If you’re the type of person who squirms with angst anytime someone opens a gift you’ve given, you might be better wired for gift cards. You might also be the type of person who’s currently strapped for time and a holiday gift card is the only thing that’ll arrive in time — don’t worry, we won’t tell. Again, gift cards to the rescue.
Sending cash, a Visa gift card or Venmo drop can feel impersonal, to be sure. As an alternative, you can snag a gift card from any one of these great food and drink purveyors. Bonus: They may be ones your foodie friend doesn’t even know about, so you can ride your high horse all the way to gifting glory. Maybe it’s some online dollars to spend at a marketplace full of extra special eats like Goldbelly or a digital warehouse of great coffee for them to find something new and interesting to sip this winter. Having a surprise allowance to spend on something delicious is a crowd-pleaser. Always.
Read more: Great kitchen gifts under $25 that’ll still arrive by Christmas
Your edible gift card options are seemingly endless: Whether it’s for some fresh fish, high-end cuts of beef, hard-to-find candy or even harder-to-resist snacks, these are the best online gift cards to send a foodie this year.
Most online gift cards can be purchased in any amount you’d like and while some have expiration dates, most are generally good for at least a year and often much longer. Note that all of the options below include e-gift options, so you can order and deliver these via email right up to the very last minute.
Happy gifting, kids.
Goldbelly
Goldbelly specializes in sending prepared eats from some of the most iconic restaurants in the country to you no matter where you live. Want some Russ & Daughters smoked salmon? Goldbelly has it. Jones-ing for that Piecaken you’ve seen all over Instagram? Goldbelly will send you one straight from Zac Young’s bakery. A gift card to Goldbelly will keep a foodie busy for hours — the only problem is they won’t be able to have everything.
Porter Road
This online butcher sells some seriously fine cuts, from big holiday roasts to rich ribeye, pork loins and more. Send a gift card and they can peruse the magnificent meats and snatch some up now or wait for grilling season to pounce.
Read more: Best meat delivery for 2020: Snake River Farms, Rastelli’s and many more
Mouth.com
Mouth is a marketplace with tons of fun and trendy eats and subscriptions like a pickle-of-the-month club or this s’mores kit for your next bonfire. This is another good option for a foodie who likes a little bit of everything since, well, they’ve got it.
Fulton Fish Market
Depending on where you or the person you’re shopping for lives, fresh seafood may be hard to come by. I wrote about the best places to order seafood online and tested every one and I can say that seafood flash-frozen and sent from the likes of Fulton Fish Market is the next best thing to a true port-side fishmonger. Fulton has an incredible selection of tuna, salmon, squid, shellfish and even caviar and some other packaged goods. This is the perfect gift to hook a seafood eater.
Blue Apron
A meal kit gift certificate makes another great gift for a home chef or generally busy person. You could have one sent to their door, but unless you’re really sure of the person’s tastes, preferences and schedule, you might be better off sticking with a gift card. Blue Apron is my top pick for a meal kit to give an experienced chef, but check out some great meal kits to give this season, including Purple Carrot for vegetarians and HelloFresh for beginners.
Le Creuset
If you’re hunting down a last-minute gift for someone who loves kitchen gadgets and fine cookware, Williams Sonoma is an excellent vendor to let them run wild in. From high-end Le Creuset cookware to funky barware and loads of gourmet pantry essentials, Williams Sonoma has a bit of everything for home cooks of all skill levels.
Munch Addict
The Japanese have snacking down to an art form. Bokksu knows this better than anyone, collecting some of the best Japanese snacks from the east and sending them in a one-time curated box or recurring monthly snack box. And oh boy are they fun. The best part about the Bokksu box is that almost none of these Japanese snacks remind you much of snacks we already have in the US but are freakin’ delicious. This raises the question: “What the heck are we doing wrong here, people?!”
You can order Bokksu gift cards in denominations of $25 for someone to spend on curated boxes or to pick out individual snacks from the Bokksu market.
Bean Box
Bean Box has a vast inventory of quality beans with interesting profiles like pomegranate and cherry maple hazelnut. You can certainly give a single shipment or keep the beans coming with a subscription gift. There are several other coffee subscription options to choose from and we’ve outlined a few of the differences here.
Read more: The best coffee subscriptions and monthly clubs to gift this year
Candy Club
I don’t think I’ve seen my niece’s eyes light up any brighter than when she first discovered this website. While you can’t send a true e-gift card, you can send an expedited shipment of sour gummies, chocolate confections and even cookie dough bites. They also have subscription options, which can be gifted.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
