Wheel-y useful

Parents can always use a little more help, and the Urban Mule promises to lighten their load.

Urban Mule is a combination backpack and shopping cart that’s an earth-friendly alternative to using grocery store plastic bags. And it can transport a lot more weight than your hands alone, allowing city parents to stock up and reduce their trips to the market. When the backpack is converted into a wheeled pull cart, it can carry up to 100 pounds.

What sets the Urban Mule apart from its flimsy competitors is that it can be worn as a hiking-style backpack when it’s empty or when you’re carrying lightweight items. It has deep, zippered side pockets. Wear it to work, and shop on the way home, because it has matching wheel covers that easily cinch closed over the wheels, protecting your clothes from dirty treads.

It comes in five water-repellent colors: black, purple, red, green, and blue. Bungee cords, for attaching big awkward items like a family’s worth of toilet paper, are also included.

Urban Mule Backpack Shopping Cart, $59.99, www.urbanmule.com.