Outdoor Grill

Notes on search for BBQ 10/1/18

Click here for my summary blog post.

Over the past four years I have been reading blogs and checking out what others are doing at campsites for outdoor cooking. We have a Coleman gas stove in both a single and double burner model. We bought a small grate with legs for fire pit cooking. And we had a large outdoor Weber Silver grill for our sticks and bricks which we sold at the last big garage sale. I prefer cooking with gas.

I understand adding tons of equipment before you hit the road may not be the thing to do. It might be best to start with just the basics then add on as you go.

But, one thing good about taking years to plan for our travels in an RV is being able to take advantage of sales when it comes to equipping ourselves. Karen and I are not total new when it comes to RVing and especially camping in general. And there are definite things we want to use now and in the future. And shipping items to our house or taking weeks to just shop around when in stores is definitely a luxury today. 

I’ve cooked outside about every way you can do it. Wrapping food in foil and placing it in coals and building Bunsen burners to cook over are two more extreme examples. I still want that flexibility once we hit the road. But I also want to make life more simple while still having great food prepared on a grill.

After all the research, posting on forums and our own experience we came up with our starter set of outdoor cooking stuff which is as follows:

  • Outdoor stainless steel grate for cooking over an open fire. It’s very light weight, folds to nothing and cleans easily. Here is the blog post about it. We bought it while on the Road.

Our new $10 grill

  • And we already own two outdoor gas stoves. One is a two burner Coleman and the other is a single burner that used common bottled propane. Great for cooking in skillets and heating water to do the dishes. The only problem is the two burner requires liquid fuel, yet another thing to carry. And the single burner is not very stable.  Both are being sold off in sales. I’d keep the single burner if I ever thought we would be tent camping again. Already gave the tent away! We can use the fifth wheel stove to heat water as I personally often enjoy doing the dishes outside in a plastic tub. Or giving the dogs a bath might require hot water.

Selling this off. It’s not stable with anything heavy on it.

  • So we have been watching the prices online and at our local Walmart store for two grills Karen and I both narrowed the search to.  Last year around September Walmart marked one down by 50%.  That would be the Weber Q 1200.  Normally priced around $200 and very rarely on-sale. See pictures below.
  • The second consideration is the Blackstone 17″ griddle. I’ve seen several full-timers that switched off to these. At $70 I’ve never seen one on sale. Cool idea that this grill can be used to cook breakfast food such as eggs and omelets. But then again you should see my sister Mary use a common BBQ grill and a frying pan to do the same thing.

17″ Blackstone Griddle – $75

Between the two grills we have always been leaning towards the Weber. Maybe the deciding factor for me is the Blackstone can’t be used to cook BBQ chicken! and we can buy griddle plates for the Weber as an accessory or use a frying pan.  And finally, we found the Weber marked down to $154 at Walmart during their typical fall sale. Not as good as last years $100 price on sale.

Another accessory I researched was a table to put the grill on. I did not want to buy a special cart designed for the grill as that is a single use items. A folding table could be used for more than just the grill. And I don’t like dragging picnic tables around at a campsite or walking to far to get to the grill. So off the forums I went to post about tables. Ended up with the Coleman Outdoor Compact Table. This sucker folds up into a bag. And yet again since I had time to wait, I found it on sale at about 50% off for $30.  I’m still considering purchase of a 5′ folding table as well, but that’s another topic.

Here is what we went with:

Weber 1200Q and Coleman Outdoor Compact Table

And finally, here are a few notes I jotted down over the years regarding related items:

  • Weber Q Series Portable Grills: See these a lot on forum and RV searches. I believe the 1200 series has electronic ignition, thermostat and two side shelves compared to the lessor expensive 1000 model. Saw one at Walmart during end of season sale for 1/2 off! Another grill I learned about in 2017 is the Blackstone griddle. 100% positive reviews on Amazon and good for cooking about everything that does not need a lid closed over it.
  • Nexgrill: Is a two burner, all stainless steel. $100
  • Blackstone Grills: 17″ table top and they have a more portable with legs. Cheap prices, good grill. But is not a conventional BBQ style. Their tailgater looks interesting and multi purpose
  • Smoke Hollow: Friend had one. Very portable and heats up very well.
  • Coleman Roadtrip: is another very popular grill that is multi-purpose and has a built in stand.