Create Your Own Grilling Start-Up: For the Tiny Homed and Urban Dweller

AmeriGas Propane Tank

This seems like a “duuuuhhh” purchase, seeing that we bought a propane gas grill, but we want to recognize there’s more than one way to get your tank: family or friends, used marketplace or through retail exchanges.

Seeing that our sarcastic nature doesn’t bode well for having a surplus of friends and that we’re leery of strangers, we opted to buy an AmeriGas propane tank while we were at Home Depot.

We had to pay an initial higher fee for the tank (pre-filled with gas) upfront, but it will be a much smaller fee in the future when we go back to Home Depot and exchange it for another one.

Flame Shield Warrior Under Grill Mat

Turns out we want to minimize our chance of burning the place down, so we thought it a wise decision to purchase the Flame Shield Warrior Under Grill Mat on Amazon.

Coming in a variety of colors, this fiberglass and silicone mat can withstand up to 1800 degrees on both sides and can resist things like sparks, coal, flames and ash – you know, things that don’t mix well when applied directly to dwellings.

While our grill came with a drip tray, this mat will also help catch the inevitable spill or two. Adding to that ditty is that, unlike some mats, this one repels the spills instead of absorbing it, making it very easy to clean and unlikely you’ll need to buy another one.

YOTOM All Weather Universal Grill Cover

Every geography comes with its own weather challenges, but we are **blessed** by extremely high humidity and salty ocean mist year round. I think you can see how stainless steel and these things might be an issue. Please cry for our issues arising from living too close to the beach.

To help curb the inevitable, we needed a grill cover and went with the YOTOM All Weather Universal Grill Cover on Amazon. There were a lot of options and, quite frankly, we didn’t want to spend $50 on something that seemed to do the same as others at $20.

We are very happy with this purchase and so far it seems to live up to its description. The material, although thinner than the above mentioned $50 variety, is still good quality and water repellent. It adjusted to the size of our grill and is big enough so that we won’t have to buy another one if we upgrade in the future.

CitruSafe Heavy-Duty Grill Scrubber

I’ve read enough mom blogs to be convinced steel bristled cleaners will be responsible for the next world war, so we opted to hedge our bets and go with the CitruSafe Heavy-Duty Grill Scrubber, which we got at Home Depot.

It’s safe for both charcoal and gas grills and helps me rest a little easier at night knowing I don’t have bristles lodged in my ears, throat or intestines. Featuring a heavy duty recyclable scrubber pad, this is a non-toxic way to degrease your grill and feel a little bit better about how you do it.

It also comes with 3 scrubber pads, meaning it’ll be a little while until you have to head in for pad refills. This is the one downside to the bristle cleaner I could find, but honestly at less than $10 USD I can sleep with that decision.

Nexgrill Revelry Flexible LED Light

This is a bit of a superfluous buy if you’re blessed with great lighting, but I’m too short and lazy to reach the burnt light bulb so this was a perfect add for me.

Admittedly, this was an impulse buy, but got the Nexgrill Revelry Flexible LED Light at Home Depot and it’s the perfect light to help spot the cartoon sizzles as we flip.

It’s also multi-purpose in the sense that we can use it more for grilling purposes and is portable for things like camping, road trips and saving for emergency situations (it’s battery operated).

Weber Deluxe Stainless Steel Vegetable Grill Basket

It’s hard to believe that a Texas-raised gal like me can think outside of steak, but surprisingly I have a soft spot for vegetables. If you haven’t had grilled asparagus, you haven’t lived (I’m omitting bacon wrapped asparagus because it doesn’t fit the following grill basket agenda).

We grabbed the Weber Deluxe Stainless Steel Vegetable Grill Basket from Target and this was actually a tough decision. There were a lot of grill baskets, plenty cheaper than this, but we found a lot to be either too shallow, lacking handles or featuring holes where food can easily slip through (defeating the purpose of a basket).

We liked this one because it was a great quality material, has handles (we’d prefer poled handles, though) and both the basket plates and basket corners had slits big enough for flames, but small enough to prevent escape.

Steven-bull Multi-purpose Grilling Tool

Our next purchase, the Steven-bull multi-purpose grilling tool from Amazon, is a great way to limit the amount of tools to store or have to buy – this was an important factor for us as new grill owners. I’m sure we’ll upgrade to one of those fancy, schmancy sets eventually but this fits most of our needs for now (especially since we’ve already got tongs, a baster, etc. from every day kitchen use).

This handy dandy tool, whose eternally happy face will make me feel better when I inevitably burn a buttload of steaks, has 7 features commonly used: spatula, knife, turner, skewer, scraper, tenderizer, and grate lifter.

We were very happy with this purchase – it’s inexpensive (less than $20 USD at time of publication), the handle was firm and the materials were all thick and seemed to be of good quality.

IKEA Runnen Deck Tiles

I have my drama queen moments and feel the need to make sure the patio floor is representative of that fact. A great way to up the flare of your patio with relatively little money is through use of decking tiles. These typically click into place and come in a variety of patterns, colors and materials.

We are still deciding between IKEA’s wooden, weather resistant Runnen Deck Tile and their geometric, light gray, weather resistant Altappen Deck Tiles but going with the theme of “I have not a ton of money” we’ll probably go with the Altappen tiles.

If you need to save money even further, we do suggest trying used marketplace apps to see if they’re available there. This is a great way to save more money, but be prepared that you may have to clean them and you also might have to hunt down if you need more than what one seller has to offer.

BONUS: 3-Tier Indoor/Outdoor Hanging Plant Stand

This isn’t related to grilling but it IS related to the theme of patio reorgs. As a side note, I grow some fruits, vegetables and herbs on my patio but their sporadic placement was about to land me a pre-marriage divorce.

Although this 3-Tier hanging plant stand from Amazon was on the pricier side (about $90 USD at time of publication), we don’t regret a single penny. It was VERY easy to put together, taking less than an hour, and the material is pretty decent given its price point and purpose.

I was able to reorganize all of the plants, while still giving them plenty of vertical space to thrive, and have the access points needed along the way. While I used this outside, this is also a great add for inside, too.