Reddit mentions of PBL Photo Tent 30" Professional Studio Quality by PBL

How to shoot food (or other small products) on a budget, with limited knowledge and gear:

1. Buy a light tent. Yes, you can make one out of PVC and a white sheet, but they're so cheap now it's kind of a no-brainer: $30 on Amazon. Just search for "light tent". Here's the one I bought. This tent will soften shadows and reduce light harshness on the product.
   
2. The backgrounds that come with the light tents are useless. Instead, buy some posterboard in a few different colors. White is okay, yellow also works. Gray and blue tend to be boring, but might work for some dishes. Black can also be nice. This stuff can be found for as cheap as 50 cents per sheet at your local craft store, Walmart, etc. Get the largest you can find that will still fit in the light tent. Also pick up a roll of masking tape for a couple of bucks.
   
3. Have at least 2-3 light sources available. Strobes would be best, but since you've stated you aren't a photographer, get yourself some 250-watt halogens for $10 each at Home Depot. (And keep them a bit away from the light tent or you'll melt it!)
   
4. Set the lights about 2-3 feet from the light tent on the left or the right, and (carefully!) hang one above, pointed down.
   
5. Tape one of the sheets of posterboard inside the light tent, curved so that the bottom "curves" up the wall. This creates a "seamless" background so that the subject (in this case, food) is isolated against the background. Your setup will look something like this.
   
   Total cost: roughly $60-$70.
   
   Set your exposure so that you are shooting at least 1/60 of a second. 1/125 or 1/250 is best to avoid accidental blurriness due to camera shake or other factors. If possible, set your aperture somewhat wide/open (smaller number), which will result in shallower depth of field. This tends to look very nice with food photography.
   
   Here are some results using the setup I've described above:
   
   

• Stuffed chicken, potatoes, and asparagus
  
• Chicken and waffles with bacon and candied apple topping
  
• Caper chicken over pasta with green beans
  
  Edit: Thank you for the gold, kind stranger! :-)

Luckily product photography is WAY more about the light quality than the camera. I recommend picking up a small popup light tent. Good ones can be had for pretty inexpensive prices. Here's one on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/PBL-PHOTO-PROFESSIONAL-STUDIO-QUALITY/dp/B001AZV0BW/

While an ideal setup would be some kind of DSLR, you will probably find you're getting results you're very happy with even with your Lumix. I would Google tutorials for small product photography. It's not terribly difficult to learn the basics, and there are tons of resources out there.