I love Omaha Steaks! I use to order from them somewhat regularly. Finances got tight, so I had to stop that habit. It was no reflection on their quality. I did just order hams for gifts for a couple of people.

Their customer services is great too. A few years ago my DFIL lost the gift certificate we had sent for a Christmas gift. He called Omaha Steaks about losing the certificate (almost a year later.) Omaha Steaks called us to confirm that it was the person we had sent the certificate to. Once we confirmed, they let him order at will. I thought it was great that they still honored the gift certificate despite him losing it. I thought it was great that they did a quick check to make sure the right person was using it too.

I know, I sound like a walking commercial. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them.

David, last week I delivered some daylilies to a lady I had just met over the phone. In return, she and her mother gave me a Harry & David basket with six pears, some moose munch, and some nuts. We loved it and ate everything. The pears are the best! The basket is now setting on my buffet with Christmas ornaments in it. I would highly recommend them.

As the widow of a man who was in on the ground floor of the mail order food business....I think I can speak with a little authority...at least....according to what was 10 years ago.
Omaha steaks was one of the pioneers (a s was Figi's...but the quality..???)
I have never had a bad gift from Omaha Steaks....the quality of the meat is wonderful....and they are well packed and arrive frozen solid! In my experience their quality is consistant.
As is Harry and David....another of the pioneers in Mail order foods....never had a bad package from them!
But..Maytag Dairy and H and D and Omaha traded lists back when....and I was the boss's wife....so maybe I got preferential treatment?
I would not hesitati to deal with those 2 and the fruitcake company in Corsicana Texas ( forget the name)....and don't forget Maytag Dairy...I have not been in any way involved for 15 years....but for being a customer....but the product is great!
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Mail order cheese

Why David, whatever do you mean? It's only the 16th! ;)

I have received boxes of pears from Harry and David. At first I thought the person was nuts to spend that much to send me fruit, but the pears were the best I have EVER eaten. Also, one of the sales guys at the company I used to work for in CA sent our department their big gift boxes every year. Everythign was very good. Bear in mind, though, that was nearly 10 years ago and H&D has expanded and gone through changes since then. My experience there is once a company expands its channel past a certain point, quality usually suffers. I can only vouch for the pears now. :)

A few other options:

http://www.madeinnapavalley.com/

For wonderful marinades, spices, balsamics and the BEST caramel and chocolate sauces (Stay away from the tapenades, though....they are the weak link in the food chain.)

http://www.debrand.com/
Especially the truffles and the Connoisseur collection

http://www.southernseason.com/shopping.asp
A Southern Season has some good giftbaskets and I've always had great customer service from them during the holidays. I do NOT, however, recommend their coffee.

If you want something a little unusual but absolutely delicious. I used Dancing Deer for thank you gifts to account managers a couple of times and was very pleased.
http://www.dancingdeer.com/businessgifts

And, not edible but still has unique business (and personal) gifts at good quality, nice presentation and reasonable price:
www.redenvelope.com

Have fun shopping!
Renee

Oh, my! I have received many gifts from both companies and I love them both! I, too, had the pears and many different fruit baskets from HD, so sweet and juicy. The steaks were delicious and perfectly marbled that it was a shame to use the last of them!
I have never been fond of cheese or sausage from mail orders, but when I worked in a big office, everyone jumped to get to the HD cheese and sausages.
That is my two cents...

David, I went into our new Harry & David store a couple of weeks ago. Delicious foods, top quality, beautiful packaging, good customer service (a brick & mortar store) and quite expensive.

They had some lovely Christmas mugs - red with snowflakes? and red/green plaid - great looking mustards and relishes, pasta and sauce (sauce was more reasonably priced), lots of interesting candies. Everything looked top notch and high end - I know...I had 10 years in a good retail gourmet store.

Teresa

David..take a look at spoon.com (I'll be taking phone orders tomorrow 8-4 EST) or use the web site. You can get shipped on Tues. You can even ask for me!

I ordered applewood smoked items from Nueske's...www.nueske.com (gifts and for us too)

Both companies are very high quality.

I've recieved from Harry and David..was OK but I wasn't impressed.

Nancy

H&D are reliable, good customer service, and decent quality. You can send them and not be embarrassed.

H&D is wonderful, and CS is great. For years I recieved the fruit of the month boxes and only once had a bad shipment, due to USPS, not the fruit. H&D replaced it the next day, via air service. I bought some fruit butters from them when we were in PF and Sherry left her cheese straws in my van. Both are great. I am heading to the outlet mall tomorrow and I hope they have a store in WI.

Sherry also sent me some steaks from Omaha and they were fantastic. I recall my flks getting steaks 30years ago fromthem and they are still top notch.

Happy shopping!

Yay to both.

Be cautious, Nancy. While I'd like to think everyone here now is above causing a problem for a valued member for saying where they work, you never know what a lurker will do.

That said, the cranberry butter shown on that page? Oh yum! Do they do mail order all year?

Well, I don't work for them but I tell you, Omaha steaks are to die for. Their pork chops are delicious and so are the burgers. A few years back I saw an ad in Southern Living and ordered pre-packaged meals from A La Zing for our neighbors who camp a lot as a Christmas gift. Thought it'd save a lot of time since she doesn't have a great interest in cooking. What I didn't know was that A La Zing is somehow affiliated with Omaha Steak and all the food is the same you would get from them. It was really reasonable. Wow! Was I happy, since we love OS.

She, however, wasn't and told me later the meals weren't good. Wish I'd kept them for our camping trips!

Nueske's bacon is the most incredible stuff.

Hey David, I'm in the same boat. Last year my parents gave us some prime Omaha steaks and they were consistently wonderful. Not large portions, but no waste either. Dad also ordered some seafood stuffed fish and DH needed two portions to feel like he had enough to eat!
Harry and David's is expensive, but their Royal Riviera Pears are wonderful! Our boss gave us gift packs one year,with some cheeses, candy and fruit. I liked them, some of the teachers weren't as excited. We now get gift cards to the local market! All in all I think you can safely gift from either company with confidence!

Beanthere, yes they ship all year. The cranberry butter is good, tart. I am trying to be careful, was just answering a direct question.... but I know where you're coming from.

Nancy

I've always had good luck with Harry and David. I guess I'm the only one who is underwhelmed by Omaha Steaks. There is a store local to me and I purchased some fillets once. They were good, but I haven't seen any reason to go back. The local butcher does a great job. But, for mailing gifts I'm sure it would be well received.

David,
I order from Omaha all the time because my local butcher is NOT good. We love their steaks, and their customer service is superb. They will replace anything if you were not satisfied.
As for H&D, I have never bought or sent mail order, but I love their outlet stores. The quality of their goodies is great.
As Nancy said, American Spoon Fruit is great also.
Sherry

Like Harry & David....Love the ordering for out of towners from Juniors here in Brooklyn...may many beautiful varieties of cheesecake!

David, Last year we were the recipients of two boxes of H & D pears (the nice ones wrapped in gold foil). They were so good, I haven't forgotten the pear juice streaming down my arms, that I've sent out many boxes this year (business). Highly recommend them.

I get Harry ad David baskets every year, they are nice but it's still just fruit,I can only get so excited about a pear on the best of days. I do love their chocolate covered cherries, however!
I recently had some Cougar Gold cheese and think I plan on sending that as gifts next year. A wheel of that makes me happy!

Here is a link that might be useful: cheese

Well, DH just received a gift basket from H & D and we snarfed it up this weekend! It had choc covered almonds, bing cherries, snack mix, shortbread cookies, moose munch, jam and muffin mix (saving that for christmas morning) Good quality and hey, we didn't need the calories, but frankly, none of the neighbors do food gifts anymore so I felt entitled. I felt it was a nice gift.

Lisa

Linda, I love when you talk cheese....thanks for the link!

Renee, thanks to you too....you should know how last minute I am...LOL! Good to see you!!

Nancy, I forgot about AS, I love that maple cream.

Granjan, I forgot about Nueske's, I remember everyone raving about it a year or more ago. I think it's time I try som

I'm going with H & D and OS this year. May send myself a box or two too from some of these places.

Thanks for all of your help, links, and feedback!

David

Linda,
The Maytag cheese site brought back memories of my childhood. My father loves that cheese, and I had forgotten. I ordered some to be delivered and I know he will be thrilled. Thanks!

deborah

David - When M called last night I was joking with him about your post. He said to tell you Merry Christmas and that you are at least a week early. LOL! (He was in your neck of the country a couple times last month. Wants to know where the control is to turn down the incessant wind there!)

Nancy - Glad you understood my intent. Call me paranoid. :) Thanks for the heads up on the cranberry. Tart = very very good in my book! And now that David has mentioned maple cream, I think I know what a relative is going to get for their Feb birthday!

We got a H&D package yesterday. Tasty, but seems a bit pricy for what it is. Mostly pretty packaging.

A local store here, Stew Leonard's (I think it's stewleonards.com) has very nice gifts for reasonable prices. Great quality.

AM
The Dinner Chronicles

I have given and received H & D for years, and I always enjoy it. One caution -we have received pears when we were away, and by the time we returned, they were no longer good. So, before you send someone fruit, make sure they are in town.

As someone who lives near A Southern Season (mentioned in prior post by beanthere dun that), I can recommend them heartily. Right now they have deals on chocolate and for free shipping. They do have great customer service.

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

I sent a basket from H&D once and it took an embarrasingly long time to arrive. I'm sure the recipient thought I had forgotten the occasion.

I have sent items from Omaha Steak that arrived quickly were well packaged and the recipients loved them.

Bumblebeez,

I had never heard of Cougar Gold cheese until I saw your post the other day, and last night a friend of mine pulled out a container and said, "you have to try this cheese." Yep. It was Cougar Gold cheddar. Absolutely delicious. I just had to laugh at the coincidence. Thanks for the link; I'll be ordering some.

Sharon S.

Thank you, Sharon! I was told they do sell out early if you order for Christmas, although I don't know if they are sold out this year or not. I think the cans keep for years in the refigerator also. I plan on ordering some just for myself.

Omaha steaks very good. Good prices and customer service too.
Also I receive davidson's of dundee - orange and citrus gifts each year from my dad and they are great.

We ordered steaks once from Omaha Steaks and didn't like the first ones. They picked them up and refunded our money no questions asked. A lot of people we know have ordered from them and really liked them so I'd say they are a safe bet.

When I was a child , my family got Harry & David fruit as gifts (I think) On a regular bases and they were wonderful and in the greatest containers. A year or so ago we got some pears from them in a wonderful light wooden hat box and they were unbelieveably delicious.

Our family sends each other Harry and David. We started years ago before they were so big sending to east coast relatives. Now they send to us, also.

I sent myself 3 jars of Onion and Pepper Relish. My DH and I were in H & D in Medford, Oregon a number of years ago and we kept lurking around the dip they had as samples. It was 8 oz of cream cheese to a half jar of the O & P Relish. We couldn't eat just one. I made the dip tonight and pigged out. Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas to me.