Product Review: George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Electric Barbecue Grill

A few years back I wanted to purchase for my husband a nice, yet surprising Christmas gift. He needed a grill, but I didn't have a couple hundred dollars to spend on a nice charcoal grill so shopping for one was not even considered.

Not considered, that is, until I saw an ad for the George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Electric Barbecue Grill at Bed Bath & Beyond. The price with the weekly coupon was right at $40.

I liked the look of the George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill immediately when I saw it in the weekly ad. It has a black pedestal with a silver dome top. The grill itself is black, and it can come off the pedestal for indoor grilling or sit on the the pedestal for outdoor grilling. Of course it is electric, like other George Foreman grills, which means it has to be plugged in to work outside. But it also means that no charcoal or gas tanks have to be continually purchased to make it work.

My husband has had this George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill for about 3 years now, and we both are glad to have it, although we don't think it's quite the perfect grill. Since we have a very small patio in the back of our townhouse, it's a good size for us. It has room enough to cook enough food for our family of three and is fine when we grill for another family in addition to ours. Since the grill is removable from the stand, it's easy to store in the shed.

Because it's George Foreman brand, that means it drains the fat when grilling meat. The fat drips inside a pan under the grill, which is easily removed for clean-up. Eliminating fat from meat is always a good thing, and that aspect is nice about it.

This George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill came with a recipe book, which has helped my husband know how long to cook different meats and veggies, as well as which heat setting to use for certain foods. If the recipe book wasn't enough, there are many Goerge Foreman grill recipes to be found easily on the Internet.

The negative aspects about this George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill are few, yet important to us. It doesn't come with a utensil holder. My husband has said many times that he needs some place to hold his spatula, tongs, etc while he is grilling outside. I keep searching online for some sort of tool holder but so far have not found one that would work with this grill.

My husband also has need of some sort of table next to the grill to hold the tray or plate of uncooked food while he does whatever he needs to do with the grill. When the veggies or fries get done, he has to go back inside our house to retrieve the plate to place the cooked fries while he throws on the meat.

Most charcoal grills have ledges on either sides of the grill to place things such as plates or trays, utensils and seasonings on. But again, this George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill not having those ledges keeps it small and easy to store.

Overall, the George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill is a good one. It looks nice, cooks well, doesn't require extra purchases like charcoal, drains the fat from steaks, and is relatively inexpensive. As long as the person grilling has a table close by to hold everything he needs, he should be happy grilling for a small group of people.

Best of all, this George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor Grill greatly surprised my husband on Christmas Day, which was, after all, why I bought it.