Meet my BFF of summertime, the extra propane tank!
He sits contentedly in his dusty corner of the garage for weeks — maybe months, awaiting a grilling emergency. Mostly ignored, he is satisfied to get all the love when “that other tank” runs out of gas in the middle of cooking supper.
You know how much we like to fill our grill. There is nothing (Nothing!) more frustrating than running out of propane in the middle of a grilling session. We learned long ago to keep an extra propane tank handy. It saves both time and money, eliminating the need for a “quick” run to town… 15 miles away!
When one tank runs out, we simply switch them and add “fill propane tank” to the next grocery list. I highly recommend investing in an extra tank, even if you don’t live in the boonies. No fuss. No suppertime stress. No starving family. Win-win-win!
Have you ever been caught without propane in the middle of grilling?
Linked to Frugal Friday.
Ah yes, the lesson learned!
A familiar problem (although our gas station is only about two minutes away, but sometimes the gentleman in charge gets waylaided by the donut aisle) and one easily solved just as you say.
We have run out before, but it’s been a long time ago, because we have a BFF in our garage too!
Yes! Try serving raw burgers at a cookout. We had to order pizza!
We charcoal grill.
But we HAVE run out of lighter fluid before and that wasn’t too pretty!
I wish I had the patience for charcoal… I have fond memories of it when we used to camp out, though!
GReat idea! We’ve had the experience of getting everything ready to grill and not being able to light it because the tank was empty!
So frustrating! When children are hungry, they are hungry RIGHTNOW!
Yes, we have run out of propane while grilling and it is an incredibly sad event. I wish I could say that we’re organized enough to have the back up tank but alas…
Maybe now that it’s fresh in my brain I can keep it there long enough to grab one to keep in the garage.
We do the same thing. We were given an extra tank a week ago we didn’t need and offered it to our neighbors. They loved the idea of an extra.
I so agree! We purchased an extra tank a couple of years ago. We were hosting a dinner party with three other couples from our church. My husband was grilling (or should I say – was going to grill), some fish. I ended up having to broil it in the oven. We learned our lesson the hard way.
Yes, it was one of the biggest fight me & the hubby had – he’s the gas man
That’s a great idea!!
my mother has one in her garage as well here hubby loves charcoal the best
Hi Amy – A few years ago I bought a gas grill gauge for my husband that lets you know your gas level. I got it on QVC but I couldn’t find it today but there is one on WalMart for under $20. As far as I know, ours is still working. Just another route you could take so you at least know when you are getting low!
The gauge would be nice… but I like to run the tank completely out before we exchange it so there’s no waste. Now… I do have family with their own HUGE propane tank that they refill from. If I had that, I would definitely purchase the gauge.
Yes! The last time we grilled we ran out of propane. Just as the steaks were going on the grill. We had to cook them inside instead, and it just wasn’t the same. In fact, reading your post just reminded me that we STILL haven’t refilled that propane tank! Adding that to next week’s to d0 list!
You must have read my mind- this JUST happened to us and I was planning to do the same thing. Such a pain! Great idea!
I think this has happened to everyone I know who has a gas grill. When I moved I gave my old grill away because most movers refuse to move it as a liability. I was going to buy a new one anyway with a spare tank but found out they make propane scales to actually measure how much gas weight wise inside your tank. The more I thought about it I decided against another tank figuring it’s much safer than having a spare full tank laying around in the garage just waiting for an accident.
The reasons we opted for the second tank over the scale are 1) We exchange our tanks, rather than fill them up, so we’d be losing money each time we exchange one that’s “almost” empty and 2) We’re 15 miles from town. Last minute trips when the gauge gets low just aren’t practical.