We live in a community without Big Box stores and while I support our town merchants as much as possible, you can’t always get what suits your family best. Enter Amazon prime and free shipping. If I’m sharing what I’ve bought, you can be sure that is has passed the test of rowdy kids and general (large) family mishaps and time.
First thing on my list of Amazon recommendations is this Popsicle Mold. It’s a workhorse! It makes a bigger than average popsicle and it makes 10 of them - none of this tiny six popsicle scene. The other thing is that it uses wooden popsicle sticks. The worst thing about popsicle molds is the kids not bringing back popsicle sticks, but with this handy dandy summer fun item you teach them to either throw them into the forest or shove them down into the lawn and they’ll compost into the earth. Seriously, we just love popsicles and make them all summer long.
Find it on Amazon Canada
Find it on Amazon USA
The second item I recommend is landscape cloth for your garden. It’s an investment but lasts a long time. First timearound I bought 100 foot rolls that were really expensive BUT this year I bought a 300 foot roll! This bad boy was considerably cheaper per foot. Mama can buy more plants with the savings. You need metal staples to secure it down, otherwise you will see it blowing across the cow pasture. You can get the staples on Amazon or, if you’re handy and have some metal, you can bend your own like my stepdad did for my mom. You won’t believe how much it cuts down on your weeding! Less weeding equals more time to eat popsicles.
Find it on Amazon Canada
Find it on Amazon USA
Next up is metal kebab sticks. Summertime grilling is so much fun and last-minute meals are quite often in the summer. I really hate soaking wooden kebab sticks, I never remember far enough ahead!- I also don’t like how they catch on fire. My kids think everything is better when you can eat it off of a stick. We highly recommend them, and being metal they wash up super easy. (I usually throw in dishwasher if theyre not too burnt on)
Find it on Amazon Canada
Find it on Amazon USA
Moving on, I’d like you to meet the stainless-steel sandwich container that Marius took his lunch in for years. We sometimes use it for packing snacks for ourselves but mostly it’s for Marius.
We’ve had these for about 5 years - they stand up really well…. Marius isn’t too gentle on things… so that’s saying a lot. Basically, it’s a two-layer container: the sandwich with bread and cheese goes in the bottom, the second layer goes on top and we put lettuce and pickles and things like that in there so the bread doesn’t get soggy. Or in the top we might put cheese and olives and salami and crackers in the bottom. Then the lid goes on with a couple of metal clasps to secure it. They’re really lightweight, hold a good-sized sandwich and are easy to clean. We have two of them so I can pack a lunch the day before when he’s using the other one. They’re not that expensive for stainless steel containers, very reasonably priced, definitely worth it.
This is an Ergo spout…... They come in wide and narrow mouth and fit perfectly on a mason jar. We use these all the time for milk (and lemonade and ice tea in the summer). One day they will have wide mouth versions and I cant wait because small mouth half gallon jars are hard to find!! I've also used it for salad dressing for a crowd and I'm thinking about trying it for maple syrup too!
There are always things I’ve purchased that get a lot of questions whenever they show up in my stories on instagram. One of those things is this great game called Ocean Bingo. The kids have had a ton of fun with this game as well as the adults. When my mom was here last she played with the kids and they had all sorts of little sayings that they had for the different sea creatures. The kids learned that “tuna fishing baby, ya!” was the one for the bluefin tuna or “Oh Christmas Tree Worm, Oh Christmas Tree Worm”…you get the picture. Great for all ages, the illustrations are well done, and as someone who literally grew up on the ocean…. who knew there were all those crazy looking critters under the sea!
Buy it on Amazon Canada
Buy it on Amazon USA
On a very the very practical side, we truly appreciate our stainless steel dish set - that appears to actually be a better price on Canadian Amazon versus the US Amazon. Go figure. We use these three meals a day. Table, dishwasher, cupboard – hit repeat. Sometimes just table dishwasher table. The plates and bowls are a great size for whatever meal you have on the go. I dont like how plastic kids dishes hold residues and shewy we seem to break the breakable ones!
Buy on Amazon Canada
Buy on Amazon USA
If you’ve been around here a while you’ve seen how much we love love love our whipping cream dispenser. We use raw milk mainly. Occasionally we’ve used coconut milk when we’ve needed it to be plant-based and it works every time. It might seem like a bit of a luxury item but it gives us another fun way to eat our raw dairy. And mama likes her raw dairy.
Buy it on Amazon Canada
Buy it on Amazon USA
Last thing is this knife. You will love this knife - we love this knife! Comes with a great case that can go through the dishwasher. Its not expensive, it holds an edge well, Marius finds himself reaching for it constantly and it lived on his belt for months in hunting and butchering season.
Buy it on Amazon Canada
Buy it on Amazon USA
Jenny
Thanks for always giving TESTED recommendations!
Laurel Lohman
Thank you!! I had been looking for stainless steel dishes and we just finished a Gather Round Unit on Oceans so the Bingo game is perfect!
Janine
Do you lay down planter fabric in between rows in your garden?
kateschat
No we usually do cardboard and straw between rows
cathrinenod
Thanks for all the recommandations! Funny to see Morakniv up here, we used it in my family since before I was born. They're great!
carrie
We love our stainless steel dishes. I have never seen a set like this before. We have cups from keen kanteen and a few other random places. Small bowls from Ikea. And for plates we have 2 size of pizza pans from a resturant supply store.
We use them for picnicing, bbq's, and the kids everyday dishes in the house. When we moved to a house with a tile kitchen they were a lifesaver (kids with glass cups and tile = broken glass). Definitely an investment but they are solid and will last forever!