Wednesday, June 1, 2016

15 Ways You Can Use 60 mL Syringes

In my basement, I have a cardboard box full of syringes stashed in a corner.  No, I'm not a drug dealer, these syringes don't even have needles.  I'm a former tubie mom (mom of a child with a feeding tube.)  My youngest son, Davy, had a G Tube for 18 months, but got it removed in September 2015, leaving us with a ton of extra tube feeding supplies.  So what to do with all those syringes?

15 Ways You Can Use 60 mL Syringes

However, I've found so many uses for the cath tip 60 mL syringes that I've turned into a hoarder and am praying I never run out.

I put together a list of ideas from me and a few other tubie moms of ways you can use 60 mL syringes.


15 Ways You Can Use 60 mL Syringes

1. Make fun pancakes
You can use a syringe to draw fun shapes on the griddle.  Just make sure your pancake batter isn't lumpy or it won't go through the syringe!

15 Ways You Can Use 60 mL Syringes

2. Fill cupcake or muffin tins
If you're like me, when you fill a cupcake tin with batter, it looks like you just dumped the whole bowl on the pan without paying attention to the holes.  Using a syringe ensures that all the batter will end up in the right place, and the cupcakes/muffins will be a uniform size.

3. Fill cupcakes (Tip from Jes)
If you have cupcakes that need to be filled with whipped cream or something, use a 60 mL syringe to fill them easily with no mess.

4. Decorate baked goods (Tip from Jes)
You can use a 60 mL syringe to "write" on a cake with no mess.  Just be sure there's no air pockets in the syringe, or you'll end up with a mini frosting explosion. :)

5. Fill water balloons and water guns 
Cath tip 60 mL syringes are the perfect size to fit in the opening of a small water gun.  Water balloons stretch to fit the tip of the syringe so they can be easily filled with water.

6. Turn them into water guns
This is one of my kids' favorite things about the 60 mL syringes.  They love squirting each other and straight up in the sky to see how far up it can go (and if you've ever vented a tubie who coughed or sneezed, you know how far that is!)  I give them each a bucket of water and a syringe, send them outside, and I don't see them again until they need more water.

15 Ways You Can Use 60 mL Syringes

7. Baste a turkey
Yup, I've used a syringe many times to baste a turkey or ham.  They also work great for getting some of the liquid out of the pan to make into gravy.

8. Make deviled eggs (Tip from Sara)
Need to fill some deviled eggs?  Use a 60 mL syringe to fill them easily!

9. Fill small containers
If you have a container with a small opening that you need to fill up, using a 60 mL syringe will make it super easy!  I use them to refill soap dispensers, lotion bottles, etc.  I make things for my family with essential oils and find that it's a lot less messy to fill tiny glass bottles with carrier oils if I use a syringe.

10. Water plants (Tip from Jackie)
You can either water a plant directly from a syringe or remove the plunger, push the tip into the dirt and then fill it with water.  That acts as kind of a slow waterer.

11. Science and art projects (Tip from Jackie)
Have a science or art project?  Yup, you can use a 60 mL syringe for that too.  The possibilities are really endless here. 

12. No mess applesauce and yogurt
This is the other thing my kids love using 60 mL syringes for.  I love that even my youngest can eat applesauce or yogurt without making a huge mess.  I had my nephews over for lunch a while back and served them yogurt this way.  They thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever.  And unlike the pouches of applesauce you buy in the store, these are re-usable.

15 Ways You Can Use 60 mL Syringes

13. Fill reusable pouchs
If you do have reusable pouches, you can easily re-fill them with a 60 mL syringe.   

14. Sauce dispensers (tip from Jackie)
Having a bbq?  Fill syringes with ketchup, mustard, etc. and set them out for a no-mess, easy way to dress up your hamburger.

15. Fix your car (tip from Denise)
Yup, you heard that right.  60 mL syringes work great for pulling oil out of an antifreeze reservoir-Denise can tell you this from experience.  Personally, I know nothing about cars and their engines, but I know my brother has told me that a 60 mL syringe would be useful for him when he's fixing cars.

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15 ways to use 60 mL syringes http://bit.ly/1Pk8UVK
  
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If you're a tubie family, I hope you just learned some new ways to use your extra syringes.  If you're not, I'm sorry you don't have any 60 mL syringes because they're awesome!!









This post is linked up at: 1. Comfort in the Midst of Chaos

4 comments:

  1. I really like using the syringes for pancake making and cupcake filling - making cupcakes without making a massive mess is the bane of my life!

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    1. I've avoided making cupcakes for years because of the mess! So glad we have 60 mL syringes now :)

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  2. My son is still tube fed (he's 18), and we actually get 30 of these little buggars per month. I turn them away when I can, but sometimes they get left at the door when we aren't home, and I have about 4 boxes in the garage! Thanks for the great tips--I'd be interested in hearing any others you have in the future, too!

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    1. I hope you can find a use for all those syringes! If you know any moms with little ones, they might enjoy having a few to play with!

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