Summer has struck here in the Northeast. That means we’re all looking forward to grilling dinners and getting as much outdoor time as possible before that cold comes back and we’re stuck inside again, right? We’ve been prepping the grill goods for you here at Local Root and have what we consider an excellent round up of grilling goods to last you from Fourth of July through Labor Day and maybe a few weekends more.

So the first thing everyone needs to grill is, of course, THE GRILL. We are pretty obsessed with the Big Green Egg around here. It offers even cooking and makes some of the best grilled pizza we’ve encountered. And for the die hard griller among us – yes it CAN comfortably roast a turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner. We tried it.

After you have your grill you should make sure your tools are up to snuff. This means getting starters, chimneys, charcoal, gloves, utensils, grill scrapers, in essence all the tools that you will use every time you use your new toy. Big Green Egg makes some excellent organic lump charcoal that we carry in our Newton store as well as super efficient starters. Love your old enameled kettle grill? No worries! We have a charcoal chimney in stock that will start your charcoal fast and easily.

Now for the fun part! Grilling utensils can be a controversial topic, right? We like to keep it simple around here – a pizza stone (the Big Green Egg one is our favorite), a pair of long tongs, a good fork and a glove for when things just get too hot. Sure there are other things you can use – a rib rack if you like to smoke ribs on the grill or a basket to make delicious veggies. But let’s be honest those are peripheral and they only make the basics more effortless.

And finally at the end of the night (or the next night before you start that grill back up) you probably want to clean up your grill. A nice wire brush goes a long way toward keeping your grill easy to use and keeps everything that comes off it as delicious as possible.

What’s your favorite way to use a grill? Are there any core pieces we don’t have? Let us know!