Espresso Machine:
Being honest, I am a coffee fiend. I love to have a nice Latte in the morning, maybe two, and sometimes one in the afternoon as well. This past year I cut out adding any form of sugar or syrup into my coffee and a regular French press coffee was just a little bland for my taste. I would find myself stopping to grab a Café Latte from my local coffee shops and still spending $5.00-$7.00 dollars each time. If I got one cup of coffee every day for a month I would spend at least $150.00. That wasn’t something I wanted to do.
My husband and I visited my mother-in-law last year in May and she had an Espresso machine. Hers was on the expensive side so I decided to look at something a bit cheaper. I found a $60.00 one on Amazon that I tried out but I did not like. It was cheap, didn’t froth the milk well and had a weird smell to it. Then I went to my local Walmart and found the Chefman Barista Pro.
The price tag for this was $139.00 but I was willing to pay for that once and use it to my heart’s content. I will say that I love this machine because it froths the milk and pours the coffee strait into a cup of your choice without me having to touch it. It has the options for Espresso, Cappuccino or Latte’s with single or double shots for each one and all you need to do is fill up the coffee area, milk and press a button. I use this machine daily, and I have been so impressed with how fast and easy it is to use.
Un-pasteurized Raw Milk:
I will start this one by saying that I am lactose intolerant and I never imagined I would be able to drink fresh cow milk without having a horrible upset stomach. Well praise the lord this was the answer to my prayers. There are many dairy farms in my local area, one of them being “Milk Barn Creamery”. I decided to give this a shot when my husband did a construction job on their property and brought some raw milk home. I was skeptical and worried that my stomach would destroy itself but I took a few sips and waited. Nothing happened! My stomach never hurt and I have not had any issues since. We also buy fresh cream from them to use as well as make homemade butter. I never would have thought in a million years that I would be able to enjoy milk and cream again but I am happy to report that Raw milk is the way to go! At least for me.
Dehydrator:
I started dehydrating things a few years ago and we had the old school round dehydrator that you stacked up and simply hit the “on” button. There was no temperature gauge or time setting and if you have ever dehydrated anything, then you know that that is a very important part of the process. In doing some research, I found the Cosori Food Dehydrator. I wanted something that would be compatible with fruits and vegetables, as well as meat and herbs.
This was the perfect machine for that. The cost was $160.00 and it came with 6 trays, 6 mesh screens and a fruit roll tray. Since purchasing, I have dried herbs, oranges, meat for my pups and lots and lots of hot peppers. You can choose your temperature and timeframe and once it is finished it will shut off. It has been very helpful in keeping my food storage growing with our home grown vegetables.
Laundry Drying Rack:
When washing laundry our dryer works amazing for getting all of our clothes and towels dry. Our comforters and large blankets are another matter. For one, most of these items are too big to fit into our dryer. We also didn’t have anywhere in our house to hang large items. I went on a hunt on Amazon to find the best clothes drying rack that wouldn’t take up a lot of space. Amazingly enough I found the Sillars Clothes Drying Rack. This thing is a game changer! It expands out to be 63 inches which is 5 feet and 3 inches. I can now hang two comforters plus another blanket up to try at the same time and once I am finished it folds up to a compactable and collapsible dream that I can store in my front closet. This Rack was $50.00 and worth every penny.
Peddle Bike:
Lastly, one of the best purchases I made last year was the Mini Exercise Bike. I purchased this bike when I had a knee injury and I could hardly walk without extreme inflammation and pain. I used this bike every single night for 3 weeks on a cycle of forwards for 10 minutes then backwards for 10 minutes. I worked my way up to an hour total and I still use it when my knee feels stiff and tight. It is also great when I want to get some blood moving to my legs but I also want to sit down for the day. I picked this mini bike up for $48.99 and I am glad I did. It helped me a lot with my recovery but also helps to keep me motivated even when I don’t want to be.
I hope that you found this list useful and that you possibly give one of the items a try, if you need them.They have surely helped me over the last year and I hope you find them just as useful as I did.
Cheers!