by Susan Morris

Created on: January 15, 2009   Last Updated: April 17, 2009

Product Reviews: George Foreman Grills

We purchased our first George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine in 1996. It had a bottom grilling surface and a top grilling surface which came down over the food with a floating hinge. The tilted surface allowed fat to run off into a drip tray, which was included with the grill.

There were two minor disadvantages of the original device. Because it was not immersible, the grilling surfaces were hard to clean. Also, if not handled carefully the grill could cause severe burns when the appliance became hot.

Despite the disadvantages, we loved the speed and convenience of our grill. We appreciated the way it separated the fat from our food, and used it continuously for five years.

Recently, we researched the new Foreman grills on http://www.georgeforemancooking.com/, and found that since our last grill, a wider range of products are available. When choosing our new grill, we considered the size of our family, the types of foods we cook, cost of the grill, where we would use it, and how we would store it.

Some models have dishwasher-safe removable grilling plates which can be re-ordered. I like this because when we discarded our last grill, there was nothing wrong with it except normal wear on the grilling plates. They also have cool touch handles, which is important to me because my children are learning how to cook. The grills are available in several sizes, and the more versatile models have additional plates for cooking a wider range of foods.

We decided against The Champ, which is too small for our family, and the indoor-outdoor grills because we didn't intend that the grill replace our outdoor barbecue. We narrowed our options to the 360 Grill or the G 5, both of which are designed to cook healthy pizzas in addition to grilling. This is important to us because we prepare pizza nearly every Friday night, and in summer our oven overheats our home. Both grills come with grilling plates and a griddle/baking plate. We settled on the 360 Grill because it has quesadilla plates. The G-5 features waffle plates, which is not of interest to us.

At first, the cost of the 360 Grill seemed high. Because it is so versatile, it was worth it. It saves money and storage space by eliminating the need for additional small appliances.

The grilling/griddle plates on the Foreman 360 are about 11 inches in diameter, which is about the size of a medium pizza. It takes twenty minutes to cook pizza on the baking pan. Since we can normally

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