When it comes to those folks who are impossible to shop for, gift cards are a blessing. Even if you fancy yourself an expert gift-giver, allowing someone to select something delicious via one of these food and drink gift cards can be a great, stress-free gift for both of you.
If you’d rather send something delicious that you carefully picked out, cruise on over to our roundup of the best food and drink subscriptions to give as gifts or our list of the best places to buy specialty foods online. But if you suspect your gift recipient would have more fun going on their own culinary shopping spree, these online gift certificates are the way to go — and they couldn’t be easier to purchase and send.
Most online e-gift cards can be bought in any amount you’d like, and while a few have expiration dates, the majority of them are generally good for at least a year if not much longer. Some companies will send you a hard copy of the card or a link to print it out. But most allow you to order and deliver these via email so you can save the paper and send your gift right up until the very last minute.
Best e-gift cards for a foodie in 2023
Of the prepared meal delivery services I tested in 2023, CookUnity was one of the three best. It’s also one of the most giftable, since the recipes are both fun and seriously unique. This gift is perfect for anyone who needs a night off from cooking.
Read more: Best Healthy Meal Delivery Services of 2023
This virtual wonderland of cooking ingredients and pantry goods could keep a home chef busy for hours. It’s also a great place to get inspiration for recipes and cuisines to try. You’ll find specialty oils, premium cheeses, dry goods, sauces and lots more. The marketplace even has high-end meats and cheeses.
Read more: Best Places to Buy Specialty Foods Online
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 turducken you’ve seen all over Instagram? Goldbelly will send you one straight from the bakery.
A gift card to Goldbelly will keep a foodie busy for hours. The only problem is they won’t be able to order everything.
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.
The best part about a Food52 gift certificate ard is you don’t have to scroll too far to find something amazing. The food blog has a robust market of editor-curated goods including cookware, glassware, gadgets and pantry staples. Mostly everything is both stylish and useful and the prices are reasonable to boot.
Mouth is a marketplace with tons of fun and trendy eats and subscriptions like a pickle-of-the-month club or this basket of boozy sweets for your next movie night. This is another good option for a foodie who likes a little bit of everything since, well, they’ve got it.
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 a seasoned home chef, but check out some great meal kits to give this season, including Purple Carrot for vegetarians and HelloFresh for beginners.
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 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.
If it’s high-end eats they want, Rastelli’s is a great place to snag a gift card for the home chef on your list. The gourmet market specializes in meats and fish including Wagyu beef, organic poultry and sustainable seafood. It also has all accouterments to make these meats pop, including rubs, butters and sides.
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.
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 $40 for someone to spend on curated boxes or to pick out individual snacks from the Bokksu market.
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: Best Coffee Subscriptions for 2023
Sugarfina has some seriously fun candy and confections with interesting flavors, chic and surprising collaborations — particularly with booze brands. You can snag an e-gift card in any denomination and send it to the sweetie with a sweet tooth on your list.
This one might be slightly more impersonal but if you suspect you’ve got a takeout addict that still needs a gift or perhaps a cash-strapped college student, they’ll definitely appreciate some money for grub.
