Give the gift of food this year! Gifting a monthly subscription for something like coffee, pickles or wine is a surefire way of giving something meaningful, experiential and not driven my Black Friday consumerism.
So whether you’re known for gifting thoughtful, on-the-nose gifts or are under the gun to order and ship something, turn to one of these food subscription boxes. They’re fun, unique, and each keeps on giving for as long as you wish. Most of these boxes can be order in three-, six-, nine- or 12-month subscriptions.
Before we dive into the subscriptions, I want to highlight one of my favorite producers: Northern Waters Smokehaus. I love to gift their smoked fish boxes for the holidays, it’s THE best smoked fish! Unfortunately they don’t offer monthly subs, but their gift packages are stellar.
The best cocktail subscription: Cocktail Courier
Why we love it:
Well first off, we love cocktails around here so of course we love the idea of a cocktail kit delivered to our front door every month! More than that, we love the quality and uniqueness of the cocktails featured in each box. Every kits comes with a recipe card for a unique cocktail from top professional bartenders and all the supplies you’ll need for 6 to 8 cocktails (including garnishes). You control what types of spirits and cocktails get sent to you and how often.
What you get:
One cocktail recipe to serve 6–8 per month for $30 per box (without alcohol) or $49 per box (with alcohol).
The best cured meats subscription: Salty Pork Bits
If you’re looking to give the cured meats guys something, look no further. (Also a spectacular subscription for couples that regularly eat meat and cheese for dinner.) First and foremost, these meats are GORGEOUS. Secondly, who wouldn’t love getting a shipment of totally unique cured meat every month? (Fernet, Oil Cured Olive, and Preserved Lemon Salami? Yes plz.)
Everything is hand made in Pittsburgh by Justin Severino and his team, and all of the ingredients used are pasture raised and sustainably sourced. This one is a winner.
What you get:
Salty pork monthly subscription start at $48/box or three months for $144.
The best wine subscription box: Somm Select
Why we love it:
Founded by master sommelier, Ian Cauble, Somm Select strikes the perfect balance of being informative and accessible. Unlike many wine clubs, Somm Select isn’t pretentious and exclusive. Every time Somm Select shows up at your door you can expect a box of wine you’ve never had before and stories that will make it taste even better. We also love that one of their core values is, delivering exceptional wine at an inclusive price.
What you get:
Choose from four package options: 4 bottles/mo for $99, 6 bottles/mo for $199, 6 reds/mo for $220, and our favorite, The Blind 6 for $220/mo.
The best spice subscription: Burlap & Barrel
Why we love it:
Burlap and Barrel is recommended by many big names and publications in the culinary world. And it’s not an accident. Burlap and Barrel partners directly with smallholder farms to bring unique and incredibly fresh spices right to your door—many of which are rarely available in the US! Each box is a total surprise—they do not publically announce what’s in each box until after you receive it.
What you get:
Quarterly boxes containing four to five products starting at $45.
The best monthly fish subscription box: Catch Sitka
Why we love it:
Unlike other fish and seafood subscription boxes, you can choose exactly what you’d like to receive every month—no surprises. Choose between wild Alaskan halibut, wild Alaskan King salmon, mixed wild Alaskan whitefish, or a combination of wild Alaskan salmon and halibut.
The quality of the fish is absolutely outstanding. One tast and you’ll never buy fish from the grocery store again.
What you get:
Totally up to you! Choose between wild Alaskan halibut, king salmon, or whitefish. You can also choose to have three pounds, five pounds, 10 pounds, or 15 pounds delivered monthly. Starts at $150/month.
The best monthly fish & seafood subscription box: Sitka Salmon Shares
Why we love it:
The quality of the fish and seafood is out of this world—especially if you’re landlocked! Enjoy a variety of fish and seafood all year long with monthly boxes featuring 4.5 pounds of freshly caught salmon, white fish and seafood. Sitka Salmon Shares offer projections of what you can expect in a given box, but depending on the fisherman’s luck, you might receive a surprise piece of fish or two.
What you get:
You’ll get 4.5 pounds of fish and seafood per month. Pricing starts at $129 but depends on the subscription level you choose. Use code EB25 to get $25 off!
The best coffee subscription: Trade
Why we love it:
We love Trade! It’s tailored to your coffee preferences, method of brewing, and frequency. Trade works directly with roasters from around the United States so that each bag of coffee you get is freshly roasted. We also love the minimal, compostable packaging they use.
What you get.
A unique and different bag of coffee, chosen to fit your preferences, as often as you’d like! Starting at three bags for $54.
The best monthly meat subscription box: Butcher Box
Why we love it:
Quality. Hands down, one of the main reasons we love Butcher Box is that we know exactly how the meat is raised. You can expect 100% grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, humanely raised pork, and wild-caught seafood. Plus, they’ve always got great deals. And when you sign up you get bacon for life!
What you get:
Choose from curated boxes (mixed, beef & chicken, beef & pork, all beef) or create your own customized box. Boxes get delivered monthly and subscription can be canceled whenever. Starts at $137/mo.
The best cheese subscription: Murray’s cheese of the month
Why we love it:
Murray’s cheese of the month is the perfect gift for the cheese head or charcuterie-obsessed in your life. Each month three different exceptional cheeses are hand selected by in-house cheesemongers and delivery right to your door. Picked at their peak ripeness, you can expect cheeses from the best international and domestic producers.
What you’ll get:
Three different cheeses every month for as long as you want. Start month-to-month or opt for three, six, nine, or 12 months. Starts at $63/mo.
The best hot sauce subscription: Fuego Box
Why we love it:
Fuego Box discovers and shares the best craft and small-batch hot sauces on the market. We love that they focus on the flavor and quality—not just insanely-hot-burn-your-face-off-sauce. They avoid extract-based sauces and always feature products that have the “appropriate amount of heat.”
What you get:
Choose between three subscription options. One bottle per month of mild or hot for $17.95/box, three bottles per month of mild or hot for $29.95/box, or 2 bottles of extra hot sauce per month for $27.95/box.
Check out the bottom of the site where they list “coupons” for discounts!
The best monthly pickle subscription: Mouth’s Pickles of the Month Club
Why we love it:
Well we love Mouth because they connect consumers with small-batch makers from across the US. They offer tons of subscriptions but we particularly love their monthly pickle box which comes with three different jars of pickles. You can expect everything from classic cucumber spears with a punch of Old Bay to pickled cherry tomatoes begging to be skewerd and served atop a bloody mary.
What you get:
Three, six, or 12 month subscriptions featuring three jars per box. Starting at $47 per month.
The best ice cream subscription: Salt and Straw Ice Cream Subscription
Why we love it:
Having lived just a stone’s throw away from Salt and Straw in Seattle, it’s hard not to be obsessed with their ultra-creamy and incredibly unique ice cream pints. Choose to receive their rotating monthly flavors, their best sellers (which better feature the Arbequina Olive Oil ice cream), or let them surprise you.
What you get:
5 pints of ice cream per month for three, six or 12 month subscriptions. Starting at $195.
Honorable mentions: Gold Belly (a fan-favorite) and McConnells (high-end).
The best subscription box for Japanese snacks: Bokksu
Why we love it:
Bokksu is a great way to experience the flavors and snacks of Japan. Each box features an array of products—snacks, candies and a tea pairing—from centuries-old small family businesses. Which means not only are you experiencing the food and culture of a different country, but you’re also supporting family-run businesses and their traditions.
What you’ll get:
Each box contains 20–24 Japanese snacks and a 16-page culture guide magazine that teaches you about each product. Subscriptions are offered as monthly, three months, six months, or 12 months and start at $40 per box.
The best pasta subscription box: Sfoglini Pasta of the Month Club
Why we love it:
Who doesn’t love pasta? Especially when it calls itself exclusive?! The self-appointed exclusive pasta club delivers two different dry pastas to your door every month. Each shipment includes a box of their organic semolina pasta and a box of Sfoglini specialty pasta which is made with ingredients from local farms and purveyors and are usually limited edition flavors.
What you get:
2 boxes of pasta per month for three or six months, starting at $65 dollars.
The best olive oil subscription: Especially Puglia
Why we love this:
What’s not to love?! We love everything about this company but especially their subscription for olive oil (and Caciocavallo cheese and honey). The process goes like this: adopt an olive tree (you choose the grove!) and support an olive farmer. You’ll then receive three liters of the highest quality extra virgin olive oil.
Harvest starts in the fall which means the olive oil will land on your step sometime in December. The olive oil, cheese and honey subscriptions sell out every year, so get on the list early and be apart of this incredible process that celebrates farmers and producers, and keeps time-honored methods and traditions alive.
What you get:
Three liters of olive oil per quarter for $400 (or three liters total for $160.)
The best chocolate bar subscription: Kekao chocolate
Why we love it:
We love that Kekao celebrates small start-up chocolate brands and focuses on quality. A large number of their chocolates are fair trade and a handful are organic. The monthly price is accessible and each box offers a new and unique variety of chocolate. They also focus largely on dark chocolate varieties.
What you get:
Three or six month subscriptions, each box containing four or five curated chocolate bars. Pay upfront for all months: three months start at $125 and six months start at $240.
The best subscription box for kids who love to bake: Foodstirs
Why we love it:
Foodstirs is reimagining boxed baking mixes to be lower in sugar and made with better ingredients. The organic ingredients and plant-based dyes are what set these baking mixes apart from all others so you can feel good about what you’re baking with your kids. Bright frosting and colored pancakes are no longer cringe-worthy or concerning, just fun and festive.
What you get:
Choose to receive one kit, three kits, or six kits every two months, starting at $32 per kit. Each kit contains a baking mix, any plant-based dyes or decorations needed, utensils and equipment needed, kid-friendly recipe cards and activities.
The best snack subscription: Snack Crate
Why we love it:
Snacking just got way more interesting! Take a trip to faraway places with this incredible snack subscription service that features country-themed boxes filled with sweet and savory snacks native to the area.
Snack your way through places like Pakistan, England, Morocco and more.
What you get:
Monthly snack crates for six months starting at $199.
The best produce subscriptions: Imperfect Foods
Why we love it:
We love that Imperfect Produce focuses on reducing food waste by finding a home for “ugly” produce and food products. That just means irregularly shaped product, nicks and digs on bottles, or surplus products which would otherwise go to waste. You have the option to add or subtract items from your box each week and overall the price is very affordable (and will likely save you money in the long run).
What you get:
You (or the person you’re gifting) get to choose! Note a specific diet preference, number of people in the household, and what meals are important—Imperfect Produce does the rest.
The best maple syrup subscription: Runamook Bottle of the Month
Why we love it:
Runamook is a family-owned company based out of Vermont. The husband and wife duo started the company back in 2009 and since then, the maple syrup has accumulated numerous accolades. The sweet syrup is known for being some of the best pure maple syrup you can buy and their sample packs are a highly sought-after gift. With offerings ranging from infused, smoked, and barrel-aged syrups, you know the surprise bottle of the month subscription will be fun and delicious.
What you get:
One 250mL limited release or long-time favorite bottle of maple syrup for four, six or 12 months. $18 per month.
The best jam subscription: Gus & Gray Jam of the Month
Why we love it:
We love the origin story of this little jam company that creates nostalgia in a jar. It’s like grandma made and packaged it up just for you! The ingredient lists are simple and readable, which is also something we always appreciate. Just fruit and sugar.
Each monthly jam box contains two award-winning jams, a hand-written note (yes!) and creative pairings/ways to use the jam.
What you get:A six month subscription is $138. As specified on their site, “**Jams are chosen by Gus & Grey. No substitutions.** #sorrynotsorry”
The best granola subscription: Granola Box Wildway
Why we love it:
Grain-free granola that’s made with real, wholesome, sustainable ingredients. No fake sweeteners (which we’re totally on board with) and no added flavorings. Most of the granolas are made with a simple list of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and salt. Simple. Delicious. And a great gift!
What you get:
A customized box of six different granolas as often as you want. From weekly, to monthly or quarterly. Each box costs $28.
