guidance unless a controlling factor applies. Cold-smoked salmon and hard cheese often qualify for longer on salt or water activity. The food safety guide explains how it works.

Who this isn't for

These are smooth pouches for chamber machines. If you're packing hampers with a domestic edge sealer, they won't seal. Check the compatibility page.