This is a compilation of the best gifts for vegans this year. Though that is certainly not all it is! This list of ideas is perfect for any foodies, kitchen gadget lovers, vegetarians, nutrition nerds, home chefs, and healthy eaters in your life. And, since we’re all spending more time eating at home these days, this food-focused list is especially apt for 2020 (and 2021, it seems).
About this List
- Everything is under $100 and most items are under $30!
- Focused on food, nutrition, home cooking, and making your time in the kitchen a bit easier and healthier.
- Perfect for birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, housewarming, hostess gifts, etc.
- With the focus on food, tea, and coffee, some of these ideas would also work as a bereavement gift.
- While many people send fresh flowers and fruit baskets, a nice basket of dry goods is a thoughtful gift that can be enjoyed a bit later.
- These gifts are all kitchen- and nutrition-themed, so they are easy to mix and match.
- Items were selected based on what I use in my kitchen, with an eye toward healthy materials (like bamboo and stainless steel) whenever possible.
Meant for the following people in your life:
- Vegans and vegetarians
- Healthy eaters
- Foodies
- Kitchen gadget lovers
- Nutrition nerds
- Eco-conscious consumers
- Those struggling with their health
- Those struggling to cook for themselves
- The person who has (almost) everything
Why do you Need this Gift List?
Because gift-giving is hard! There are so many gifting occasions, and we all want to give the perfect gift, don’t we? But what do you buy for the person who has everything already AND doesn’t give you their wish list?
Sometimes you come up with great gift ideas. A gift that’s perfect. A gift that the recipient never knew they wanted. Huge win! Other times, you may completely miss the mark.
Are you struggling to find the right gift for someone in your life? Here are some great ideas to get you started!
Versatile Options for Everyone on Your List:
Instant Pot
My favorite kitchen gadget! The Instant Pot is amazing for oil-free cooking, hands-off cooking, and batch-cooking. It’s really an amazing way to cook: no supervising the pot or stirring required!
Since the 6-quart version seems to be the most popular size in cookbooks and on blogs, it is the size I recommend for gifting. (See my Instant Pot recipes, for an idea of what this multicooker can do!)
Perfect for: The person who doesn’t know how to cook and has been subsisting on a mixture of takeout, freezer meals, and peanut butter and jelly during quarantine! Also perfect for experienced home cooks who like to cook in batches, those who have little ones underfoot, and those who just can’t be bothered to cook on a weeknight. Basically, the Instant Pot is one of the best gifts for vegans and almost anybody on your list. There’s just so much you can do with it. 🙂
Silicone Baking Mats
These baking mats are perfect for healthy baking and roasting. They allow you to cook without oil, which makes pretty much any meal healthier. They also clean up super easily, so you won’t have to spend as much time in the kitchen. In addition, if you’re an eco-conscious consumer, you’ll love that these mats will help reduce the need for parchment paper.
Perfect for: The home cook who has almost everything. The person in your life who loves roasting vegetables and making cookies. A family member that uses lots of oil. These mats are something you don’t realize you need until you have them. (Or at least, that’s how it was for me!) Gift one of these mats to help someone in your life eat healthier, with less cleanup!
Tea (or Coffee) Themed Basket
Is it any surprise that many vegan foodies are also into coffee and tea? Put together a selection of teas, coffees, and herbal infusions for your next gift basket! This type of basket is fun since your recipient will get to try some new items. It’s also a relatively easy basket to put together, even for someone whose tastes you don’t know well.
Try including a variety of teas, including white, green, matcha, and hibiscus. For some less popular tea varieties, try including Pu-erh (an acquired taste!), rooibos, or honeybush. Or, of course, there are always sampler packs that do the work for you!
You can also add these items to your gift basket to round it out. It’s always nice when a food-focused basked has at least one tangible and non-consumable item that will stand the test of time. 🙂
- A tea infuser
- A coffee pour-over device
- A mini milk frother
- A coffee scoop (this version is double-sided; one side is a scoop and one side is a clip for the top of your coffee bag!)
- A pretty glass teapot
Perfect for: The coffee or tea lover in your life, of course. The person who likes to try new foods and flavors. Someone you want to think of you every morning when they’re brewing their first cup. The person who is working from home and misses all the free drinks they had in the office! All of the add-ons listed above are small space-friendly and relatively inexpensive.
Specialty Beans, Grains, and Spices
Food gifts are always in season and appreciated. Everyone needs to eat, after all. Pick a few economical foods (like regular beans and long-grain rice), a specialty item (like Arborio rice or heirloom beans), a lesser-known seasoning blend (like za’atar), and a fancy spice (like saffron). Pack these items up in a basket or a large casserole dish and it’s instantly super fun and festive.
Perfect for: The person who has everything, someone who lives in a small apartment and doesn’t have room for gadgets, or someone whose kitchen you don’t know much about. I think this is one of the best gift ideas for vegans who eat healthy and unprocessed foods. Best part? You won’t have to make a return because they already have the same one already. 🙂
Best Gifts for Sustainable Vegans:
Reusable Bags
These reusable bags are high-quality, zero-waste, and versatile. Avoiding plastic sandwich bags is a simple way to reduce your plastic consumption. These bags are dishwasher- and freezer-friendly, stain-resistant, and BPA-free. They also seal really, really well. In fact, this gallon-sized bag keeps my homemade bread soft and fresh for a full 5 days.
Perfect for: Someone trying to be more sustainable, someone on a tight budget, or someone who freezes fresh greens to make smoothies. These bags are versatile and almost anyone can find a use for them though! Also, you can pretty much never have enough of them, so even if your gift recipient has a few already, a few extra never hurt.
Bamboo of All Kinds
Do you know how amazing bamboo is? For starters, bamboo is a grass that grows extremely quickly. Way faster than “regular” wood. We can also harvest bamboo without killing it–it will simply keep growing. For bamboo gift ideas, try the following:
- Cutting boards
- Not-your-average recycled bamboo measuring cups and spoons (these are on my wish list this year!)
- Toothbrushes
- Food storage containers
- Tea organizer box
- Sheets made of bamboo
Perfect for: Anyone, really. Bamboo is one of the best gifts for vegans, eco-conscious consumers, and those interested in sustainability. Bamboo is especially great for anyone trying to remove plastics from their kitchen or trying to create their “adult” kitchen. Bye, college-friendly hot-pink. Hello, calming bamboo neutrals.
Thrive Market Subscription
This fabulous online marketplace is membership-based. They have a huge variety of foods to choose from, including their own in-house brands, as well as a great variety of hard-to-find-in-store brands. Thrive places a huge focus on sustainability, and all their orders are carbon-neutral! In addition, for each membership purchased, one membership is donated to a low-income family.
To get 25% off your first order, use this referral link. To gift a yearly membership to a friend, use this gift card link. You can also choose to include a shopping credit with your gift card. Best part? It’s all electronic. Thoughtful AND easy, with no concerns about shipping delays. 🙂
Perfect for: Anyone who has a dietary restriction, no matter how small or large. This is one of the best gifts for vegans and gluten-free eaters, but it’s also perfect for anyone trying to eat low-sugar, low-FODMAP, GMO-free, etc. At a time when we are all eating at home more often, new foods and those that get delivered right to your door are truly perfect! They also sell eco-friendly and safe beauty and cleaning products.
Best Gifts for Vegans (& Anyone Else) who Enjoys Reading & Learning:
How Not to Die
This was the book that really changed my life! It helped me through an extremely difficult health crisis and got me started on my plant-based journey. Written by Dr. Michael Greger, this book doesn’t claim that you can live forever, of course. Instead, it outlines the leading disease killers in the US and explains what causes those diseases. We’ll all die, but we shouldn’t have to lose limbs due to uncontrolled diabetes or lose our loved ones prematurely because they didn’t know how bad the bacon really was for them. There’s also a related cookbook!
Perfect for: One of the best gifts for vegans and anyone you care about! Perfect for those interested in health, nutrition, or our global health crisis. Great for any doctors or nurses in your life, someone caring for a sick relative, or someone who has a chronic health condition. Though the book’s title sounds a bit depressing, this book is anything but. It is refreshing to find that so many of these horrible diseases that take our family members from us can be arrested and reversed. There IS hope. There IS a roadmap. You do have power over your health and wellbeing.
How Not to Diet
I don’t think I can say enough great things about Dr. Michael Greger! In addition to a full overview of the current literature, this book also includes easy diet tweaks and actionable steps that can be put into practice with relatively little effort. His evidence-based approach to diet guidelines and his penchant to cite directly to his source materials is a breath of fresh air. When everyone is trying to sell you on their new weight-loss secret, Dr. Greger is looking out for our health and donating all his proceeds to charity. There’s also a brand-new, accompanying cookbook.
Perfect for: If you know someone who goes on an unhealthy crash diet every January, gift them this book based on actual science! Of course, explain to them that you care about them deeply and you want to help them with their goals, not that you think they SHOULD diet!
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: Young Reader’s Edition
Michael Pollan’s books are just plain great. He has a slightly comic voice, takes deep dives into a variety of topics, and shares stories and experiences directly from his sources. His books are reader-friendly and his love of learning and passion for food shine through in all of them.
This book in particular is very engaging and easy to understand. Do you ever read books that lead to more questions that you then need to Google? Well, this book anticipates your questions and answers them in the next sentence 99% of the time.
Perfect for: Inquisitive minds young and old! Everyone needs to eat and food plays a central role in our lives. This book makes you think about important issues you’ve likely never considered before. If you know someone who is starting to be more environmentally conscious or someone who has been dabbling in veganism/vegetarianism, this book is for them. It’s also great for anyone trying to reduce their exposure to toxic pesticides or trying to eat more sustainably/locally/organically. Perfect for beginners and experienced health nuts alike.
Fiber Fueled
Written by a gastroenterologist and lauded by many leading plant-based doctors, this book is a current look at nutrition science in 2020. Written to combat the misinformation circulating about keto and paleo diets, it seeks to provide the real facts about health and nutrition. If you’ve been hearing all kinds of buzzwords like prebiotics and now postbiotics, this book will help you cut through the noise.
Perfect for: People with food sensitivities, high blood pressure, or diabetes. Those struggling with stomach troubles, those unsure of what to eat in our current food landscape, and those who try a different diet every year, will all find some good information here.
Best Gifts for Vegans Who Love Produce:
Grocery Store Gift Cards
A gift card to a grocery store might not feel exciting, but I think it’s one of the best gifts for vegans and everyone on your list during this strange year. We’re all spending a lot of time cooking for ourselves and many of us feel stuck in a cooking rut. A gift card is a great opportunity to splurge a little on some items that you wouldn’t normally buy. More practically, a grocery store gift card can help a lot when budgets are a bit tighter.
If you go this route, either know where the gift recipient shops already or find out which grocery stores are near them by mapping their address. I am forever partial to Trader Joe’s.
Perfect for: The person who can spend hours browsing the grocery store aisles and reading the stories on the packaging. The person who has been relying a bit too much on takeout and needs a push to get cooking more often. The person who has been struggling financially. Anyone who is extremely particular!
Fresh Produce Delivery
Subscription-based produce delivery services have been a huge help to me and my family during this extended quarantine! It helps us stay safe, keeps more people out of the grocery stores, and ensures that we’re relying on healthy, fresh foods for the bulk of our meals.
Perfect for: You! Unfortunately, these particular services are not currently offering gift cards and thus aren’t a great gift idea for others (yet). However, I can’t recommend them enough for encouraging healthy eating.
If you want to gift yourself a healthy selection of ever-rotating produce, use the referral links below for $10 in grocery credit. You can choose to schedule deliveries every week or every other week. There’s no fee to sign up and no recurring subscription fee, and you can cancel or skip a week whenever you’d like.
Practical Kitchen-Related Stocking Stuffers:
As the pandemic has continued, many of us have come to realize that we’re more fortunate than we previously thought. In many cases, we have realized that we have more than enough already. Perhaps we’ve disovered Marie Kondo and are trying to reduce, rather than increase, our housewares. In some cases, we are struggling to make up for lost wages.
With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense to focus on small, less expensive gifts this year. Thoughtful gifts that can help improve daily at-home life and brighten up their day are perfect. There are quite a few inexpensive and small items included in the list above already. Here are a few additional items they never knew they needed, but would likely be very appreciated:
Best Gifts for Vegans, Concluded:
I hope that this gift guide has been helpful! Whether you’re buying a gift for “a vegan” in your life, or just someone who enjoys spending time in the kitchen, this list has something to please everyone.
When you gift something related to food, the kitchen, or nutritional health, you are truly saying you care. These types of gifts are less about the latest hot items and much more about the comfort and warmth of a well-stocked kitchen and a welcoming home!
Share, Pin & Let Me Know Your Thoughts
So there you have it. The best gifts for vegans and many others in your life. Please let me know in the comments if this gift guide was helpful to you!
Please also pin this post for the next time you need some gift ideas! Thank you for reading and happy gift-giving!
therosetoast.com says
Great ideas, thanks for sharing!
Plant-Powered Cook says
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment!