They say the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach, and that often rings true around the holidays. If your holiday gift list has an insatiable food fanatic on it then you can’t go wrong with giving the best food or drink subscriptions as gifts. Saddling someone with a single delivery of spices, wine, cheese or snacks is great, but a recurring monthly shipment of the good stuff is objectively better. Food subscriptions are some of our favorite ways to sample excellent eats and drinks from small producers around the country, and they’re about as giftable as it gets.
These days, you can find a food subscriptions for just about anything — booze, bread, coffee beans and even premium cuts of beef — and there are affordable options starting at $10 a month. To find the best food and drink clubs for 2022, we did the dirty work and tried them all — well, most of them anyway.
Be it coffee and tea clubs, a salty snack box subscription or fresh seafood delivery, you’re bound to find a fit for the foodie on your list. When in doubt, an eclectic beer club or wine subscription will make a long cold winter feel a whole lot less so. After testing dozens of monthly food and drink boxes, and carefully considering value, quality and overall experience, these are the best food subscriptions to give as gifts in 2022.
Best food subscription boxes to gift in 2022
Atlas Coffee Club
A coffee subscription is about as foolproof a gift as it gets. As long as the person being gifted, ya know, drinks coffee and all.
I’ve tried and really liked many of the top coffee subscription services including Trade, Equator and many others. One stands out as particularly giftable and that’s Atlas Coffee Club. For one, the coffee comes from all over with lots of interesting roasts from Africa and Central America. Each bag arrives as if it’s been sent by a friend (in this case it has!) with a glossy postcard and some information on both the beans and the region they hail from. It’s a very charming way to start your morning.
A three-month gift subscription starts at $60 and free shipping.
RawSpiceBar
Spice is the backbone of any great food I’ve ever had. As a person who cooks often but doesn’t have great access to fresh spices, I can say I would personally love getting these.
Raw Spice Bar sends 2 ounces of a single spice or a spice blend such as Indian garam masala or Japanese furikake. Plus, you get chef-tested recipes to make with each one, all for just $12 a month (or $10 if you opt for the annual plan). The best part is the spices come freshly ground — unlike everything you get at the supermarket. And believe me, they will be able to tell the difference.
Tea Runners
You have some options when it comes to tea subscriptions to give as a gift. I tried five earlier this month and one stood out as a particularly good one to gift. Tea Runners does an especially nice job with its curated selections or ones based on your taste preferences. And the monthly mailers are put together especially well, wrapped in tissue paper all inside charming boxes. Gift subscriptions for Tea Runners start at $22 and go up from there depending on how many boxes you get.
CurdBox
There are dozens of cheese subscriptions but Curdbox has consistently been one of my favorites. The service sends monthly deliveries of three kinds of cheese (4 ounces of each) along with three pairings including fancy crackers, preserves, nut mixes and sweets from other small producers.
I think it’s well worth the $50 since you can easily spend that on three hunks of cheese at a gourmet cheesemonger. Choose a three-, six or 12-month plan for you or a special cheese-lovin’ someone. Curdbox even curates a special Spotify playlist for each month’s box so you can rock out with your block out. Cheese block, that is.
Wildgrain
Baking bread may be trendy, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Wildgrain understands and will send a monthly drop of expertly baked sourdoughs, multigrain, baguettes, croissants and quality pasta to a carbivore on your list. The bread comes frozen with specific instructions to reheat. I found that most of the loaves in my box turned out better than the grocery store selection and unless you live near a good bakery, Wildgrain may be the next best thing.
Each box costs $89 (shipping included) and includes as many as three loaves of bread, two boxes of pasta, four pastries and 10 small desserts like apple pie bites or tartlets.
Amazing Clubs
Pitmasters and barbecue fanatics are typically serious about their sauce. This subscription is a fun way to let them try new, unique and small batch bottles of sweet, hot and smoky sauces all year. Sauce subscriptions start at $28 for two bottles to slather on at the next backyard bash.
Shaker Spoon
Shaker Spoon sends all the ingredients (minus the booze) packaged for you to make interesting cocktails. What’s included would be really tricky to find anywhere locally so you’re having drink-making fun with some truly unique ingredients. We’re talking artisan cherry-vanilla bitters, pineapple shrub and a spritz bottle of white sage hydrosol.
There are recipes for each themed box including Fall for Mezcal or All Eyes on Rye but you can freestyle with the ingredients too. Each box is about $59 (cheaper if you gift more than one month or subscribe). Either way, it’ll lend plenty of cocktail inspiration to the budding bartender on your list.
Goldbelly
If you’re too busy to plan a cross-country road trip to nosh on all the best eats this land. has to offer, Goldbelly has a backup plan and you’ll spend way less on gas. This is the Best of Goldbelly subscription and it includes three months of curated monthly boxes with some truly legendary food from places like New York’s Magnolia Bakery or the famed Russ & Daughters deli.
Each delivery is different and they can’t be modified, but that’s really the fun of it and Goldbelly does a great job of making sure everything is packaged safely and securely. Three months of the Best of Goldbelly is $249.
Murray’s Cheese
While Curdbox gets my pick for most people, hardcore cheeseheads looking for rare and intense creations might prefer Murray’s cheese subscription. Iconic New York cheese shop Murray’s has a few subscription options to choose from if you want to hook someone up with impossibly good bries, blues and manchegos each month.
While we’re not talking about budget cheese here, you can prepay for three months of cheese deliveries for $175 total. Each shipment will include three to four expertly selected cheeses from the masters at Murray’s. I’ve personally tested the melty wares from Murray’s subscription and can confirm this is a grade A food club to join.
Bokksu
The Bokksu collects some of the best snacks from Japan and compiles them in a one-time or recurring monthly curated tasting box. I’ve both given and received a Bokksu and it is always a hit.
Inside the unmistakable orange boxes, you’ll find eats like seaweed tempura, green tea and lemon cakes along with Japanese candy such as yuzu gummies and matcha-strawberry Kit-Kats. What’s more, Bokksu includes some info-packed literature explaining a bit about each, including historical and cultural significance. Bokksu boxes start at $40 per month for subscriptions and $60 for a one-time send.
Read more: The Best Snack Subscription Boxes
Wine may seem like the fallback gift with a, perhaps rightful, reputation as impersonal. Winc, like a few of the other wine clubs, is hoping to change that by delving deep inside your palate and making ordering wine by mail an engaging experience. If there’s someone on your list you suspect would love to learn more about wine or their own preferences — strange as that may sound — a Winc subscription is a great place to start. The company starts you off with a profile and palate analysis, and then sends wines it thinks you’ll like. Each time you rate them so the shipments from various producers start to jibe better with your taste.
Winc monthly memberships start at an affordable $60 (plus $9 shipping) for three bottles per month. You can buy a gift card for as few or as many months as you’d like to bequeath, or just send a one-time shipment of wine. Who doesn’t love that?
This is one for someone you really like. Or for someone who really likes tasting new whiskeys — and hopefully both. Flaviar gift member sends include tastings and full bottles. Flaviar starts at $51 a month for the Basic membership and goes up from there.
You can also nab Flaviar’s limited-edition whiskey advent calendar with 24 1.7-ounce pours of whiskies and whiskeys from all over the world. It’s on presale now ($240 for members and $260 for guests) and typically sells out every year.
Fuego Box
Hot sauce people are very serious about the stuff and Fuego Box makes a perfect gift for anyone who is a bit of a hothead. Fuego Box’s hot sauce subscriptions start at $13 a month for one sauce — although $30 a month for three bottles is for sure the better deal.
There are also plenty of one-off gift boxes like this one with hot honey, peach habanero hot sauce and spicy garlic seasoning. Plus, Fuego Box is a small business that supports other small businesses, so you can feel good about that.
Bar & Cocoa
Chocolate is about as safe as it gets, making this a great gift for someone you’re not sure what to buy — or a known chocolate lover, of course. Bar & Cocoa chocolate club will send some of the best bars in the biz (four full bars per month, to be exact) and we’re not talking mass-produced Hershey here either. Some of the premier chocolate producers include Amano, Chocolate Madagascar and A. Morin. All are ethical, sustainable and eco-conservative. Like I said — the good stuff.
A three-month subscription starts at $135 total but you can spring for a six or 12-month run and any of them can be canceled at any time.
Mouth.com
The best thing about Mouth is the seemingly endless options for gift boxes, baskets subscriptions and more. I’d venture to guess that even if you’re not sure what food gift you’re looking for, you’re still bound to find it in the sprawling online marketplace of quality eats. Mouth has monthly subscriptions for everything from pickles to cocktails, jerky and general snacks. You can also peruse the gifts, where there are even more options like a Sunshine in a Box kit or a Bloody Mary Cocktail Kit.
ButcherBox
For a meat-eating foodie, a box of high-end meats is never a bad call and your gifting options abound in 2021. We’ve tried ButcherBox several times and it stands out as the best service for gifting a meat box or subscription for the grilling gal in your life.
Other online butchers specialize in niche beef such as KC Cattle Co‘s stock of 100% American Wagyu. Another newcomer, Porter Road, has some interesting cuts and holiday bundles, while old standby Rastelli’s will let you curate a box of meat and seafood to send. See our favorite online butchers to find a little something meaty to gift to your favorite carnivore.
More gift ideas, handpicked by CNET
Best Food and Drink Subscriptions to Give as Gifts – CNET
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