Mail-order food: for assorted tastes.(Buyers guide)

When CONSUMER REPORTS recently tested 11 mail-order food gifts, our testers found a nice assortment of goods, although some of the product lineups changed considerably over two months of testing. Most arrived within the promised time frame, each had its own personality, and together they provided a wide choice, from meats and cheeses to fruits and desserts.

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Five were judged very good by CR's sensory testers. All of those had high-quality items and offered distinct traits and festive packaging. The igourmet International Gift Basket, for example, arrived in a copper pannier and had an interesting selection of natural cheeses, Serrano ham, mixed olives, and crackers that would make a festive picnic.

One gift basket, from 1-800-Baskets.com, would have made our list of very good products, but it was discontinued. Two other baskets that we tested, Delightful Gourmet Basket ($74.99) and Gracious Gourmet Basket ($54.99), were too different in content and quality for either to replace it in the Ratings.

Some of the lower-rated offerings had mediocre foods and even some stale items. In the Cherry Moon Farms Classic Gourmet Sampler Tray, for example, sausage tasted more fatty than meaty and some crackers were stale.