New parents always appreciate the gift of homemade meals, but here's an idea for a gift that keeps on giving: a collection of your best slow cooker recipes and a new slow cooker, if you know your friends don't have one.

This idea comes from Anna of the blog Clementine's Produce and Provisions, via Dinner: A Love Story. When friends or family members have a baby, she gives them a booklet of her ten best slow cooker recipes, along with a slow cooker if she knows they don't own one. If they live in town, she also includes a couple frozen homemade meals.

As Anna says on her blog, "I love my dutch oven and braising, but when I was a new mom, being able to throw dinner in the crockpot in the morning was a godsend around 5pm later that day." If you want to get a little fancier, you could even make a few recipe booklets using a service like Blurb and have them at the ready for expecting friends or family members.

• Get Anna's 10 best slow cooker recipes: Top 10 Slow Cooker Recipes for Parents at Clementine's Produce and Provisions

What are your best recipes or gift ideas for new parents?

Related: 15 Splendid Meals from the Slow Cooker

(Image: Faith Durand)

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