Mother's Day is almost upon us – what gift will you give mom this year? If your mother is a bit food-obsessed (like us!), we've found a few unique, totally inexpensive (but still luxurious) gifts that Mom will definitely love! Take a look at our Mother's Day gift guide, then add your own ideas. Most importantly, have fun and celebrate all the hard work and wonderful things moms do!

Why does it seem like everyone is crazy about mug cakes, mug brownies, mug pies, and just about every other dessert in a mug these days? Well, as with everything else that fills our overpacked lives these days, it's all about convenience. So besides using your mug as the keeper of the sacred magic known as coffee, you can also use these sometimes silly and wittily decorated cups to make your favorite desserts in mere minutes! It turns out that the ambitious mug is one of the best kitchen tools ever and happens to be the perfect vessel for creating desserts, quickly, without a lot of fuss or muss.

Here are a few of the fabulous (and fabulously simple) mug desserts you can make in the microwave in a matter of minutes. Bon appétit!

CAKES:

Most health and nutrition experts agree that Americans should increase their consumption of fish. Fish are high in protein and low in calories, cholesterol and saturated fat. Some varieties also are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been found to decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke. Because of these health benefits, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015 recommended that adults eat 8 ounces of fish a week. Americans currently eat only half that amount. But which is better – farmed or wild fish?

It's Superbowl time! February 5th will be the day to gather round the TV and cheer on your favorite team with your friends, and Superbowl snacking is an integral part of the Superbowl experience. Melty, cheesy, gooey dips...salsa and chips...wings...appetizers galore...it almost beats the holidays when it comes to food. It's also a day of many, many less than healthy foods. Splurge days are totally okay (and a must!) but you can save yours and have it all with these healthy AND delicious snack ideas!

Omelets are one of the most amazing meals around – you just really can't go wrong with eggs! And while they're good, plain and simple, sometimes we prefer to jazz ours up. We feature many different omelets on our menu from the good 'ole cheese omelet to our Mexican salsa omelet. There's always room for improvement though, so here are a few condiments that will upgrade your Top Chef omelets and take them to the next level!

As the year ends, we at Top Chef Meals want to sincerely thank you for choosing to eat with us in 2016. We greatly appreciate our customers and the valuable feedback provided throughout the year - feedback we've taken to heart and for which we are grateful. We hope you'll continue sharing your thoughts with us in 2017, as we work to make our meals even better and more delicious.

Let's talk about food waste. Every year between 30-40% of food in the U.S. goes to waste as it makes its way through the supply chain—that’s equivalent to two out of five bags of groceries never making it onto your plate. Unbelievable, right? Especially because consumers don't even realize they're doing it a lot of the time. But those random slices of bread and eggs that are a bit past their expiration date add up. Then consider this - food production uses 10% of our total energy budget, 50% of our land and a whopping 80% of all freshwater consumed. In fact, producing the food consumers throw away generates more greenhouse gases than most entire countries do. So as consumers we are not just being wasteful, we're hurting our environment too!

In this day and age, the less stress the better! Top Chef Meals was created with that goal in mind – with our meal delivery system, you can take comfort in knowing your elderly parent, friend or family members, AND yourself are taken care of every night – keeping delicious, healthy, easy and convenient meals on the table, delivered right to their door! How can we remove stress from your life? Let us count the ways...

We talk a lot about the pros and cons of ordering from meal subscription services here at Top Chef Meals – everything from FAQs to how to choose the best service for yourself and family – because we want you guys to have the best meal experience you possibly can, all while getting in great nutrition. We know you've heard it before, but proper nutrition and eating the right foods, will affect your health (positively!) in so many ways. Unfortunately, however, as a nation, we are increasingly eating more processed foods. Our supermarkets are full of convenient packaged foods that appeal to our taste buds, but compromise our nutrition. And it's easy to fall into a pattern of eating fast, convenient, prepared food, especially in our often frenetic lives.

Forget the teaser prices and slick marketing pictures, you want a company with the food quality, ethics, culture, delivery methodology and costs that suits your needs.

Food Quality:  Slick Marketing vs Realistic Food Pictures