As we turn the calendar into a new year, January can offer up a slower pace for food content creators. But, there’s still a lot of great email newsletter content ideas for food bloggers!
January is a month where it’s really important to have a good handle on who your newsletter subscribers are. There are a lot of ways to approach January content so think carefully about how you want to proceed.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
January is often viewed as a “fresh start” in terms of health and wellness. If you’re not a health professional proceed with caution here. Avoid reference to weight loss or restrictive eating – unless that is your audience! (Ie if you’re a keto content creator, then obviously you will focus on Keto content because that isyour audience). Remember that the words you choose, and how you use them, matters.
You can try focusing on:
whole foods
lighter, simpler meals
mood boosting foods
moderation over restriction
inclusion of foods over exclusion of foods
nutritious snacks that fuel us through the cold and outdoor activities
foods that promote a sustainable environment
implementing small changes that make us feel more alive and vibrant
OTHER ‘FRESH STARTS’ TO FOCUS ON
There are lots of other fresh starts to explore in January that don’t focus on restrictive eating or diet culture.
pantry/kitchen clean-up and organization strategies
focusing on kitchen sustainability
evaluating kitchen tools/containers/dishes/appliances – what needs repair, what can be sold or given away, what needs to be disposed of (don’t forget you can recommend items and use your affiliate programs**)
minimizing instead of maximizing
BUDGET BOOSTERS AND KITCHEN WASTE
There’s always a bit of a spending hangover after the holiday season and 2024 looks like it might have an even bigger hangoer than usual. How can you address this in your emails?
budget boosting foods
budget friendly recipes
food swaps that reduce grocery bills
how to avoid kitchen waste (which also helps with budgeting!)
meal planning and prep (less like to waste food if you plan and prep)
SEASONAL FOOD
root veg, squash, winter greens
kiwi, persimmons and pomegranates
citrus season is still in full swing
soups and stews
comfort foods
salads with bulk
bulky grains like barley, buckwheat, bulgar, farro
smoothies and bright, vibrant breakfast ideas
VALENTINE’S DAY
Start dripping out Valentine’s day content in your emails in the last week of January – earlier if this is a good fit for your audience. A few quick ideas…
TAILOR YOUR JANUARY NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
As always, these are ideas to help you brainstorm. Adapt them to fit your audience and your niche, which you know better than anyone else.
Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to this time last year. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit.!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your January newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
** remember that you cannot use your direct Amazon affiliate product links in your emails but you can link to blog posts that contain Amazon affiliate links and you can link to your Amazon influencer shop. Check the rules of any other affiliate programs you use before including your links.
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
December is a busy month for food content creators and the last big push in Q4. There’s no shortage of email newsletter ideas for food bloggers and food content creators. People are looking for entertaining ideas, last minute tips and recipes, homemade gifts, ideas to keep kids busy and more!
There’s more than enough ideas to keep you busy with food inspired newsletter content for December. I think we could easily send out an email a day in December and still have lots of ideas left over.
But, if you’re struggling with ideas for your food newsletter or you’ve just got too many things on your mind to brainstorm content for your newsletter audience, I’ve got a wealth of suggestions for you.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2023
Hanukkah: evening of December 7 to the evening of December 15
Christmas Eve: December 24th
Christmas Day: December 25th
Boxing Day and/or St. Stephens Day: December 26th is a statutory holiday in many countries outside of the US. It’s a popular day for shopping, televised sports and hosting open houses and drop-in gatherings.
Kwanzaa: December 26-January 1st
New Year’s Eve: December 31st
New Year’s Day: January 1st
ENTERTAINING
open houses, cocktail parties, dessert tables and buffets, brunches (another great buffet opportunity), Christmas dinner, skating parties, holiday light viewing walks and rides, New Year’s eve…
think about appetizers, desserts, drinks, items that can be made ahead of time (breakfast bakes and casseroles are very popular this year!)
entertaining on a budget
entertaining for different sized groups – from 3-4 people to big groups
recipes for festive drinks that can be made in large batches for a crowd (alcoholic and non-alcoholic options)
GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN
recipes for spice mixes, hot cocoa mixes, soup mixes, cookie or pancake dry mixes (you can layer all of these in pretty glass jars)
cookie and bar swap or platter recipes
recipes for candied nuts, jams and jellies, chocolates and candies
tutorials on how to put together an attractive cookie or bar platter
templates to make your own gift tags or tutorials on how to decorate and wrap the jars of spice mix, hot cocoa etc.
KID FRIENDLY CONTENT
Lots of parents will have littles at home over the holidays and will be looking for things to keep them busy…
recipes kids can help with
cookie and bar decorating
homemade gifts from the kitchen kids can help with (assembling spice mixes, dry ingredients for soups or baking mixes, etc)
LEFTOVERS
recipes that use up leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables
create a “leftovers” charcuterie board or turn leftover appies into a fun dinner night.
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER EMAIL
Ok this one is a bit different but hear me out. You could send an email to your list that has nothing to do with food. Everyone is stressed this time of year for a wide range of reasons.
Send an email reminding them they’ve got this! Offer up…
some relaxation or meditation techniques (going for a walk, some easy stretching, a relaxing activity that uses their hands like knitting or colouring, using a meditation app)
ways to cut corners while still having a fabulous holiday
sure fire, easy recipes that are impossible to screw up
how to combat loneliness – not everyone has family around at Christmas
ideas for giving back
something that reminds them it’s ok… it doesn’t have to be perfect!
some funny memes can also go a long way!
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES
While you can’t post Amazon affiliate links in your emails, you can share a link to your Amazon affiliate shop (if you have one) or to blog posts that contain amazon affiliate links.
Other affiliate programs usually let you share their links in your emails so don’t just focus on Amazon.
Last minute gift ideas and stocking stuffers are great gift guides to share in December.
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Plan to start dripping out your New Year’s even content just after Christmas. I strongly recommend having this content prepped and scheduled in advance. The week between Christmas and New Year’s seems to exist in an alternate reality where we lose track of dates and time. If you’re anything like me, you probably spend a lot of it in your PJs!
You don’t want to feel pressure to do some work but there is a limited time to get New Year’s content out so prepping and scheduling is the way to go!
SEASONAL FOODS
The next few months are a bit rough when it comes to seasonal foods but here’s what to look for:
TAILOR YOUR DECEMBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
As always, these are ideas to help you brainstorm. Adapt them to fit your audience and your niche, which you know better than anyone else.
Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to this time last year. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience is mainly young singles, skip the kid content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your December newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
November brings us into the heart of Q4 and there is an wealth of email newsletter possibilities for food bloggers and food content creators as people are not only looking for Thanksgiving ideas but they’re also starting to prep for Christmas and other December holidays.
As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletter idea posts, a lot of food content creators up their email send frequency as we get into Q4 – especially if their audience is focused on baking or entertaining. It’s a great way to give your traffic an additional boost through the season where RPMs tend to be at their highest.
This month, don’t forget Black Friday/Cyber Monday!
If you have products – digital or physical – plan your promotions and the emails and social media content to go with them now! Get it done and scheduled to make your life easier.
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS & IMPORTANT DATES:
Diwali: November 12 (this is actually a 5 day festival) American Thanksgiving: November 23 Black Friday: November 24 Cyber Monday: November 27
AMERICAN THANKSGIVING:
Turkey: all things turkey – how to cook one, how to brine it, smoke it, air fry it, slow cook it, defrost it, stuff it, or cook it in the instant pot. Don’t forget leftovers for the week after Thanksgiving
Side Dishes: turkey’s great, but for many, it’s all about the side dishes. If you’re a niche blogger, dive in here with dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, keto-friendly etc
Dessert: all things pumpkin and a lot of pie!
Turkey Alternatives: turkey isn’t for everyone. Vegans, vegetarians and small families are looking for other options
Friendsgiving: If you’ve got Chandler Bings in your life, you know what I’m talking about!
Leftovers: anything that helps use up leftovers and avoid food waste
Entertaining & Decor Ideas: y’all… pumpkin centerpieces are so flipping popular this year! Centrepieces, tableware and decor, cocktail presentation, appetizers, DIY tutorials etc
If you’re not American, you can start moving into Christmas and/or Hanukkah content. A lot content this time of year can double for Thanksgiving and the holidays: appetizers, sides, cocktails, baking etc.
SPORTS:
Thanksgiving is a big football holiday. Pull out your game day recipes: snacks, dips, wings, finger foods, chili – all the favourites!
**Don’t forget to add in vegetarian and vegan options as well as some alcohol-free beverages – all of these are continuing to grow in popularity and it’s rare to host a gathering these days that doesn’t include meat and alcohol-free guests!
COOKIES, BARS, CANDY AND FOOD GIFTS
There are things that everyone starts planning for early and they include:
their annual cookie platters
cookie swaps (bars are often included in these)
homemade gifts from the kitchen: candy, jarred baking and beverage mixes, jams, jellies and more
holiday baking: fruit cakes, bars, pies and other seasonal items that can be baked ahead of time
Start dripping out recipe content for these in November. I’d start the first week!
You can also do related email content:
how to host or plan a cookie swap
how to create a cookie platter to gift
how to create your own labels for jams and jellies or boxed candies
how to package food for gifting (or shipping!)
baking pantry checklists
HOLIDAY ENTERTAINING
People start planning early! They are pinning content so make sure to include some easy “pin now” button in your emails for recipes they might like to save for later.
party prep
party ideas
decor
appetizers
cocktails
open houses and buffets
Think of ways you can put a spin on these for your audience:
TAILOR YOUR NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
As always, these are ideas to help you brainstorm. Adapt them to fit your audience and your niche, which you know better than anyone else.
Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to this time last year. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience doesn’t care about sports, skip the sports content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your November newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
October is just the start of the busy holiday season. Work ahead with these October email newsletter ideas for food bloggers and food content creators.
October is when things really start to get busy for food bloggers and content creators and you will have no shortage of content ideas.
A lot of food content creators up their send email send frequency as we get into Q4 – especially if their audience is focused on baking or entertaining. This isn’t necessary – especially if you’re already emailing multiple times a week – but it is a great way to give your traffic an additional boost through the season where RPMs tend to be at their highest.
But, you’ll definitely want to plan for this. As we’ve talked about before, repurpose your older content in your emails – the more of it you have, the less work you’ll have to do! Work as far ahead as you’re able to – it will be less work in December!
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS
Canadian Thanksgiving: October 9th (2023) Halloween: October 31st
Canadian Thanksgiving is a huge food holiday so even if you’re an American content creator, it’s worth making mention of it – perhaps you could put together a mini guide of links to your most popular Thanksgiving content and pop it in one of your emails.
Halloween – more down below (it deserves it’s own section!)
Diwali runs from November 10-15th (2023) and late October is a great time to start trickling out content if this is a good fit for you.
If you have digital products (ebooks, shopping lists, menu planners etc,) around preparing for any of the remaining holidays in the year – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, or New Years now is the time to be actively promoting them to your list every week for the remainder of the year.
HALLOWEEN
Halloween content is becoming almost as big as Christmas and people are looking for a lot of fun ideas and activities. This is a great time to flex your creative muscles with spooky content:
Pumpkin: It’s all things pumpkin from now until… well… the end of the year really! Don’t just focus on sweets. Remember savory applications, beverages and using up all the remains of the pumpkin to avoid waste and jack’o’lantern ideas
Party foods: the spookier, creepier and more fun, the better: Halloween charcuterie boards, anything with eyeballs in it (pasta, punch, brownies), ghoulish cocktails – let your imagination go to town!
Halloween with kids: this is a great time to get kids in the kitchen and people are looking for tutorials and easy, fun recipes kids will want to help with.
School treats: cupcakes, bars, cookies, alternatives to sweets, nut-free
Entertaining menus: horror movie night, pre-trick or treating fuel, trick or treating after parties, fireworks block parties, adults only costume parties, party goody bags, budget friendly ideas
Cakes: more and more Halloween cakes are showing up as showstoppers for a party
Leftover candy recipes… so much candy… 🤣
SPORTS
It’s tailgate season! Sports are in overdrive in the fall: hockey, college football, NFL, CFL, World Series baseball… that all adds up to a lot of game day weekends!
Pull out your game day recipes: snacks, dips, wings, finger foods, chili – all the favourites!
Canadians, don’t forget Grey Cup is in November – I know from my own food blogging days that a lot of people search specifically for Grey Cup recipe ideas and it’s an underserved niche.
**Don’t forget to add in vegetarian and vegan options as well as some alcohol-free beverages – all of these are continuing to grow in popularity and it’s rare to host a gathering these days that doesn’t include meat and alochol-free guests!
PIE SEASON
Some may not agree but I think pie season is the best season!
Apple, pear, pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, mince… and don’t forget the savoury ones! There’s also tarts, galettes, lattice tops… can you tell I love pie?
With pie comes pastry so pull out your pastry tutorials and videos and includes those in your emails too.
COMFORT FOOD
It’s full on comfort food season and comfort food email content always does well, regardless of your food niche.
casseroles
soups
hearty pasta dishes
roast dinners
breads, buns and biscuits
potato dishes
anything with melted, bubbly cheese
Think of ways you can put a spin on these for your audience:
budget-friendly
diet specific: gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, etc
meal planning and prepping, batch cooking
meat-free
easy, weeknight friendly, under 30 minutes, etc.
SEASONAL PRODUCE
Almost all the typical North American summer produce is finished by October and we’re heading into the season of root vegetables, squash, hardy greens and alliums (onions, garlic, leeks etc)
apples, crab apples, quince
pears
cranberries
pomegranates
carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets
winter squash, pumpkins
potatoes and sweet potatoes
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower
leeks, onions, fresh garlic
kale, Swiss chard, cabbage
TAILOR YOUR OCTOBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
How you proceed with your emails for October will depend on your audience. You know them better than anyone else. Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to last fall. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience doesn’t care about sports, skip the sports content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your October newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
As we enter September, email newsletter content ideas are plentiful for food bloggers and food content creators. The hard part will be narrowing down your content for the next few months!
For most food bloggers and food content creators, September is the kick off to the busiest season of the year!
There’s no shortage of things to write about over the coming months. This is the time of year where food plays a crucial roll and everyone has a lot to do!
How can you start to make things easier for your most engaged audience members?
MAKE AN EMAIL CONTENT PLAN
There are so many ideas for email content over the next 4-5 months that it can be almost overwhelming. My best suggestion is to take a few moments to sit down and craft out a content plan to get you through early January. It will help alleviate some of the stress! If you need help, check out this post on planning out your email content (Step 4 is particularly helpful for this time of year.)
If you’ve been neglecting your newsletter subscribers, now is the time to show them some love. You want them to be interested and full of anticipation for how you’re going to help them get through the next four months as they head back to school or work, look forward to Thanksgiving and Halloween and start to plan their holiday season.
FOCUS ON YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
Remember that this list of ideas is meant to help kickstart your brainstorming. Choose topics that are obviously a good fit for your audience. But don’t shy away from other, less obvious, topics. Instead, look to see if there’s a way you can adapt them to fit your audience
For example: lunchbox ideas. These don’t just have to apply to school lunches. Adults head back to work after vacation. Budgets are a little stressed this year to maybe more adults are brown bagging it or meal prepping to avoid waste. They need lunches too. Maybe they work from home and get too absorbed in their work to be bothered with lunch.
Your audience might be looking for budget friendly hacks or maybe they’re vegan, or don’t eat dairy or they follow a keto diet. Take the lunchbox idea and adapt it to fit your content and audience.
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS
Here are some holidays and significant content themes for September; Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) runs from Sept 15-17, it’s officially PSL season and, of course, the kids are back in school! Canadian Thanksgiving is October 9th
Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown on Friday, Sept 15 and runs till sundown on Sunday, Sept 17 – there are multiple foods associated with this holiday
pumpkin everything is going to be everywhere for the next 3-4 months – pace yourselves! 🤣 (and make sure to recycle your old pumpkin content in your emails!)
Canadians, start trickling out your Thanksgiving content in late September – people plan menus well in advance.
Americans, don’t neglect your Canadian readers – Canadian Thanksgiving is second only to Christmas in terms of food prep and consumption (this is also where segmenting your email list by country can be super helpful!)
If you have digital products around preparing for Canadian Thanksgiving (ebooks, shopping lists, menu planners etc,) now is the time to be actively promoting them to your list every week in September.
If you have digital products for Halloween (ebooks, project plans, party planning etc), start promoting to your list weekly in mid-late September.
Apples! September is apple season: cakes, pies, galettes and tarts – but don’t forget savoury apple ideas as well!
BACK TO SCHOOL
Back to school is such a big topic it deserves it’s own section!
lunchbox ideas:
snacks
mains
treats
hot and cold foods (and how to store them)
food safety
sustainable packaging
bento boxes
cookies, muffins, bars
alternatives to pre-packaged food
allergen-free or friendly
make ahead/meal prepped
budget friendly
lunches for adults
breakfasts:
grab-n-go
quick and easy
overnight prep
weeknight dinners:
one pot or sheet pan
under 30 minutes
under 20 minutes
meal prep
freezer friendly
pantry planning, kid approved, Instant Pot, Air Fryer, slow cooker
snacks:
after school munchies
high energy fuel for sports or after school activities
snacks for studying, focus and concentration
easy snacks
diy snack packs or refrigerator snack drawers
energy and granola bars and balls
classic lunchbox and cookie jar cookies
food tips for surviving in a dorm or shared accommodation
COMFORT FOOD
September (and even early October) weather can be a mixed bag but odds are good that there will still be a lot of hot days ahead. Pay attention to weather across the continent and not just where you live before you get too carried away with comfort food.
Having said that, the days are shorter and the nights will be starting to cool off so start to sneak in some lighter comfort foods. Soups, lighter pasta and potato dishes are all good options for September.
SEASONAL PRODUCE:
There’s a little bit of everything available in September!
apples
pears
plums
blackberries
figs
grapes
cranberries
pomegranates (late Sept)
most other summer fruits are still available but are at the very tail end of their season
carrots
corn
summer squash, cucumbers, zucchini
green beans
tomatoes
eggplant
peppers
winter squash, pumpkins, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, celery and sweet potatoes (the Thanksgiving foods!) all start to appear in mid to late September depending on geography
OTHER SEPTEMBER FOOD CONTENT IDEAS
holiday budget planning – this year, more then ever, people will be budget focused this upcoming holiday season. September is a great time to start talking and writing about how to plan for the holidays on a budget – including pantry planning, entertaining, cookie and bar swaps etc.
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your September newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
WANT MORE TIPS?
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
