Great Gifts From the Family for the Dad Who Loves to Grill

Let me start out by saying that a backyard grill is an essential at our house. I can't stress enough why I love our grill and that is because I never have to cook on it. I know that if I plan a meal where the main dish must be cooked on the grill, then I have an evening to sit back and relax because that is the husband's territory. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I did the cooking out there too, but I think you put a man near a grill and he feels more like a man, even if he does burn or drop the food. I'm going to give you some suggestions on where to buy grills and the accessories to go with them. I may even throw in a few novelty items just for fun in case your "man" already has most of the essentials.

First let's start with the grills and over the years there has been one place that we have always purchased ours and that would be at Sears (which by now should be a part of all K-Mart stores in addition to the mall locations that are left). They carry Kenmore and Char-Broil gas grills and we have always bought the Kenmore grills. So far these have outlasted any other brands, though we are trying out a new one now, but I will get to that later. Here you can find table top grills for around $100 up to $800 for a 48,000 BTU grill with side-burner.

I had read in several cookbooks that you should not salt your meat prior to cooking as it will dry it out. I personally don't take that too seriously and though I am not one to add salt until I'm ready to eat my share, I'd say everything I marinate my meat in has some salt content. I found this great little item at Sears which would make a great gift for dad and keep him from singeing off all the hair on his arms. It is the Kenmore Salt & Pepper Shaker with an extra long handle to keep dad far from the heat and is a great gift from the kids as it only costs around $8. You may also want to throw in their Kenmore Basting Mop which also has a long handle for about $2.50. If you happen to love the grilling man so much then why not get him a place to sit while he grills. What better way to do that than on a Backyard Gear Grill Stool which can store charcoal, utensils and even has a slide out drawer so he can rest his beer yet keep it very close to him. This item can also be found at Sears for $60.

Another item I highly recommend is a smoker box which you add hickory, smoked or other flavored wood chips to and set inside the grill to give your meat a nice added flavor. I see many of these everywhere you find grill accessories and I know that Home Depot and Lowe's both carry stainless steel smoker boxes. However, if you can find a cast iron one it would be even better and will last a lot longer. I did find cast iron boxes on-line at gifts.com which also has a great selection of novelty gifts for the grilling dad. Another site to try is barbecue-store.com and they sell the cast iron smoker box for $15.95.

What grilling ensemble would be complete without the perfect apron. You must check out the selection of aprons for your grill master at absoluteties.com. There are some humorous choices here such as "Will Grill for Sex" and some as simple as "Kiss the Cook" which we've seen a million times. Another site I found that has some great aprons on it is at incrediblegifts.com and these are some pretty good ones. I especially like the one of the man's front, with no clothes on, about to tee off. It's pretty cute and still fairly g-rated for family gatherings.