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Post by happyOCgirl on Apr 15, 2023 19:10:13 GMT
So, our weather says it’s time to cook outside! I have a giant propane BBQ that does a great job. However, I am now a one person family - it is big enough for a family of 10, and when the lid is open I can’t reach it because I’m too short. I was going to put it out at the curb for free and get a smaller…something.
What brand or type do you prefer? I have used traditional charcoal (least favorite), propane, and pellets. I know they will all be going on sale soon, and I want to be ready to buy if the price is right!
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Post by busy on Apr 15, 2023 19:21:26 GMT
I really love our Traeger.
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Post by elaine on Apr 15, 2023 19:31:03 GMT
Traeger - hands down. We also have a propane Weber Genesis that we’ve had for 20 years and it is going strong. However, since I bought the Traeger 2 years ago, that is pretty much all we use.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Apr 15, 2023 20:00:09 GMT
Big Green Egg. Love it!
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,975 
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Post by pinklady on Apr 15, 2023 20:11:53 GMT
I have a 4 flame Brinkmann Grill (propane) that I got at Home Depot probably 8-10 years ago that is still going strong. I did have to buy replacement flame tent cover things last week because mine were rotten. It's big enough to put a basket for veggies and cook burgers or chicken at the same time.
I'm not into expensive name brand stuff so this grill has worked just fine for me.
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Post by whipea on Apr 15, 2023 20:37:11 GMT
Traeger.
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Post by alsomsknit on Apr 15, 2023 20:43:09 GMT
We have a Big Green Egg. It’s awesome!
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Post by Lexica on Apr 15, 2023 21:16:15 GMT
I really love our Traeger. This is what I will probably be getting this summer. I had the Weber charcoal that had the gas starter added to it. It also had a table surface that made it easy to set your things on while you cooked. I got rid of it during the move though. I did like the flavor of charcoal cooking, but I’m getting lazy in my old age and decided to go for something a bit easier to use. |
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,101
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Apr 15, 2023 21:16:23 GMT
I have a Kamado Joe “Big Joe.” I love it for smoking meat, baking pizza, and just plain old charcoal grilling.
I also have a Blackstone griddle that gets almost daily use in the summer. I prefer it over charcoal grilling most of the time. Smash burgers are awesome, and my DD can do the most delicious steaks on the flat top. It’s also fun to cook breakfast on the deck—bacon, eggs, and pancakes or French toast all cooking at the same time.
My goal this summer is to learn to do hibachi on the Blackstone.
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Post by katiekaty on Apr 15, 2023 21:43:29 GMT
I recommend keeping and jus cooking extras and using the leftover meals in meals for other days in the week. My MIL does this. She’s also just barely 4’7” tall now, age has taken a couple inches! She has gotten a short lightweight length of chain and a few heavy duty te wraps the connect the ends and put the chain the handle of the grill top. She is then able to reach the chain to pull the lid down.
She makes grill chicken with a side first evening, then uses some for grilled chicken on top of a grilled sala, the chopped up for grille chicken salad for sandwiches , and the rest sliced and heated with the small size jar of Alfredo sauce and small serving of fettuccini noodles. She stretches out beef the same way: sliced for a salad, in a veggie sou (frozen veggie mix plus beef both and chopped beef), with a gravy mix for roast beef sandwiches, and reheated in foil with cut up potatoes, carrots, etc and seasonings for a foil pack dinner.
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luckyjune
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,687
Location: In the rainy, rainy WA
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Post by luckyjune on Apr 15, 2023 23:57:35 GMT
We bought the small Traeger from a neighbor who was upgrading. I LOVE that smoker! We stopped using our BBQ and just recently got rid of it. The smoker does amazing things to meat, from burgers to sausages to pork loin to fish. DH has smoking ribs down to a science. We talked about sizing up but really don't see the need.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 16, 2023 1:51:39 GMT
Traeger or a Traeger knockoff. They make smaller ones if you don’t need something huge. We bought a Traeger for our house last summer at Costco, then a few months later we got a similar knockoff pellet grill for the lake cabin. It looks and works exactly like our Traeger but was a couple hundred dollars less.
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Post by malibou on Apr 16, 2023 10:13:26 GMT
We bbq on a 20 year old Weber over wood. It's the only way Dh likes to cook outside. I'm pretty good at it too.
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Post by littlemama on Apr 16, 2023 12:25:20 GMT
We have a Pit Boss Pellet Grill. We absolutely love it and it is more cost-effective than the Traeger brand with the same performance. We got ours from Lowes and they delivered it.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
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Post by Nanner on Apr 16, 2023 13:15:09 GMT
We have a Kamado Joe for smoking, a Weber bbq and a Blackstone and love them all.
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,295
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Post by iowgirl on Apr 16, 2023 13:54:05 GMT
I have a small 2 burner Weber grill that I love! It's just DH and I. But if I have more people over, it can easily handle a few more.
I have a Treager, but only use it during the nicer warm months. I use my gas grill year round.
Treager. Boy do I have a love/hate relationship with that beast. I think I get the lemoniest lemon of them all. I have replaced every part that is replaceable, and it works fairly well now. I finally quit buying 'genuine' Treager parts and went with whatever was cheapest on Amazon. Guess what - same exact parts, same part number, everything was identical. At a fraction of the price, free shipping and fast shipping.
My Treager has been in flames more than once. I do clean it often, so it wasn't dust that caused it. The flame would go out and the auger would keep dumping pellets and then it would reignite with a belly full of pellets. I switched to Pit Boss pellets and that seems to have stopped that issue. Treager pellets were not good.
In short - I don't recommend a Treager brand smoker. LOL
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styxgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,960
Jun 27, 2014 4:51:44 GMT
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Post by styxgirl on Apr 16, 2023 15:23:39 GMT
I really love our Traeger. This is us too. |
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breetheflea
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Posts: 6,459
Location: PNW
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Post by breetheflea on Apr 16, 2023 16:00:36 GMT
DH has tried one of everything...
from least favorite to favorite:
the red thing with the lava rocks, we never did get the hang of using that thing...
propane bbq, nothing special, it cooked food comparable to what I could cook on my stove, and propane tanks are annoying.
smoker with a door like a fridge (plugs into an outlet.) Messy, and annoying because you have to constantly fill the hopper, but the food made in it was good and smokey.
knock-off Trager-- I'm 5'4" and yes when it's flaming hot, I can't reach up to close the lid. The pellets do jam occasionally. Food cooked on it (once DH learned how to stop burning all of it) was good and has that smoked flavor. You can also cook pizza on it.
old fashioned Weber with briquets-- My favorite... good taste, smells like a bbq, easy to use.
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Post by Zee on Apr 16, 2023 20:45:03 GMT
My husband is a purist, Weber charcoal only.
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Post by happyOCgirl on Apr 16, 2023 21:21:10 GMT
Thank you for all the replies! I am scared of starting a fire. The propane has been fine but I love the taste from a smoker. My parent’s pellet grill exploded. I am sure it was user error. I am going to check out the suggestions and can’t wait for bbq season!
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janeinbama
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,204
Location: Alabama
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Post by janeinbama on Apr 16, 2023 21:22:03 GMT
My husband is a purist, Weber charcoal only. Same here. He has cooked on a Weber for 40 plus years. He does have a bigger charcoal grill with adjustable grated and a Big Green Egg. They get used sparingly. |
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Post by littlemama on Apr 16, 2023 21:22:16 GMT
Thank you for all the replies! I am scared of starting a fire. The propane has been fine but I love the taste from a smoker. My parent’s pellet grill exploded. I am sure it was user error. I am going to check out the suggestions and can’t wait for bbq season! I cant think of a way that a pellet grill would explode. Propane, sure, but a pellet grill? That is odd |
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,295
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Post by iowgirl on Apr 16, 2023 22:44:25 GMT
I cant think of a way that a pellet grill would explode. Propane, sure, but a pellet grill? That is odd My Traeger hasn't exploded in the "BOOM" sense, but it has exploded in flames twice. It was not from user error either. I vacuum out my Traeger frequently. If I have used it for a long smoke, I will vac it out the next day. If it was short smokes like burgers or something quick like pork tenderloin, that doesn't take very long, I will wait 2 or 3 uses. I replace the foil over the drip tray frequently. So my smoker is CLEAN. But for some reason it would either auger pellets in faster than the flame pot could handle, or the flame pot went out and the auger kept going. I have replaced the entire control panel twice. I have not had that issue after the second control panel replacement (which I did NOT buy from Traeger! It is a Traeger Junior - which is discontinued. I got it at a local store, not a big box store. I have had it for quite a few years. But I would look out my window and see that smoker up in a ball of fire, holy cow!~. Thankfully I am careful with all grills and never have them anywhere close to a building when I am using. But I would classify it as "exploded in a ball of flame" .. for sure. Cripes, it scared the crap out of me. I yanked the power cord out of the plug and let it burn itself out. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Apr 16, 2023 23:02:54 GMT
This house came with a big grill and a separate burner built into one end of the screened porch. They are gas-fed from the lines running to the house so it's pretty simple to fire them up. Since they are there and built-in, that's what we use.
Two of our boys have Traegers though and absolutely love them.
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Post by littlemama on Apr 16, 2023 23:38:51 GMT
I cant think of a way that a pellet grill would explode. Propane, sure, but a pellet grill? That is odd My Traeger hasn't exploded in the "BOOM" sense, but it has exploded in flames twice. It was not from user error either. I vacuum out my Traeger frequently. If I have used it for a long smoke, I will vac it out the next day. If it was short smokes like burgers or something quick like pork tenderloin, that doesn't take very long, I will wait 2 or 3 uses. I replace the foil over the drip tray frequently. So my smoker is CLEAN. But for some reason it would either auger pellets in faster than the flame pot could handle, or the flame pot went out and the auger kept going. I have replaced the entire control panel twice. I have not had that issue after the second control panel replacement (which I did NOT buy from Traeger! It is a Traeger Junior - which is discontinued. I got it at a local store, not a big box store. I have had it for quite a few years. But I would look out my window and see that smoker up in a ball of fire, holy cow!~. Thankfully I am careful with all grills and never have them anywhere close to a building when I am using. But I would classify it as "exploded in a ball of flame" .. for sure. Cripes, it scared the crap out of me. I yanked the power cord out of the plug and let it burn itself out. Yikes! |
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Post by katiekaty on Apr 17, 2023 20:16:24 GMT
Thank you for all the replies! I am scared of starting a fire. The propane has been fine but I love the taste from a smoker. My parent’s pellet grill exploded. I am sure it was user error. I am going to check out the suggestions and can’t wait for bbq season! I have a small metal smoker box that you it wood in and it smokes and add the flavor to the meat as it cooks. Our grill is a plain old two burner and it’s done us good over the years with no complaints! You can find them on Amazon. And the wood for too. |
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