My Mom's Been Cooking and Baking for 35+ Years, and the Essentials She Swears By Are Up to 55% Off Ahead of Amazon’s Second Prime Day

Moms know best. And kitchen products are no exception for mine — after years of busy weekdays and fun weekend baking, she knows what pieces work for her. And if your mom is anything like mine, they probably also love a deal. The good news is, Amazon’s October Prime Day is coming up, and right now is the perfect way to outfit your own kitchen. It just so happens that a lot of my mom’s favorites are on sale, like knife sets and coffee makers that stand the test of time. Shop the pieces that she loves (and that helped form the baker and cook I am today) now, up to 55% off. 

My Mom’s On-Sale Kitchen Essentials 

• Le Creuset 7.25-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Signature Round Dutch Oven, $300 (originally $460) 
• Tramontina 8-Quart Covered Stock Pot, $91 (originally $140)
• Cuisinart Perfectemp 14-Cup Coffee Maker, $70 (originally $100) 
• Henckels Premium Quality 20-Piece Knife Block Set, $200 (originally $440)
• Pyrex 3-Piece Glass Measuring Cup Set, $21 with Prime (originally $26)
• Wilton Advance Select Premium Non-Stick Loaf Pan, $6 (originally $15)
• YellRin Magnetic Measuring Spoons Set, $13 (originally $19)
• Rabbit Original Vertical Lever Corkscrew Wine Opener, $29 (originally $50)

Le Creuset 7.25-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Signature Round Dutch Oven

Le Creuset’s Dutch ovens feel like they’re at the core of some of my best childhood food memories. My mom has had the one that has lived in our kitchen since the early 90s when my parents got married. Many chicken noodle soups, beef stews, and other cozy meals were cooked in the pot, which has been an essential for getting family meals on the table, since you can cook so many portions at once. My mom still uses and swears by the same Dutch oven, and would recommend any size or color on sale, since they’ll last for years, and have so much versatility —- they're compatible with any stovetop, and oven-safe up to 500℉. 

Tramontina 8-Quart Covered Stock Pot

Growing up in northern New Jersey in a half Italian-American family, it was always an absolute necessity to make our own sauce. My dad used to make it for everyone, with a rare base of ground meat. When I gave up meat around six or seven years ago, I stopped eating his sauce. For months I struggled to make my own consistently while balancing college, and eventually, my mom offered to make a meat-free batch for me. She’s been making it ever since (not just for me, though, for herself too). She uses stainless steel pots to cook sauce, since they retain heat well as we boil the batch for hours. My mom’s in the market to replace the one we’ve had for years and years, and has her eye on this Tramontina model. It’s a good price, comes with a lid, is a recommended brand from our tests, and has the perfect 8-quart capacity for big batches. 

Cuisinart Perfectemp 14-Cup Coffee Maker

I can’t overstate how much my family swears by this coffee maker — so much so that we own multiple models between mine for my future apartment, and the one in my family home. We’ve always had drip coffee in the mornings, and whenever we had it somewhere else, I remember my mom always saying “It’s not hot enough.”  She doesn’t ever complain about it at home, since this coffee maker allows you to customize the heat settings (for her, it’s on the hottest level). It has so many other perks: It lets you control the brew strength, never destroys the flavor of the coffee, allows you to pre-program brews in advance, and can keep the coffee warm for a couple hours. She’ll keep buying it over and over again, though it lasts for years and years, so that won’t be very often.  

Henckels Premium Quality 20-Piece Knife Block Set

Both my mom and dad have always valued good knives in the kitchen, and they’ve landed on Henckels knives for that reason. The block my parents currently have has been in their kitchen for as long as I can remember, honestly. She loves the set because they’ve lasted years without any signs of wear and tear. Plus, she likes having a well-rounded set for all of the recipes she experiments with, whether it's soups, salads, stir-fry, pasta dishes, and more. This set is 55% off, and has every knife my mom swears by, like the two utility knives, the santoku knife, and the bread knife. It also comes with a paring knife, an additional utility knife, a boning knife, a chef’s knife, a carving knife, plus a set of steak knives, a pair of kitchen shears, and a honing steel for maintaining their sharpness. For $200, it’s a total must-have. 

Pyrex 3-Piece Glass Measuring Cup Set

My mom is the original baker in our family, though, she’d probably say that my nana is. I have so many memories of my mom baking, whether it was cookies around the holidays or brownies for my friends and me. It’s the reason we have the three-piece set of Pyrex measuring cups — the brand has been well known for making the essential baking staple since for as long as I can remember. They’ve lasted for the decade (or more) since we’ve owned them, and we still stand by how much we love them. They’re sturdy, microwave- and heat-safe, plus the measurement markings are incredibly clear and easy to read. She uses them most for baking, but will also use the big one for making savory dishes like soups and stews, too. 

Wilton Advance Select Premium Non-Stick Loaf Pan

I can still remember the smell of my mom’s banana bread. The sweet, lightly spiced scent of it would crawl under the crack of my bedroom door as it baked. These memories alone inspired me to go to culinary school for baking and pastry, and everytime I came home from long weeks of classes, my mom would bake me a fresh loaf to take back with me. After decades of use, the pan my mom owns doesn’t even have branding on it anymore, though she’s fairly certain it’s an old version of this Wilton pan. With a 60% off discount, my mom is tempted to pick up a new one of her own. 

YellRin Magnetic Measuring Spoons Set

My mom is the one that discovered this measuring spoons set we both have come to love. It just makes things easy. They’re magnetic, so they fit right into the drawer and stay all together so you don’t lose any. But, they have the ability to come apart completely, unlike the sets on rings. It makes it easier to maneuver them, plus their dual sided design just adds to their versatility. You can go from wet to dry ingredients without needing to clean them. And one side is tapered, so it fits into smaller spaces easily. They’re a household staple she and I both swear by.  

Rabbit Original Vertical Lever Corkscrew Wine Opener

My mom truly cherishes a glass of wine. And despite all the years of cracking open her favorite bottles of Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc, she still hasn’t quite managed how to uncork it with a manual opener. But that’s what this nifty tool is for. She’s been using it for years and swears by it, since it completely takes the guesswork away. You just pop it on top of the wine bottle, and pull the lever down. Once you lift it away, it’s ready to drink with no mangled, half-stuck cork in sight. The 40% off discount on this model makes it  perfect to grab right now — and just in time for the holidays.