Create More Space On Your Grill Using A Clever Empty Can Trick

Small grills are great when you have limited space, like on an apartment balcony or a patio or in the tiny backyard at your house. Where they're not so great is when you're hosting a small barbecue get-together and have a lot of stuff to cook. Larger grills tend to come with two tiers of grilling space: he main grill grates plus a warming rack (that's a lot of rubbing potatoes you'll need to make it nonstick). If you need a warming rack but your little charcoal grill doesn't have one, here's how you can rig one up.

First, you'll have to raid your recyclables for three or four aluminum cans. Ostensibly, the top has been removed, but you'll take a can opener and remove the bottom, too. Peel off the labels, as well. Grab a small metal cooking rack, preferably one that doesn't have fold-out legs. Then you'll place the cans on your grill, put the rack over them, and hey — you've got yourself a DIY warming rack, perfect for a few hamburger or hot dog buns at a time.

Just because you have limited space does not mean you should feel limited in what and how much you can grill. So get your charcoal grill out of hibernation, wait until your briquettes get nice and toasty, and (instead of putting certain vegetables on the grill grates) you can actually wrap the food in aluminum foil and put them directly on the coals. Then replace the grates, cook your meat, and when that's done, remove the grates again and take out the vegetables (using tongs, of course). This works for super dense veggies like sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, or even corn on the cob.

Another hack that involves aluminum foil is to cut up everything you want to grill, including meat and veggies, and wrap it up in the foil to make grill pouches. You might not be able to fit everything on your grates when they're left whole, but slicing everything and making little foil bags helps make room. Finally, it stands to reason that if you're using a small grill, there's very likely little prep space nearby. You can solve that by investing in a grill cart on wheels so you have a flat surface on which to get everything ready to cook, as well as set down plates and utensils.