I enjoy cooking on the grill. Like the post office guy, neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet or hail can prevent me from making my rounds to the back patio to cook a steak, some dogs or a number of other charred delights. But what I don’t enjoy is a gas grill that gives up the ghost after 1 or 2 seasons. I have owned 2 or 3 high-dollar, stainless steel grills with all the bells and whistles: Six burners, warming trays, push button ignitions and they all go pssst in 2 years or less.
Two summers ago, I decided I would not spend all that money for a grill. I would buy an inexpensive one and hope it made it through Labor Day. If not, I’d buy another one, but not a $500 contraption destined for the scrap metal yard.
And I also decided I did not need a grill capable of cooking a meal for the UVA football team in a single batch. Mostly, it’s just Nancy an me, occasionally 4, maybe 6. That’s all the grill I needed because I have a spare charcoal grill if need be.
When my big silver grill bit the dust at summer’s beginning, and the Wooden Sun gas techs couldn’t fix it, I went to Wal-Mart. On the front sidewalk, they had a small, three-burner grill for $48. That’s like the cost of 40 pounds of charcoal, so I bought it. It was a product of Expert Grill, which I had never heard of, but for $48, if it got me through till Thanksgiving, I would have been happy. It did, and it’s still running like a champion.
Unlike the big grills with a single ignition switch, this grill has a switch for each burner. Just click the one for the burner or burners you want and it fires right up – even after a month or two in moth balls!
And it’s plenty big. With a 300 square inch surface area, I can cook 16 burgers, no sweat. That’s not the entire football team, but I could cook for the backfield and tight ends. It’s a genuinely nice product.
I was fortunate enough to buy mine at half-off. The regular price is $98, but that is still a bargain. It’s going to last several years, it’s trouble free and very compact. Next time your big, fancy grill bites the dust, check out the line of Expert Grills. They have larger ones if you need, but a three-burner is just right for me.