Took my Smokey Joe camping for the first time


 
Marcus Brannon

Marcus Brannon

TVWBB Fan
Had a good time camping this weekend. Brought my SJ along and I'm glad I did. When I first arrived I thought maybe bringing it was silly- I can just cook over the campfire, right? Well.. I could, except the grid on the fire ring was a) rusty b) had a nasty tilt because the ring was bent up. The skillet would have just slid right off.

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The chimney I bought at the last moment and I'm glad I did. I'm impressed with how much you can get done with the SJ with so little charcoal. Honestly, it made me question how much charcoal I'm wasting in the kettle cooking for just my family. Also, it started the charcoal in like 10 minutes and I didn't have to waste a lot of firewood just to make some breakfast if I had tried to do it over the campfire.

With the SJ, lodge skillet and the small chimney I was able to cook brats, baked beans, eggs and sausage and boil some water for hot chocolate.

More photos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=b09SWWh1c29PWGlONzY1ckNsUkRGdzZkMnV4NDZB
 
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Marcus Brannon said:
It's a wonderful little grill. I picked it up on a whim at Walmart for $15. Very glad I did.
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I found one on CL for $5. Then I spent about $10 "upgrading it." Replaced all the hardware with stainless and put in an aluminum pie tin for the ash plate.
 
Some one "inherited" my old camping SJ and I've been looking for a replacement for a while, why is it I NEVER found the deals? You guys must spend way more time at Wally World than I want to!
I know a WSM and an SJ will come my way one of these days, I must simply exercise patience but... It's so hard!
 
I ran into the SJ deal shortly after purchasing my first kettle, but all of my other Walmart finds have been by using Brickseek. A local store has a Gas go Anywhere for $20.. I'm tempted to swing by after work today for that.
 
I'm a Craigslist stalker.

That doesn't sound right. I watch CL for Weber's and Webber.'s If it's a good deal and something I'm looking for I act fast.
 
SJs are great for quick cooks. We don't camp anymore so I got a Jumbo Joe which has a little more room for indirect cooking but still super fuel efficient. I gave my SJ to a friend who does a lot of camping and he loves it. If I want to use a SJ I just use the top and bottom of my mini which is made from an SJ.
 
We take the smokey joe/mini-wsm with us on every camp trip we take! It's great! We even take it canoe camping. If you fill one gallon zip locks with KBB each bag will give you several cooks if you torch start the charcoal. Since we canoe in and camp keeping fuel dry is important. Also space is important so the pre-measured bags has us taking only what we need. When we take the mini-wsm, we pack all of the charcoal and smoke wood into the tamale pot to save on space.
 
CaseT said:
Just about everything! Spatched chicken, tri tip, Roasts, saucy meatballs, pulled pork, game hens, pizza. All kinds of good stuff. We like to eat good when we camp!
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Wow. So much food though. How do you handle left overs? I did thinking of bringing my 14 for some chicken wings..
 
SJ to the rescue! Been there before. There is a place my friends and I have been going to for years and years. They always had those outside grills you usually see at parks. Well they decided to remove all of the grills and we didn't get the memo! Luckily I had my SJ and we were able to eat. I made my friends sweat and didn't tell them I brought the SJ at first. Now I take my 18.5 WSM. Nothing like eating smokey ribs next to a camp fire.
 
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