The Best Last-Minute Food Gifts (That Will Get There in Time)

The holiday season is a Sharknado of party planning, travel coordinating, and dinner menu development, so it’s fully understandable if you chose to forgo the Black Friday sales rush for this year’s gift shopping. Were I in your shoes, I, too, would have tucked into some leftover pumpkin pie and taken my granny to the new Zootopia movie instead of feverishly price-comparing consumer electronics and novelty socks. That being said, the next-best ideal time to order gifts is now(ish), and if you’re worried about whether or not your posh Parisian glassware will make it to your far-flung giftee in time, I suggest opening your heart and wallet to these last-minute food gifts that will either ship quickly or instantly (i.e. digitally) to make sure you don’t fall short.

The following food-related gifts run the gamut of beautifully packaged desserts and holiday hams that arrive on doorsteps in a couple of days, natural wine subscriptions for the avid host, and digital experiences such as cooking MasterClasses from the likes of Alice Waters. Even if you made procrastinating a contact sport this year, your lucky giftee will be none the wiser.

Send gourmet food and tablescape decor straight to their door

This next-level Nutella panettone

I live across the country from my family, so I’m no stranger to blasting off a Veselka smorgasbord or Ina Garten’s iconic coconut cake to their doorstep from Goldbelly. The food delivery site is home to almost 1,000 vendors and (so many super-famous and beloved) restaurants, which means you’re likely to find something for any and every kind of appetite, like this Nutella panettone from Settepani. I pulled up to Thanksgiving with this handsomely packaged dessert, and both the freshness of the pastry and intensity of the hazelnut-chocolate treat (there are what I would describe as “swaths” of Nutella inside) kept a dozen of us happily nibbling all week.

Because everyone loves the ham-bearer

No one likes schlepping a big old ham home from the supermarket, but everyone loves eating it — especially during the cozy months. Why not be the savior of the holiday feast, and send an easy-to-slice, boneless ham straight to your in-laws’ doorstep? This half-size beauty comes from Snake River Farms, which uses small family farm hogs of the coveted Kurobuta (Japanese for “black hog”) breed to achieve a marbled, succulent ham, and costs under a hundo but makes an ideal holiday-dinner showstopper.

A decadent dessert for the vegan and gluten-free cousin

Visiting a Milk Bar location kind of feels like living inside a box of Funfetti cake mix (read: delightful), and the NYC bakery, reputed for its rich and playful desserts, really delivers for the gluten-free and/or vegan folks with this Crunch Pie. As the bakery’s site explains, “[we fill the] smooth chocolate shell with a crunchy combo of peanut butter and toasted rice cereal, and top off with a salty-sweet chocolate-peanut coating.” Milk Bar also offers both flexible and scheduled deliveries, so you can ensure it arrives in as little as one day.

Flowers for the dinner party

Food people are sensory people, and a winter-themed floral bouquet can make their day. Bouqs’ holiday offerings run the gamut of cottagecore arrangements (see: these effortlessly elegant red and white tulips) and more robust holiday bouquets like the punny Pining For You, a dramatic assortment of red spray roses, white pinecone, cedar, and protea.

The coolest food subscription gifts

A pint-of-the-month subscription

The family-owned, Santa Barbara, California-based McConnell’s ice cream has been around since the 1940s, and while its classics continue to hit the spot (the denseness of the Sea Salt Cream and Cookies is perfectly matched by its creaminess and scoopability), it also packs some excellent limited-edition flavors and drops; I keep it on my radar for holiday offerings (Reindeer Tracks rocks) to its collaborations with other iconic SoCal sweets slingers (don’t miss the See’s Candies ice cream collab, which includes flavors such as Vanilla with California Brittle). Treat your giftee to a new flavor every month from the family-owned creamery with this subscription service, and then invite yourself over for a tasting.

For the natural wine snob

Every friend group has one: the wine aficionado who talks about “murky, flirty oranges” like a millennial Frasier Crane. Give them a subscription to Mysa’s natural wine club, and you’ll forever be on their good side. Each box is a mix of red, white, sparkling, and orange wines from small and indie wineries, which they’ll love to explain to someone at their next jazz-electro smallpipe concert at Pioneer Works.

Trade Coffee specializes in supporting independent roasters in the United States, and it offers a variety of subscription boxes that will deliver a fresh bag of coffee every two weeks to your lucky giftee; choose from a rotation of light, medium, or dark roast beans, or (my personal favorite for the random coworker you got for Secret Santa), the company’s bestselling bean subscription box.

This chef-developed meal service (will make their life so much easier)

I was a meal-kit service skeptic for a long time, but then I remembered it’s not 2003 and there’s a lot more on the docket than just frozen pasta. CookUnity, for example, has found a niche in providing meals that are developed by a collective of decorated chefs, and cooked fresh by their team before they ship out to your giftee. I tried the service during a particularly busy week, and I still think about the cheesy beef picadillo by chef Anthony Nichols. If you know someone who truly loves food but could use a break from cooking this holiday season, offering even a week’s worth of meals for the household (you can customize your frequency and portion needs) can be a big help.

Flamingo Estate’s tastemaking seasonal subscription box

Flamingo Estate is the dreamweaver behind unforgettable pantry goods like Pamela’s Pickles, (developed by none other than Pamela Anderson herself), a candle that smells like Sant Ambroeus’ iconic prinsesstårta cake, and a luxurious seasonal subscription box where every single goodie feels lovingly curated. This season, the Los Angeles-based lifestyle brand has managed to box up a White Lotus-level vacation to Bhutan with a coffret of Himalayan honey infused with coveted cordyceps sinensis and rare black turmeric, Bhutanese chile paste, a hazelnut chocolate spread made with Bhutanese ingredients like Timur peppercorns, and even more extra-special treats.

Give the gift of a digital class

If they make a yearly pilgrimage to Chez Panisse

A live, Zoom-in Ethiopian cooking class

Eleni’s Kitchen has been a Portland, Oregon staple for traditional Ethiopian food for almost a decade. Uncommon Goods offers a live digital cooking class with its chef, Eleni Woldeyes, that teaches your giftee how to make authentic Ethiopian dishes. As one student of the experience writes in their review on the site, “I loved the flavors, patience and structure of the class. It was easy.”

The best food and restaurant gift cards

Last but not least, let’s hit the gift card aisle. It used to be that you had to haul yourself over to a brick-and-mortar location to scoop a gift card, but now you can send your giftee the card instantly and digitally, along with the promise of Taiwanese dumplings, heirloom tomato hand soap, Le Creuset finds from Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table – you name it.

The gift of perfect xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung

Give them the gift of settling the bill at Din Tai Fung, the iconic, Michelin-starred Taiwanese chain whose soup dumplings have famously mastered the so-called “golden ratio” by being folded between 18 times to achieve that delightfully thin, aesthetic wrapper. An evening of xiao long bao and a pear-lychee martinis? Truly a gift worth remembering.

A shopping spree (or guaranteed slam-dunk treat) at Williams Sonoma

Can’t decide between gifting your loved one a monogrammed steak brand, a Christmas tree focaccia, or a Dolce & Gabbana pasta tin? Let them choose their own adventure with a Williams Sonoma gift card.

There’s something for everyone at Sur La Table

If you love cooking, eating, or throwing dinner parties, Sur La Table is the spot for sourcing all the cookware, tools, and gadgets you could ever need — and it always has great sales.

They’ll want to frame this gift card from Flamingo Estate

Yes, it’s a physical gift card, so you still need to get it shipped — but Flamingo Estate, as with everything it makes, has designed an aesthetically gorgeous and trop chic card that feels ceremonial and premium.

Check out the rest of Eater’s holiday gift guides here.