Best Food Subscriptions for Father’s Day 2023

One of the big differences between Beer Drop and other beer subscription services is that this one lets Dad pick the beer styles — hoppy, fruity, dark or Belgian. After he does that, Beer Drop will source interesting, smaller-batch brews from a selection of microbreweries around the country and send them out monthly. Knowing how picky some beer drinkers can be about style, this is the best way to get new and interesting beers in Dad’s hands that he’ll almost definitely enjoy.

There are a few levels of subscription but you can give Dad three months of beer drops — 10 beers in each — for $144. He’ll do the sign-up and selection himself and he’ll even get a free Hop Exploration Box with samples of hops to help bring the brewing process to life.

This excellent cheese subscription will net Dad a monthly case containing three different kinds of cheese and three specially curated goodies to pair with ’em. The cheeses curated by the service are mostly in the crowd-pleasing zone and not overly intense, so this makes an excellent gift for even a casual cheese taster.

One of my favorite Curdbox deliveries included 4 ounces each of an incredible Prairie Breeze cheddar, a creamy cow’s milk Toma by Point Reyes and a slightly crumbly cow and goat milk cheese from Central Coast Creamery. Plus, a jar of cherry spread, positively addictive sweet potato chips and a bag of crunchy craft popcorn. All this for $50 a delivery (or $48 if you prepay for three months) is a solid price considering everything you get.

Fuego Box isn’t new but it is a great idea and makes a perfect gift for the dad who is also a bit of a hothead (when it comes to food, that is). Fuego Box’s hot sauce subscriptions start at $13 a month — although $30 a month for three bottles is a much 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.

If it’s too late to plan a cross-country road trip to try the best eats in the land, Goldbelly has a backup plan and you’ll spend way less on gas. The three-month Best of Goldbelly subscription includes curated monthly boxes featuring truly legendary food such as southern barbecue, pies and baked goods from iconic purveyors around the country, including Magnolia Bakery and Russ & Daughters.

The Goldbelly subscription is $250 for three months of eats.

As a person who cooks a lot but doesn’t have a market nearby with a particularly good spice section, I know I would totally love getting this subscription box as a gift. RawSpiceBar will send 2 ounces of a spice or spice blend such as Indian garam masala or Japanese furikake. Plus, he’ll get monthly chef-tested recipes to make with each one, all for $12 a month. The best part is the spices come freshly ground — unlike most everything you get at the supermarket — and believe me, you’ll be able to tell the difference. 

If your dad (or the father figure you’re shopping for) loves cooking with new and interesting spices, this is a no-brainer. Even if he ignores the recipes and simply tries each spice sprinkled on a piece of grilled chicken every month, it’ll make cooking and eating that much more fun.

If Dad likes those salty cured meats, Carnivore Club is the way to go. This subscription box will include any number of salamis, meat jerkies, biltong and more. The smaller Snack Box is $40 a month and contains mostly jerky and smoked meat sticks. 

If you suspect Dad is looking to level up his kitchen or barbecue game, MasterClass would be a surefire way to do it. MasterClass offers a chance to learn directly under the tutelage of experts at the top of their field. From cooking classes from Gordon Ramsey to Texas barbecue secrets with pitmaster Aaron Franklin and dozens more, there’s nothing quite like learning to cook from a master.

This makes a perfect gift for the health-conscious dad who happens to be short on time or cooking skills. Pete’s won me over in a week-long taste test, notching its place as one of the best healthy meal delivery services I’ve yet to try. It may be healthy, organic food but Pete’s doesn’t skimp on taste. A few favorites I tried included a tender yellow curry pork cheek dish with peppers and onions, and moist thyme and rosemary-incrusted turkey breast with mashed cauliflower. 

Pricing and subscription: Depending on the meal plan you choose, your price per meal will change a bit, but most end up being somewhere around $14 a meal.  For more, read my full review of Pete’s Real Food.

When it comes to coffee, some folks are creatures of habit, while others like to try new roasts. If your dad happens to be the latter, Trade sources some of the best beans in the business from indie roasters and will ship him new varieties at a frequency of your choosing. This is another one I’ve tested firsthand and the results were great. Expect a nice variety in flavor profiles, but it’s also easy to update and customizable in case you want something different. Communication from the brand is clear and concise and the beans are fresh as heck, with some arriving as few as two days after roasting. 

Subscriptions start at around $15 for 12-ounce bags and go up from there with lots of options, some as low as $6 per week depending on how fast he goes through those beans. You can sort through Trade’s a la carte gift options, including individual bags or bundles that start at $48.

Varieties of cheese are seemingly endless, which makes this cult food the perfect subject for a subscription. Iconic New York cheese shop Murray’s Cheese has a few subscription options to choose from if you want to hook Dad up with some ridiculously good cheddars, bries and manchegos every 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 and can confirm this is as smart as any food club to join.

The Japanese have snacking down to an art form. Bokksu knows this better than anyone, which is why it took the top spot in my ranking of the best snack boxes. 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. The best part about these high-end snack packs is that if you’re not familiar with them, most of the Japanese treats are new and not the same old stuff we have here. Inside the unmistakable bright 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 KitKats. What’s more, Bokksu includes some fun info and literature explaining a bit about each snack, including some historical and cultural context.

Bokksu boxes start at $40 per month for subscriptions and $50 for a one-time send.

If Dad is a true master of the grill but his selection at the local market is limited, a box of high-end meats is never a bad call and your gifting options abound in 2022. We’ve tried ButcherBox a few times and it stands out as the best service for gifting a meat box or subscription for the grill guy in your life. 

Other online butchers specialize in niche beef such as KC Cattle’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 your favorite carnivore.

Everything I’ve ever ordered from Fulton Fish Market online has been fresh, and when you’re talking seafood that’s about as important as it gets. For someone without a good fish market in their neighborhood, some quality fish-by-mail from this legendary sprawling New York fish market is a total treat. 

Wary of frozen fish? Well, unless you live near a dockside fishmonger, the stuff you’re buying at the market has likely been frozen and then thawed. That’s all to say, fish that is caught, flash-frozen, packed and sent — like what you’ll get from Fulton Fish Market — is probably fresher. Fulton has a massive selection of a la carte seafood so you can order fish by the piece or a curated bundle. 

You can also spring for the seafood subscription, also known as The Fish Drop. Fulton will send a monthly, bimonthly or weekly curated box of fish starting at $85 a month for four 6-ounce portions.

Wine may seem like the fallback gift with a, perhaps rightful, reputation as impersonal. Winc, like a few of the other flashy new 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 $39 (plus $9 shipping) for three bottles a 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?

For fans of whiskey, Flaviar is the way to go. This fine booze membership club entitles your giftee to one premium bottle along with a themed tasting box every quarter. Plus you’ll get access to rare, exclusive bottlings, tailored recommendations and invitations to unique members-only events. 

Flaviar is $190 for six months or $300 for a full year, which amounts to four bottles along with four themed tasting flights housed in cool little vials along with those member perks.

If something sweet is the way to Dad’s heart — specifically dark chocolate — Bar & Cocoa chocolate club will send some of the best bars in the biz. Four full bars per month, to be exact. A three-month subscription starts at $129 total but you can spring for a six- or 12-month run and any of them can be canceled at any time. 

And we’re not talking mass-produced Hershey bars here either (no offense). Some of B&C’s premier chocolate producers include Amano, Chocolate Madagascar and A. Morin, all of which are ethical, sustainable and eco-conservative. 

Like I said — the good stuff.

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 cocktails to jerky and good old-fashioned snacks, too. You can also peruse the gifts, where there are even more options like a Backyard Bonfire Bites box or a Bloody Mary Cocktail Kit.

It’s likely that the chef on your list has knives, and just as likely that many of them are dull. Sharpening knives at home by hand is a bit of a tricky business, so I say leave it to the experts. The startup Knife Aid sends you a package in which you can safely pack and ship knives back to be sharpened by pros. I had this done and the results were impeccable; the blades came back in just over a week. 

You can send a gift card so they can decide when the time is right, or go ahead and order a sharpening and the initial box will just show up in the mail. It’s $59 to have four knives sharpened (less than $15 per knife) but if you consider that a knife only really needs this kind of intense treatment a few times per year, it’s absolutely worth it.