thank you for all the lovely replies, sadly I dont really have the expertise, time or area to prep homemade stuff (although id love to do that in future years once we get a place all sorted down)... cheese as a possibility has me interested because i have a line on some 'gourmet cheese...
I do bags of treats as christmas gifts for family members because its simple and consumables are repeatable... my partners father is diabetic (whilst I don't know the exact form I would speculate its 3c), which puts a bit of a spanner in the works (my brother, as an on-again-off-again vegan...