If you were too intimidated to test your shopping prowess on Black Friday, the newest national holiday, or you are one of those procrastinating Santas (wind him up and watch him surf the channels until an hour before the stores close on Dec. 24), I’m here to solve your gift-list dilemmas.

The targets of this generosity and holiday cheer will be the foodies and other people who eat food who somehow ended up on your shopping list.

On an enterprise as important as this, it’s important to have a few ground rules. Bargains are good, as long as the gift doesn’t seem cheap or weird. If your gift might become a conversation piece (a.k.a object of humor) several hours into the recipient’s New Year’s Eve party, go back to the drawing board.

Second rule: If you buy an appliance that performs just one task, be sure the givee is interested in having that task performed. For example, giving a hotdog steamer to a vegetarian would be a bad idea. Yogurt makers, bread machines and panini grills all fall into this category. While they would be wonderful presents for the right person, the wrong recipient will immediately be hatching plans for regifting.

With that in mind, I offer the following list of practical gifts for people who spend varying amounts of time in the kitchen.

This year’s under-$50 gadget choice is a really good garlic press. What that means to me is a heavy-duty, stainless steel press that can go through the dishwasher and not corrode over time. Any detachable parts should be sturdy enough not to bend.

The choice: the Rsle garlic press, which boasts an integrated lever system. It is available for $34.99 from the Chefs catalog, (800) 338-3232. It’s worth noting that Chefs won’t charge shipping on orders of $99 and more.

A gizmo that can be had for under $20 is the Pasta Express, one of those as-seen-on-TV devices that probably comes with a set of steak knives, if you stay up until 3 a.m. and call the 800-number on the television ad. It is available online www.pastaexpress.tv for about $20 with a personal-size version thrown in. However, it is also being sold in area department stores for about $10.

This inexpensive gift is suitable for someone who doesn’t want to be hassled with boiling pasta. The contraption consists of an insulated cylinder with a mesh lid. You pour in boiling water, and in seven to 10 minutes your pasta has steeped and is ready to eat. If you spend too much time wondering whether you could achieve the same results with a Stanley thermos and a strainer, you’ll have to find something else to buy.

Two specialized appliances that you might not have considered are a rice cooker and an electric teakettle. Again, be sure your recipient drinks tea and eats rice. However, either of these gifts would be boffo for the right person. Depending on the brand, prices generally range from about $40 to $80.

A mildly extravagant trendoid gift this year is a set of Cole & Mason electronic salt and pepper mills. Electronic really means battery-operated. You may have seen these at upscale restaurants, where the waitperson doesn’t have to use wrist action to pepper your salad.

You can buy the mills singly for pepper only, or as a pair and also grind up sea salt. The price for a set comes in at right around $100. And they are going fast. As of this writing, amazon.com was sold out. Chefs still had them in stock, as did Williams Sonoma (www.wiliams-sonoma.com) and Tabletools (www.tabletools.com).