Is the way to your heart through your stomach? Then read on! Valentine’s Day is almost here, so we’ve rounded up the best of the best presents for the food lover in your life. Whether you’re planning to woo a special someone with a romantic gourmet gift, you want to treat a friend to something thoughtful and tasty, or you simply fancy buying a little something for yourself, there's something to suit every taste and budget.
Ah, the Swizzels Love Heart – the ultimate old-school way to impress your crush. Want to give a nod to nostalgia with your Valentine’s Day present this year? Head down to Home Bargains (or go online) and nab this jumbo milk chocolate upgrade on the classic fruity sweet. Though big and bold, the ‘for you’ message isn’t over-the-top romantic, so it’s a great option to gift to friends, family members and love interests alike. Plus, it only costs £2.49. That’s less than your average Valentine’s card (and we know which one we’d prefer to get through our letterbox).
Who needs roses when you can treat your loved one to a bouquet of a dozen doughnuts instead? This year, Crosstown’s limited-edition Valentine’s Day treats include Rose & Lychee, Chocolate & Passionfruit, Chocolate & Cherry Kirsch and Strawberry Liqueur doughnuts – and with three out of the four flavours being vegan, they're doughy delights everyone can enjoy. Boxes start at £35, while individual doughnuts can be purchased from Crosstown's London stores. Perfect for a special occasion, we think these little babies would make a great Valentine's Day dessert.
Chocolate or ice cream? With the latest collaboration from Tony's Chocolonely and Ben & Jerry's – which has dropped just in time for Valentine's Day – you don't have to choose! Say hello to two new Tony's chocolate bars: Dark Milk Brownie Chocolate Love-A-Fair (inspired by Ben & Jerry's classic Chocolate Fudge Brownie) and White Strawberry Cheesecake Chocolate Love-A-Fair (based the ice cream brand's famous Strawberry Cheesecake). For an added sweet touch, you can personalise your bars online for £6.
Elegant, sophisticated and downright delicious, Niederegger’s dark chocolate marzipan hearts are a romantic take on a classic German confectionery treat. Looking for a smorgasbord of chocolate-coated flavours? Try the prettily packaged Desserts Edition Hearts Gift Box, available at John Lewis. A sure-fire Valentine’s Day hit, this charming pack of marzipan nibbles is filled with tantalising varieties like vanilla toffee, cheesecake, double chocolate and caramel brownie. Fun fact: marzipan is said to be an aphrodisiac…
When your spoons and eyes meet as you share an iced treat, that’s amore. Why not add a little Italian flair to Valentine's proceedings this year with a heart-shaped gelato cake (£35) from renowned gelateria Badiani? You can choose from two tempting flavours – pistachio, and hazelnut chocolate – and each one comes with a softer-than-soft sponge base. For a smaller sweet snack, opt for a Pinguino: a heart-shaped gelato lollipop encased in a white chocolate and strawberry-flavoured shell. At £5 for one or £8 for two, there's no excuse not to.
If your true love has always been tea, why not treat yourself to a delectable romance-themed brew from the award-winning mixologists at Bird & Blend this Valentine’s Day? Their limited-edition Love Potion is all you’ll need to cast a sweet spell that’ll really warm your cockles; infused with chocolate, strawberries, rose petals and actual love heart candies, it’s comforting, floral and seriously sippable. To give your concoction a twist, you could try making a Love Potion latte with a shot of vanilla syrup – it’ll turn pink as it brews. Magic!
We're not talking about the chocolate versions (this time). The truffle experts at TruffleHunter have a selection of fabulous, umami-packed truffle products that would make a brilliant gourmet gift for your savoury-loving sweetheart. Take their truffle tagliatelle, for example: it's the perfect ingredient to take your romantic night in to the next level. From truffle crisps to truffle oil and truffle seasoning sets, there's an elegant gift option to suit every budget.
The cheesiest Valentine’s gift of them all! If the object of your affections is more of a cheeseboard person than a lover of sweet desserts, treat them to a sumptuous delivery of 100% British cheeses this 14 February. Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses’ letterbox-friendly offering comes complete with Blacksticks Blue (a creamy blue cheese), Button Mill (a moreish, soft cows’ milk cheese), Sunday Best (an award-winning hard Lancashire cheese), a jar of Tracklements Sticky Fig Relish and some Peter’s Yard crackers. Pair with your favourite bottle of red, and there you have it: the perfect date in a letterbox-sized parcel.
Breakfast in bed is an absolute must on Valentine’s Day – and with a month’s worth of Nespresso-compatible coffee pods, a bag of Islands Chocolate’s 65% Dark Chocolate Buttons and two fabulous canned MOTH Drinks cocktails crammed under the lid, this bumper bundle from Caravan Coffee Roasters ticks all the boudoir-bound boxes. The gift itself is worth £33, but if you use the code CARAVANPODS at the checkout you can get it for just £10 (while subsequent coffee orders will cost £14.25 each). WARNING: the set contains a few raunchy items too, so be sure to read the description before ordering. Saucy!
For a sweet, lip-smacking treat that’s far more thoughtful than your average box of chocolates, surprise your special someone with a Valentine’s-themed fudge tasting menu from Fudge Kitchen. Inside the box you’ll find nine individual squares of fudge in a range of indulgent, sophisticated flavours; think blackcurrant and liquorice, chocolate with pink Himalayan salt, millionaire’s shortbread, rhubarb and custard, and more. The creamy, sugary cubes are made in small batches and handworked to the perfect taste and texture, so you know they’re made with love.
Bring your partner’s childhood dreams to life by treating them to a slice of the most famous chocolate cake in history: Bruce Bogtrotter’s outrageously decadent chocolate cake, immortalised in the 1996 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda. GET BAKED's now-viral 24-layer BRUCE chocolate cake can be shipped nationwide, so no one is safe from its extreme levels of deliciousness. With a slice this tall and thick, there's more than enough to share – but we'll understand if you don't want to.
For a truly one-of-a-kind gift, turn up the heat with this luxurious Champagne Citrus Hot Sauce from Eaten Alive, the award-winning fermented foods producer. The base of the sauce is made using aged and fermented Lemon Drop Chilli, which is blended with aromatic yuzu juice and preserved lemons and limes before being topped off with Champagne. It's an opulent delicacy that any hot-sauce connoisseur will certainly appreciate. The 100ml bottle comes in a foil-embossed gift box with a branded pourer and hand-written bottle number. Swish!
Pull out all the stops this 14 February and present them with an indulgent chocolate selection box from the luxury confectioners at Farhi. The Praline Foiled Hearts are a scrumptious choice for chocaholics, while the Belgian Chocolate Ganache Selection Boxes are filled with tangy fruit-flavoured ganache centres that will delight adventurous palates. If you can’t decide what they’d prefer (or you secretly want to try both for yourself), you can buy a mega assortment box crammed with Foiled Hearts AND ganache-filled treats.
Treat your best friend this Galentine’s Day with a delivery of Bite Size Before Guys cookies – a £25.99 box of 50 bite-sized, American-style treats in a range of best-selling flavours – from Blondie’s Kitchen. Coupled up? Show your partner you care by sending them a giant cookie with a heartfelt personalised message on top. You can get all kinds of flavours, from ones studded with Lindt chocolate chunks to ones adorned with red sugared hearts.
Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day… whatever you’re choosing to celebrate this year, there’s one thing that’s sure to make it sweeter: a box of oozy, gooey stuffed cookies from the handmade vegan cookie specialists at Floozie. You can choose from seven outrageously good varieties and build your parcel just the way you like it (our favourites include the Chocolate Chunk, the Peanut Butter & Jam and the Celebration Cookie, a pink bake filled with homemade raspberry jam). For a snug tête-à-tête, snag a box of six.
Why send a card to your Valentine when you can post them a fabulous, fully-loaded vegan brownie box instead? These limited-edition bakes are the latest in Cake or Death’s range of fresh, tasty mail-order treats – and with a mini Jammie Dodger proudly perched on top of each one, they’re sure to give you the V-Day munchies. The brownies themselves are decadently fudgy, with raspberry jam swirls and plenty of dodger pieces packed into the mix. For a final flourish, you can add a postcard (or specially designed Galentine's card) with a personalised message.
If your partner loves cooking, you'll knock the ball out of the park with Staub’s new stackable sets, which start at £279. These enamelled cast-iron pans will literally last a lifetime, and the fact that they're stackable means they'll take up less storage space – every cook’s dream. Staub also has a gorgeous Valentine’s Day collection, which starts at just £19.95 for a mini cocotte (perfect for a chocolate souffle). There's also a cherry-red cast iron fondue set for £169, which would be just the thing for a Valentine's night in.
Fancy restaurants and romantic candlelit dinners are all well and good, but if you’re after a more hands-on foodie experience this Valentine’s Day, why not get creative and try out BakesterBox’s at-home baking kit? This little box of joy comes crammed to the brim with all the dry ingredients you’ll need to make a delicious marbled chocolate and praline cheesecake, plus simple step-by-step instructions to follow for baking success. If you need it, BakesterBox will even send you the cake tin! It’s practically foolproof, and the end result is so decadent that Mary Berry herself would be proud.
When it comes to cake, more is more – and The Original Cake Company’s Valentine’s Chocolate Truffle Cake Selection is jam-packed with enough of the sweet stuff to set practically anyone’s heart aflutter. Open up the gift box and you’ll find not one, not two, but NINE varieties of mouth-wateringly delicious truffle cake, from classic chocolate to fudgy brownie. Each tasty slice is topped with a patchwork of sugar hearts, caramel, and milk and white chocolate drizzle, and there’s even a few Rolos thrown in for good measure. The only question is: who will get the last one?
Know someone who’s partial to a biscuit with their mid-morning brew? Give their daily cuppa a serious injection of Valentine’s Day joy with a personalised sweet treat from Honeywell Bakes. There are options to suit every taste, from cute hedgehog and otter-themed varieties to flowery creations, jars of baked hearts and even a full English breakfast rendered in biscuit form. Want something truly ‘cracking’? Plump for the heart piñata, which you can inscribe with your message of love. Give this fabulous biscuit construction a bash and you’ll release a shower of tasty edible sprinkles.
Now this is a gift that'll warm hearts, hands and pretty much everything else! Perfect for a lover or a Galentine's pal, The Knoops Valentine’s Gift Set can be found in stores and online, and includes a tube of award-winning 43% milk chocolate flakes, and a pack of the fluffiest limited-edition gourmet strawberry marshmallows. The combination of flavours is truly delicious – a bit like sippable chocolate-coated strawberries.
For an irresistibly sweet, satisfyingly crunchy gift that’s sure to send your loved one head over heels, try Biscuiteers for size. The luxury biscuit maker has a huge range of hand-iced Valentine’s bakes on offer this year – but our stand-out favourites are the 'You're Cracking' Letterbox Biscuits. Open up the beautiful hand-illustrated gift box and you’ll find three eye-catching chocolate biscuits, each one featuring perfectly piped designs, courtesy of the icing experts at the Ministry of Biscuits in London. They’re (almost) too pretty to eat!
Light up some candles, open a bottle of wine and avoid the dreaded restaurant crowds with a sumptuous meal kit for two from Farmison & Co. Created using sustainable products, the fuss-free kits contain everything you need for a gourmet night in, including sides and sauces. There are three varieties on offer: The Couples Truffled Chicken Box (with delicious, ready-to-roast ballotines), The F&Co Steak Frites Box (complete with peppercorn sauce) and The F&Co Steak Bordelaise Box (with to-die-for dauphinois potatoes).
Can't make it to Paris for Valentine's Day this year? Then do the next best thing and treat yourself – and your partner – to a quintessential gift from the city of love. This year, iconic French patisserie, Ladurée has launched an exclusive Valentine’s Day collection of delicious pastries and macarons, including an exquisite new flavour: passion fruit and sweet clover. The 'Mon Chou' macaron gift boxes start at £25 for a sweetly wrapped package of eight.
Beautifully made, fabulously functional and inspired by an original design dating back to 1874, Peugeot salt and pepper mills are iconic – and these chic, glossy red editions are just the thing to give your Valentine’s dinner table a frisson of French style. The steel mechanisms inside the mills come with an adjuster button, which you can twist to change the texture of your seasonings in a flash. Plus, with a lifetime guarantee, you’ll be safe in the knowledge that your favourite grinders will be helping you serve up flavourful treats for years to come.
Say it with flapjack! These chewy, oaty bakes from the award-winning artisan flapjack makers at Flapjackery are an inspired way to proclaim your warm and fuzzy feelings. You can choose from a box of eight or a box of 12 but, whichever size you opt for, you’re guaranteed one XXL millionaire flapjack plaque inscribed with your sweet message of love. The rest of the flapjack flavours are up to you; pick and mix your favourites from the likes of clotted cream fudge, milk chocolate orange, cherry Bakewell, lemon drizzle and rocky road.
Whether you’re planning on spending Valentine’s Day with your beau or your bestie, cocktails are always a good idea – especially when you can sip on a tasty selection in the comfort of your own home. Enter: Whitebox Cocktails’ brilliant mixed drinks six pack. Delivered to your door, this boozy hamper is stuffed with classiest of pre-mixed tinnies, from the bittersweet Pocket Negroni to the juicy Classic Cosmo and the frog-adorned packaging of the ‘Squeezy’s Margarita’. Drink them chilled from the can, or bring out your best glassware and impress your date with a garnish or two.
Can’t get a reservation at your favourite Vietnamese restaurant this Valentine’s? No worries. Phomo is here to help! This brilliant meal kit company’s Valentine’s Day packages contain everything you need to prepare a gastronomic Vietnamese experience at home – including a delicious pho main, tasty starter, romance-themed biscuits and all the tempting extras (hello prawn crackers, dipping sauce, and award-winning pak choi greens). All you need to do is choose whether you want a vegan, chicken, surf ‘n’ turf or meaty version. If you want to go all-out, you can opt to add ceramic pho bowls, chopsticks and spoons to your order too.
For the Gromit to your Wallace. With a pleasingly large 200g truckle of classic Yorkshire Wensleydale, two heart-shaped, waxed truckles of Yorkshire Wensleydale and Cranberries cheese, a jar of Rosebud Preserves Sticky Fruit Chutney (made specifically for pairing with the aforementioned cranberry cheese), a pack of moreish Cartwright & Butler Oatcakes AND a bottle of Prosecco hiding under the lid, the Wensleydale Creamery’s glorious Valentine’s Day Gift Box is every cheese-lover’s dream come true. Light the candles, cue the music, grab a cheese knife and go crackers.
Another wonderfully cheesy Valentine's gift idea that's guaranteed to make your partner melt, this luxurious hamper from award-winning Snowdonia Cheese Company includes two mature cheese wheels (one Red Leicester, one Mature Vintage Cheddar), a tangy Rhubarb & Gin Chutney, buttermilk crackers, dark chocolate sea-salted caramel pearls and a smart Welsh slate serving board – a lovely keepsake you can use for future date nights.
There’s no better excuse for a spontaneous G&T than Valentine’s Day – and if you want to make your celebratory tipple a truly special one, try mixing it up with Ramsbury Single Estate Spirits’ award-winning gin. Want to go one step further? Treat yourself to Ramsbury’s Gin & Glassware Gift Set, which contains a 70cl bottle of the gin and two fabulous Copa de Balón green-tinted glasses. Serve with a slice of apple and a sliver of lime, and you’ve got yourself an Instagrammable treat that’s sure to make your followers green with envy.
A presentation box full of gourmet goodies is always a safe choice for a food lover, and this adorable heart-shaped hamper from Cartwright and Butler is packed with everything your beloved's heart might possibly desire. The limited-edition gift set includes Butter Fudge, Strawberry & Clotted Cream Fudge, Chocolate Wafer Crispies, Strawberry & White Chocolate Biscuits and even a bottle of Prosecco. The weather's still a bit too cold to take these treats outside, so why not host an indoor candlelit picnic on a cosy blanket instead?
Ask any chef, and they'll tell you that the most important kitchen tools are well-kept, sharpened knives. Dull knives make your life harder, and can also be dangerous. So, this Valentine’s Day, why not treat your partner to a sharpener that'll keep their knives in tip-top condition? This knife sharpener from HORL has a clever rolling mechanism, which means you can get optimal sharpness in just a few movements.
24 expert knife tips to save you time… and save your fingers
Salcombe Distilling Co's fabulous Salcombe Gin Gift Hamper is filled with everything you'll need to make homemade G&Ts your Valentine will love. There's a full-size bottle of your preferred Salcombe Gin, a pair of copper tongs, two gin glasses, eight Fever-Tree Premium Indian Tonic Water cans and a Salcombe Gin jute bag, to boot. To make your gift extra special, you can even personalise your glasses through the award-winning distillery's engraving service.
The Valentine's gift to end all Valentine's gifts! This wonderfully extravagant bundle has been designed by Edinburgh hotel House of Gods, famous for its exuberant, hedonism-themed bars. It contains a classic espresso martini mix, a chic cocktail shaker and glasses kit, and a box of handmade chocolates. But that's not all. The box also includes a voucher for an overnight stay for two at the hotel, and an invite to the all-inclusive 'Locked In Like I'm Famous' experience. Better dress to impress!