Reddit reviews Fusionbrands 15-Inch Silicone Food Loop Trussing Tool, Pink, Set of 4

One thing I like to bring to parties is ploughman's lunch on a stick -- cubes of apple, different cheeses, wedges of egg, cubes of bread, pickled onions, gherkins, grape tomatoes, etc, on skewers. Also obviously good without the sharp stick in it, and nice because you can just grab at whatever pieces you want to eat together -- cheddar and apple, brie and bread and pickle, egg and pickle, etc. Pretty balanced meal, pretty tasty.

When my kid was learning to eat I made tonnes of "pizzas" that were mini pitas with pesto (less messy than tomato sauce, and less likely to have one big thick mouth-burningly hot glob), lots of chopped veg, and enough cheese to glue it all together. I'd bake half-way, wrap, freeze, and toaster oven them, and they were pretty addictive and I ended up eating a lot myself and bringing them out as finger food for friends.

If it would make it easier for him to eat a wrap or burrito it's pretty easy to find little silicone food ties these days.

If he's an asparagus fan, do remind him that it is correct to eat it with your hands...

A lot of it will be pretty boring, but, you might check out forums for parents doing "baby-led weaning." (There's one on here -- /r/BabyLedWeaning.) Which is: not spoon-feeding your baby, not using mush/purees, but giving them stuff in a shape they can easily grasp and gnaw away on. Since you can only serve so many cucumber sticks, tomato wedges, peach slices, etc, before going crazy, some parents get pretty creative with ways to make the family dinner something that's easy to pick up and eat out of a hand with minimal dexterity.

Oh, and, not a full meal, but a nice side/snack: 1" or so rounds of cucumbers partially hollowed out, with egg salad spooned in.

OK so I love gadgets, especially kitchen gadgets, and I try very hard not to get carried away with buying small appliances and such. Please accept my apologies for the wall of text.

• Favourite gadget - Well first up has to be my Thermomix, because it cost more than two weeks' wages (and it's awesome). It's a high powered food processor and blender that also weighs, steams, and cooks things, and I use it almost every day, multiple times. Currently it's used a lot for bread dough and soups, and chopping and blending things of course. I use it to steam about a dozen eggs at a time as well (in their shells = hard boiled but somehow better). I don't use my immersion blender any more (though I used to love it), but I still use my bullet blender to grind coffee. I use my slow cooker regularly for beans and stews, and it broke the other day, so I need to get a replacement. The electric pressure cooker I have doesn't work properly so I'm thinking about getting a combo to replace, but might just end up going with the slow cooker. I don't use the pressure cooker very much (maybe because it doesn't work very well? Considering getting a stovetop one).
  
• Cyber Monday recommendation (actually not a recommendation, more like my own wish list items!) - maybe the Anova for home sous vide? I would love one of those! Along the same lines as the combo slow/pressure cooker, the Instant Pot 6-in-1 cooker seems to have gotten some good reviews. I guess good cast iron is probably the opposite of anything cyber? :) I would recommend that everyone has a slow cooker!
  
• Brands - I like Good Grips as well, but can't really think of any particular brands that I go with regularly. I can say that my parents' Kenwood stand mixer has been going strong since the 70s, so if I were in the market for one I might go with an old refurb rather than a new one (I have heard that brands like KitchenAid are less buy it for life than they used to be). I have heard wonderful things about Le Creuset's products and customer service, but they are a bit out of my price range (says the girl with the Thermomix).
  
• Random gadgets - ones I never use that are ridiculous pieces of plastic are a pineapple corer (works well but I never buy whole pineapples) and a potato slicer/microwave chip rack (fiddly and makes about 12 chips at a time). Ones I use occasionally but can recommend are silicon food loops and the ice orb (combination ice tray and ice bucket). I really like the latter because you can make multiple batches of ice cubes and keep them covered. My SO hates it because he finds it really difficult to get the ice cubes out. Oh I also like those silicon mats that you can use for rolling out pastry and dough, and I have these brilliant sloped cutting boards that save juices from getting all over your countertop, and one side is labeled 'cooked' so you can keep your raw meat on the other side. Can't believe it took me so long to find something like that. I found a cheaper version of the Joseph Joseph multi cutting board if anyone is interested: here.
  
• Random observation - some gadgets seem to be seasonal in the way I use them (e.g. ice cube tray and blender in the summer for making smoothies, slow cooker in the autumn and winter for making stews).
  
• Edit - this was not the best thread for my wallet. I have just ordered a bunch of stuff for the apartment that I did need, but...hmm. The kitchen stuff I bought was a little basin that attaches to the outside of a cupboard for mid-prep rubbish (which I have wanted for a while), as well as a couple of different bowl covers for microwaving/storage purposes. I'm going to see how those go to see what style I like. Hopefully I'll end up using them regularly. Other stuff was little things that I've needed but never gotten around to getting, like a doormat and a toothbrush caddy. Oh and a hot water bottle because my apartment gets super cold in the winter.