Great 'cheap BBQ tips' Hunt

Former_MSE_Lee

Great 'cheap BBQ tips' Hunt

The weather's been BBQ perfect and we're hoping it'll stay that way, so we're looking for some top MoneySaving tips on how to have a good one on the cheap, from which are the best BBQs to buy, to cheap but tasty food and drink recipes to go with it.

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mrmajika

It doesn't help much at this time of year, but stock up on charcoal packs, lighter fuel etc etc at the end of September / October time. This is when the supermarkets sell it off cheap.

I stocked up on loads of charcoal last year at £1.50 per pack. The same pack is currently selling for £5 in ASDA just now. Supply and Demand.

ShakeyStacey

Now's a good time to hit up the pound shops for disposable barbeques. Stock up now, because they won't be around later! You don't have to buy a proper barbeque or coal or anything like that. And when you're done, you just throw them away (always making sure they are properly put out!) good for BBQ's on the go. Ideal for students as you don't need to put in an investment between a group for something you will only use a few times.

linzi_h

Over the weekend, we had a couple of BBQ's and we found that friends all chipped in together for the current crates of larger/cider offer at Tesco (4 for 25) and this made it cheaper for everyone. We also went to our local butchers and gabbots farm where we got the usual burgers, sausages, pork and chicken. We made our own skewers as we found that they charge quite a bit foor these just because if ease but it was fun to get a production line going with everyone making. I also think that If you go over the top with buying the food, make sure you freeze the un-used food so that you don't waste and make sure you don't cook too much so it goes in the bin. We find that some extra 'cheap' nibbles go down well too - packets of the cheapest nuts and crisps do the trick! Sorry if this is bitty but it may help someone

babyshoes

Don't buy 'barbecue packs' of meat - just buy the normal meat and throw together a simple marinade yourself - it will be a lot cheaper!

thebigbosh

I find that a great barbeque can be done with some great preparation, the secret is in the marinades! If you're planning to have, or go to, a BBQ on Saturday, go shopping Wednesday night and buy some good meat. Then have some fun putting together a marinade - can be anything from something bought in store, to something you've mixed up in your blender - and stick the covered meat in the fridge for 3 days. When it comes to barbequing you'll be the toast of the day: whilst everyone else pulls their cheap burgers and sausages out of polythene or cardboard packs, you'll be there with 'something I prepared earlier', and that's even before they taste it!

Here are some marinades I love to use:
Beef - two heaped spoons of ground coffee, heat it up in a pan with 500ml of water, some garlic, salt, pepper and a glass of red wine. Once bubbling, turn the heat off, put your side of beef (or steaks) in a bowl and cover with the hot broth.
Chicken - blend a pot of natural yoghurt with some peanuts, cumin, salt and either curry powder or chilli powder (depends in which direction you want to go). After 3 days the yoghurt leaves the chicken really moist. mmmm
Pork - try a mix of pineapple juice, garlic and bbq sauce. works a treat!

thebigbosh

If you're not into the preparation here are a couple of quick wins:
1. Buy a nice chunky piece of sirloin: not a steak, but the whole slab of meat. Get some rock or sea salt, that comes in the large, coarse granules, and some nice extra virgin olive oil. Cover your meat in a little oil and then some salt and throw the whole thing on a very hot bbq. Make sure you brown but not burn each side - you can assure this by having a water spray next to the bbq: it's really important to keep the chunk of meat moist. If you've got a fatty side on the meat, leave it on this side for longer (you can even burn this side as you're not going to eat it). After 20-25 minutes, when all sides of the chunk are browned, take the meat off the bbq, let it sit for 5 minutes and then cut into steaks the size of your own choosing. Should still be pink and bloody in the middle. Return to the bbq, add a little more salt, and cook your steaks to your preference.

2. BBQ'ed whole fish is amazing. You can use many different things here: salmon, trout, tilapia, bream,... make sure that it's gutted and scaled but leave the head on. Now, I like to do this with banana tree leaves but appreciate that it's difficult to find in the UK. Instead, you can use aluminium foil parcels - just make sure you double wrap the fish. Cover your fish in a paste made from olive oil, garlic, herbs (I like coriander and mint, but go for your taste), lemon/lime and a bit of white wine. Wrap the fish up tight and then put on a hot bbq for 10-15 minutes on each side (may need more depending on the size of the fish). Check that it's cooked (you'll have to peel back the parcel for this one) and serve. You can either do a large fish and share it about the group, or do small fish individually - which is pretty fun.

Bon appetit!

thebigbosh

Just realised that my second post isn't really that cheap. Sorry!

ALIBOBSY

the most expensive bit at BBQ's is usually the meat part, so go for plenty of stuff the pad out the meat, so bread/buns, plenty of salads, both the leaf type and things like rice and cous cous salad are yummy. For us we grow alot of the salads ourselves, not long until we start getting our own salad leaves and later in the summer cukes and toms.
Another way to save on meat is to buy over the months before on offer and freeze, we had some of those lidl ostrich steaks when they had the offer last year BBQ last weekend and they were gorgeous.

Like the other poster said cheapy nibbles such as crisps and nuts. if we are having people over (having a BBQ party for DD1 soon) I would also do some baking and espcially with kids the fairy cakes/brownies etc will fill them up.

We also BBQ veggies as well-peppers quartered and deseeded, mushrooms, toms cut in half, asparagus, courgettes, aubergine etc etc. Basically any fruit or veg that isn't rock hard to start off with (so avoid root veg unless you par boil first) is easy to cook and tasty.
Thinks of the barbie as a grill but the heat is under rather than over the food.

We had been using disposable barbies but last year we found we were using 2 at a time, because there are 6 of us this would mean on the current prices for these around £5 a BBQ.So we decided to get a proper BBQ(Charcol), then saw the offer at Lidl for a gas BBQ. It was the best investment we have ever made already it was just under £60 and obviously we had to get a gas bottle, but we have used it over and over already and it will get well used for DD1s birthday party. We even used it in the rain by cooking in the garage and eating inside (it was warm even though we had a thunder storm lol).

We looked at the aldi one as well, but it was £90, presumably because it has a gas burner at the side for pans-we decided we just wouldn't use it and wanted more space to put plates etc at the side of the grill. Both aldi and lidl seem to be cheaper for gas BBQ's than anywhere else when we looked, but always shop around for the offers of course. We found the Lidl one to be fairly easy to put together with good instructions, but don't expect to slot it together in 20 mins just before eating :rotfl:. Its suprisingly sturdy for a cheap one with a good handle to lift the lid up and down, plus the grill bit can be taken out easily and washed.

Enjoy those BBQ's!

PeteW

Never buy those packs of marinated chicken wings etc, in fact don't buy chicken portions (breasts, wings, thighs etc) at all - just buy whole chickens. You can get 3 for a tenner at Tesco and it's really quite easy to cut it into breasts, thighs, wings and drumsticks yourself. Three chickens with some salad, rice and baked potatoes and you should be able to feed about 15 people!

Don't bother with expensive marinades and sauces either. You'll be able to make something out of what you've already got in the cupboard. Eg, lemon juice, garlic + any herbs. Or try a piri piri marinade with chill powder, garlic, lemon juice, oregano, paprika and red wine vinegar. Yummy!

Kitchenbunny

Kebabs are a great way of making meat go further. Marinade cubes of lamb, chicken, steak or whole prawns, and thread them onto kebab skewers (wooden ones soaked in water for about an hour to stop them from burning first). Then, make sure there are mushrooms, slices of peppers, onions, etc, in between the cubes of meat and you can make the meat go further.

KB xx