The Gift Your Foodie Friends Hate Receiving Over And Over

If you have a friend who's a major foodie, they probably seem like a pretty easy person to buy gifts for. After all, who doesn't love a new cutting board, some cute baking mixes in a jar, or some decadent flavored oils? The problem is, if you're thinking that these make great gifts for the foodie in your life, chances are everyone else in their life is probably thinking along the same lines. 

After attending culinary school and realizing that a lot of the kitchen items she owned were essentially useless, Becky Duffet from Kitchn tossed out a lot of things, including some gifts that her friends kept giving her over and over. Among these, she wrote, were novelty baking pans (like a specific mold for making homemade Twinkies) and a marshmallow injector thing Duffet claims she never used once. She also disposed of tons of spatulas, in case you were thinking that might be a good gift idea.

One thing that Duffet and foodie Sam Worly from Epicurious both agree has to go are goofy, frilly aprons. "Please stop giving me frilly vintage aprons," begged chef Anna Stockwell. "I already have 10 of them, all of them gifts, they don't actually cover much. They're just cute. And you can only get so far in life with cute." 

Worly then suggested that if you really insist on buying someone an apron, get them a good sturdy one that's more functional than frilly — and Duffet agreed with this. "I like aprons in solid colors and sturdy materials," she explained. "And kind of like with underwear, I pretty much want to pick them out for myself" (via Kitchn). 

If you're looking for good gifts for your foodie friends, Duffet recommends fancy baking chocolate or vanilla. Epicurious also releases various gift guides for foodies, full of cool ideas that food lovers will absolutely fawn over, like an adorable basket backpack for farmer's markets and picnics.