Who Knew That Was In There?

My hubby and I recently decided that it was time to replace our old barbecue.  Once that decision was made, and since my guy is the King of research, all I had to do was sit back and see what the final choices would be.

A Traeger Pellet Grill was the winner. Now Traeger is one of those Diva brands that can ask a high price and never seems to go on sale.  But that didn’t stop my husband from going straight to the source – he contacted Traeger.

As it happens, our State Fair was coming up in a week and Traeger would have a booth there.  This is the one place Traeger does offer some deals – yeah!  The price for the BBQ didn’t change BUT there were a number of extras that got thrown in for FREE, like a detachable shelf, grill cover, pellet bucket and a hat. ($190 worth of goodies that we will actually use.)

And here’s our pretty Traeger.  It’s actually a smoker grill which is something new for us but I gotta’ tell ya, these may be a bit expensive but well worth the cost.

I will mention that we chose to purchase an un-assembled grill as my guy likes to put things together (and would most certainly do a better job than anyone else at it).

We’ve been smoking/grilling non-stop and the food that comes off this grill is amazing.  The salesman at the Fair mentioned that he cooks his bacon (store bought thick cut) in one pound go rounds.  Then stores them in the fridge, a quick nuke heat up, and the bacon’s ready to go.  I gave this a try and OMG, that’s the best bacon I’ve ever had – really.  Though I don’t how good of an idea it is to have the makings for the world’s best BLT right on hand, but this is going to make breakfast just that much easier.

But this article isn’t about the new grill – though it definitely deserved an honorable mention.  This is a what we found when it was time to clean up the cardboard packaging.

On the inside of the main box is printed a little house!!!  This is just so darn cute and what a great idea – talk about your upcycles.

And it’s built so you can take a box cutter and cut out the shutters and doors.  But it’s not just one side…

This completely adorable box scene goes all the way around.  Truthfully, it was all I could do not to break out the box of crayons and start coloring this in.

Yep, the shutters and this door will get cut out, too.  And you can get a good idea of the size with hubby there in the picture to give it scale.

My dog Bella thinks maybe this is a new dog house?  (Not like she’s ever spent a moment in a dog house in her life, god forbid.)

 

But no, I’ve actually got a better idea.  Some new neighbors who just moved in a few months back have a little girl who’s about 3½ years old.  You guessed it – this was a major hit.

What a fun and unexpected discovery and huge kudos to the Traeger company for making the purchase of their grill such a good experience from beginning to end.  I can’t say enough on how clever and cute this box, turned inside out, is – and what a great way to change a pile of cardboard that goes to the recycler into a playhouse!  Very well done, indeed.

However, if you don’t plan on buying a Traeger grill in the near future but you’d really like to have one these boxes, you might try contacting whoever sells Traeger locally in your area.  I’m sure there are many folks who prefer to have their grill assembled prior to pickup/delivery and maybe you can request a box before it goes in that company’s trash.  Worth a try.

And for those waiting for the next craft post – it’s coming right up.  I just finished an ATB (Artist Trading Block) for Halloween – and you won’t believe the fun and freaky legs this thing has.

Stay Tuned.  Thanks, Kriss