Custom Cookbooks are Personal and Inexpensive

With Mother’s Day quickly approaching and, if your family is like mine, birthdays around every bend, gift giving can, unfortunately, become a chore. The question every gift-giver asks is, “What do I give the Mom who has everything?” Well, if your recipient is a foodie, rest assured that they cannot possibly have everything, since most of their favorites are so darn yummy that they are gone before you can say, “What was that recipe again?”

Here are a few of my favorites for the foodie mom in your life.

Custom Cookbooks

Every family has a Great Aunt Sallie’s Chocolate Overload Cake, or that soup that grandma makes…what was it called?

Give the gift of time by recreating family memories of old in a custom cookbook (and by helping your recipient avoid that three hour long call to Cousin June just to get the exact cooking time next time they are cooking her famous lasagna). You can make it yourself with index cards and a holder or buy one pre-made, like Custom Cookbooks or Heritage Cookbook offers.

If your foodie is alone in her kitchen ventures, try digging around for recipes of her favorite sort on sites like Allrecipes.com, Vegweb.com, or your own favorite cookbooks.

Recipes in a Jar

While we would all love to get a plate of homemade cookies just about any time of the year, your long-distance foodie may not appreciate stale crumbles as much as fresh-from-the-oven. For the mom who lives far away or just prefers to make it herself, a recipe in a jar just may be the answer. Both inexpensive and heartfelt, by simply layering the dry ingredients into a jar and adding the instructions on a pretty note, you can give a meal of almost any sort – or, my preference, a special dessert – without actually having to make it. (Great news for kitchen-challenged gift givers!)

Kitchen Gadgets

Sure, a new spatula or dish towel might be practical, but this isn’t time for the ordinary. Why not give a gift she’ll never forget? To really go over the top, Demy offers a touchscreen recipe reader, aka, a Kindle-for-Cooks. Load your favorite recipes, and you suddenly have a touch screen cookbook/timer/conversion chart/ingredient substation/kitchen gadget of the gods.  At just under $200, it’s certainly not just another gadget.

For the foodie with a sense of humor, Think Geek is loaded with unique gadgets that will not soon be forgotten, many of which will make more of an impression on the recipient than it will on your budget. From the Pop Art Toaster leaving witty phrases and funny faces on the morning slice of bread (whole grain, of course) to the All Edges Brownie pan ensuring that everyone can have a corner piece, you aren’t likely to find a more memorable yet practical gift.

Trendy Kitchen-Wear

If the foodie Mom in your life truly does have everything, you really can’t go wrong jazzing up her apron stash. Don’t worry, these aren’t your grandma’s aprons- although some of them are definitely vintage-inspired. With bright colors, fun patterns, creative detailing and a unique flavor, trendy aprons can be found on both dedicated sites and individual etsy shops.

Photo Credit to Simon Howell