Whatever they darn well want.
How does that place stock everything known to man???
Kidding…sort of.
While I’d like to see more dollars stay locally in your own community, I love Amazon quite a bit. Who can argue with its convenience and price?
One thing I love about Amazon is the wish list feature – I’m always forgetting little things I want to buy/look at/consider someday, and having a wish list online that I can add to as I’m inspired by a post or whatever…well, it’s just inspired.
Kitchen Goodies
I’ve never loved shopping, and especially now that I’ve birthed a third child who hates riding in a vehicle, I really try not to run all over town as much as possible. So yeah…for gifts, books, little appliance or kitchen tool purchases, and a handful of other things, I hit Amazon quite frequently.
I think it’s a great place to find (or at least compare reviews on) foodie gadgets and kitchen tools, such as items I’ve grabbed or “wish listed” in the past year:
- kitchen scale (finally bought one, haven’t used it much…need to bake more!)
- garlic crusher (on my wish list)
- apple peeler/corer/slicer (bought it for apple season and hardly had any apples…)
- metal spatula (new favorite tool – use it all the time on my Xtrema pan, my cast iron skillet, and my cast iron griddle)
- immersion blender (use mine all the time!)
- little bottles for making homemade vanilla extract
- small bamboo cutting boards
Cookbooks
Of course, every foodie needs some good cookbooks. You’ll want to start with these if you have a Kindle:
And here are some others I’ve enjoyed recently or have on my wish list:
- Ladled – love! See my review on Amazon.
- Nourishing Meals – also use weekly! See my Amazon review here too.
- Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook
- Crock On! for Kindle – the easiest, yummiest meals! I reviewed this one too.
- Gut and Psychology Syndrome – on my wish list, but why is it so expensive? I’m being patient…
- Childhood Ear Infections: A Parent’s Guide to Alternative Treatments – also on my wish list, but I think I requested it from the library simultaneously.
- Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us – read just a bit and am fascinated. This will take a while to slog through, but I’m quite excited to get it sometime! I put this on hold at the library right as I placed it on the wish list at Amazon, too, so I figured someone would come through.
- and the classic: Nourishing Traditions
Food in the Mail?
And I’m not above buying food online, even though it still seems weird. Sometimes I can’t find something at our local health food store, and lo and behold, Amazon always seems to sell it. Other times it’s just easier to Amazon Prime it because I don’t have time to drive 20 minutes to a good store!
Here are some foods I’ve actually purchased in the last year or so or that are on my wish list:
- psyllium husks (for gluten-free baking) and psyllium powder
- stevia powder for my husband
- kelp (because everyone around here was out and so was I! I use it in bone broth)
Many people say that checking the price on staples and using subscribe and save is genius on Amazon…so get going on that price book so you know if you’re getting a deal or not!
The Random Items
Of course I’m going to list randomness….things I’ve purchased that aren’t kitchen-related but usually sort of natural living lifestyle:
And for the foodie blogger? I just got – finally – a real deal camera. I ordered this one with the extra lens:
Strolling Through the Aisles?
Shopping at Amazon is so different from shopping at a brick-and-mortar grocery store (or any store).
When you go grocery shopping, you usually check the sales, make a list, and follow it as you walk through the store. But you can also grab things on a whim or even wander the aisles and see what you can find.
At Amazon, you don’t exactly browse the aisles.
You need to know exactly what you want, search for it, and find out if it’s a good price. It’s imperative to know your price point when shopping online.
I grocery shop when I need food. I Amazon shop when I need something specific that I just can’t find (or don’t know where to look) somewhere else. Hence my totally random purchases that I just shared!
So whenever you see something you’re interested in, see if it’s at Amazon, save it to your wish list, and when you have $25 of free shipping items, then you’re ready to order without thinking or losing track of what you wanted.
What can I say? Amazon makes it easy…
See the rest of the series HERE, including Costco and Aldi, and more.
Tips for Savvy Amazon Shopping
- Amazon Mom – if you’re buying anything baby-related, like maybe you feel like I do about cloth diapers even after reading my cloth diaper review, and you use disposables, Amazon Mom will give you discounts AND free Amazon Prime for a whole year. You have to order something every 2 months, I think, but if you’re doing diapers, it’s perfect. Worth looking into for sure – it’s free!
- Subscribe and Save – for anything you can use regularly, be it those diapers above (double savings!), whole wheat flour, snacks for school, vitamins, or whatever, if subscribe and save is an option, it’s a good idea. We use cloth diapers most of the time but take a Sunday Sabbath from them, so I started with my subscribe and save set to every 6 months, and then when I needed diapers, I’d pop in and “add an extra shipment.” Once I figured out how much we really used (a box every 2 months) I set it for that.
Finally, here’s a way to get free money at Amazon:
Earn Amazon Bucks for Doing Your Foodie Research
I do plenty of “Google searching” online, and if you’re into the real food thing, you’re probably always coming across some new information you need to look into.
The What Does a Real Foodie Buy at…? posts just the last two days have already generated the following on my “to research” list:
- BPA vs. BPsomething else in cans – what is worse?
- radiation in Alaskan seafood
- is cinnamon hurting my liver?
- does Costco irradiate their produce?
Instead of a Google search, though, I always use a Swagbucks search. I have my default search in the top right of my browser set to swag-search, and every couple times I do a search, I earn some “Swagbucks.” It doesn’t really take any extra time, and I can redeem them for gift cards to a whole ton of places.
One of the best Swag deals is the Amazon gift card, which is 450 Swagbucks. You can only order 5 of one item per month, so I just set a calendar reminder to order as many as I can every month, and by Christmastime, I have lots of “free money” on Amazon.
Once you’re swagging along, you get even more bucks if you refer other people (yep, like I’m doing right now). Email your friends who would appreciate this, tack a permanent note on the end of your email signature, or do a Facebook shoutout. You can even include this code until the end of May – you’ll get the referral, and they’ll get some Swag bucks. It’s a win-win.
When you do search, you typically get an average of 10 bucks every 5-8 searches, I’m guessing. To increase your chances, whenever you’re going to a website – say Kitchen Stewardship®, just off the top of my head – instead of typing it in the URL line, Swag search for “Kitchen Stewardship®” and then click over. It takes an extra 5 seconds but maximizes your freebies.
Your turn! Do you use Swagbucks? More importantly, what are your most fun foodie finds on Amazon lately? (okay, fine, you can tell us about practical purchases too…)
Unless otherwise credited, photos are owned by the author or used with a license from Canva or Deposit Photos.
What is Amazon Prime actually? I will be checking out clicking on links of my favorite bloggers now that I know. I’m not familiar with Azure Standard, if its a store its not in my area, but if its online I’ll be checking it out. I also was not familiar with Swag bucks. I’ll be learning about that since I do purchase items from Amazon on occasion and I do subscribe and save on at least two items. Thanks for the great information
Amazon Prime gives free 2-day shipping and Kindle rentals, I think – it costs about $79/year. I don’t use it, but many LOVE it. 🙂 Katie
and free streaming video. if you have a kindle fire it is great for that but you can stream through a computer, or any device that will play movies and connect to the internet. the kindle rentals aren’t that great – you can only get one book a month and most of the stuff I read isn’t available due to the copyright laws and/or publisher requirements. However I buy enough that the free two day shipping negates offsets the annual price.
At the risk of being “political” –
I used to buy all of my things from Amazon – was a real addict to the site/business. That is, UNTIL they gave the highest donation in history to a gay political campaign to get gay “marriage” passed in Washington state after we (the Christian vote) got a referendum on the ballot to block it. Two and a half MILLION dollars buys a LOT of ads that looked very convincing. Sadly, Amazon is now on my boycott list and I’ve found other places with good prices and low, or free at a certain level, shipping costs and large selections of organic and gluten free foods (I eat no dairy, gluten, or soy but also eat zero chemicals – except what’s left on my produce after I wash it). Anyway, as a fellow Catholic, I do think you’ve mentioned you are Catholic – if not sorry – I’d recommend you join the boycott against Amazon – not build them up by including them in your blog post. It was hard to change – I loved the business practices of Amazon and the free shipping too – but we need to put our money behind our Faith walk. Can you imagine if every Christian boycotted Amazon how fast other companies would get the message to remain neutral in the culture wars?
Hope I didn’t offend, do love the blog – had to share about Amazon!
I enjoyed this article. You mentioned an Xtrema pan. I need to buy a wedding gift for my daughter and would like her to have a quality pan or two. I was thinking about LeCrueset skillet and dutch oven. Is Xtrema a better choice? Thx. 🙂
Pogonia,
Here are my thoughts on Xtrema:
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/05/20/monday-mission-share-real-food-with-others/
Because mine broke…I mgith say go with LeC!
😉 Katie
Thanks, Katie. After reading many reviews on Amazon about Xtrema, I was afraid of breakage. So had decided to go with LeCrueset. Altho…have been reading up on the Instant Pot and will think seriously about this when the new model comes out in July. 🙂
I’m so glad Lauren mentioned using Amazon for reviews. I agree wholeheartedly that there’s great value there. I enjoy using Amazon for Kindle books. Hate the online tracking of my purchases. I have lots of local sources for healthy and affordable food and ingredients so I don’t usually need to buy that stuff there. I got burned by a buyer and Amazon’s customer “no-service” recently when I tried selling books there, but may try again after I fully forgive. Use Swagbucks, too. It’s a pretty good search engine overall.
It’s a bit different when you’re overseas – obviously groceries are out, and often shipping on books is more than the sticker price! But Amazon is invaluable for reviews, for sure.
A note on your wish list books: The GAPS book never drops in price. I have it, I’ve read it (and reviewed the previous edition on Amazon!) and would suggest that, based on how much you already know about digestive health, you could request it from your library and then decide if you need a copy for the shelf. She’s also got one called something about your heart, which might have similar backgrounding but some new content – worth a thought. And Nourishing Traditions? Meh. Teeny tiny font, mega heavy book (so no one-handed reading while nursing, f.ex.), the recipes are mostly available online and the background is now pretty well covered by natural and ancestral health bloggers (such as your lovely self 🙂 ) so that might be another one to borrow first. Unless of course you have a compulsion to have the seminal titles on your shelf (for lending?). I *may* know a little about that.
Thanks for sharing about affiliate links! My husband JUST started a blog, so a few days ago, before we made a huge Amazon purchase, we found a link from your website. I wasn’t sure if that’s how it worked, so I’m glad to know it did. We buy almost everything from Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Azure Standard.
I shop on Amazon a lot and I’m an affiliate as well. I’ll have to remember next time to ‘bless’ you before I make a purchase 🙂 As much as I want to ‘shop local’, there are so many things not available nearby and I just can’t pack the kids in the car and drive an hour for a couple of items that I really need. I also really love reviews on Amazon, most of the time they are extremely helpful. In fact I always read the reviews before purchasing elsewhere if needed!
Now that my kids are out of diapers, I can’t do Amazon Mom, but we do Amazon Prime, and it is very worth it over the year, especially at Christmas. I buy GF Oats, Coconut Oil and other staples when I just can’t seem to get a sale at my local coop (though I do always try to shop there first, but sometimes the price difference is just too big to ignore). The Amazon app helps make it easy to compare prices on the spot. I just signed up for Swagbucks, and I recently signed up for the Amazon credit card, which earns 3pts for every dollar spent on Amazon (and 1-2pts for $ spent elsewhere). We pay it off monthly, so it just becomes a coupon machine… I sure appreciate all your hints! You know you are my favorite blog! 🙂
Hey, you should see if you have an Azure Standard drop in your area. I just clicked on the stevia link and that’s what I use and Azure has it for 8.75, of course they have tons of other great items, including organic produce for a fraction of what you’d pay at a health food store. Just thought I’d share 🙂
I’ll admit that I do on occasion shop Amazon because we live in a very little town far from everything. We have a JC Penny Catalog store is that gives you an idea. I try to grow or make most of what we use now. My Biggest issue with Amazon is I refuse to be tracked. I am tired of submitting to Govt and Cor. tracking of my spending habits in order to receive a small discount. Plus ultimately we are just sending the money to China it seems. That being said I did just get 12 groslch bottles and 25lbs of spelt flour on Amazon. slap my hand.
note to self…do not post when breastfeeding. so many typos.
Leah,
I grew up in a town that had a JCP catalog store…and they don’t even have that anymore, so I HEAR you!!!
Hmmmm re: tracking. Never really even gave it a thought…
🙂 Katie
Now we’re talking! 🙂 I do a TON of shopping on Amazon – for food, for gifts, for anything. And I’m cheap errrr, frugal, and I still buy Amazon Prime. Worth every penny.
Plus, I can buy things and not have to leave the house. And when you have kids, that’s worth paying EXTRA. Yeah, you heard me. I said it. I will pay EXTRA to not have to leave the house. Booya.
Not saying that Amazon is extra…just saying I would pay it if they were. LOL
I buy quite a few grocery items through Amazon (dried beans, Bob’s Red Mill items, peanut butter, special vinegars, real mayonnaise (with no sugar added!), to name a few). We are Prime members, as we live a long way from anywhere, and buy just about anything else you can think of from them too (tools, toiletry items, shoes, the list goes on). For the cost of the one year of Prime, I can’t go to any town more than twice, never mind the impulse shopping that always gets me when I am there. We love the streaming video too – we gave up our sat tv due to expensiveness! When I do go to town, the nearest ones are very small, and don’t carry much selection, and almost nothing organic, so despite an extra cost over prices in a larger city, getting it from Amazon is cheaper for me. By the way, what brand of peanut butter did you switch to after Sunland was recalled? I haven’t been able to find one I like nearly as well – I bought it from Amazon regularly, I couldn’t find it anywhere else.
Karen,
Mmm, Sunland was good stuff. We’ve used Maranatha, Meijer organic or M. naturals, whatever is in the fridge section at Costco (altho not organic), and I don’t even know the brand, but what I got at Country Life. We must not be picky – but some are def better than others. 🙂 Katie
I love Swagbucks. I do a lot of my Christmas shopping with the Amazon cards I earn from Swagbucks. I really need to look into the food sold on Amazon.
Love Love Amazon! Especially subscribe and save, they have lots of organic products, including dry beans, wheatberries, oats… I use the wish list for books, when I see something interesting online, I hop over to amazon to put it in my wishlist, otherwise I would never remember!
I live in a “banned” state, and amazon is the one who does the banning, not the state government. It’s a fight over sale tax laws. Anyway, now you know!
Ah, I see. Money talks.
I use Amazon all the time! Two products I always get there are coconut flour and arrowroot powder. I’ve never seen arrowroot powder in a local store, so even though I get 3 or 4 bags at a time on Amazon, the price is good and I’m never “out” of it.
Love it! They also very often (not always, but often) have the best prices I can find on things. Especially with super saver shipping..
I have a pretty intense love affair with Amazon lol. And let me tell you, the Amazon Mom discount program is seriously awesome. I was able to buy diapers and wipes cheaper than I could at Sam’s Club (just like Costco) and I found the recurring shipments to be really convenient, one less thing to think about. I don’t need Amazon Mom anymore but I still pay for the Prime membership every year. Our family orders enough that it’s way worth it just in the shipping savings. The streaming TV shows are nice to have too. You do have to know your prices when Amazon shopping though. Case in point, I almost bought a Step2 2-seater wagon that I could use at the farmers market but found it at our local Target for $10 cheaper, even with the tax. Katie, I’ll try to use your Amazon links now that I know you get a little perk from it! Also, thanks for the info about Swag Bucks! I’m totally going to check that out.