Thrift Store/Garage Sale Scores

[BrontoBurger]

At this point in my life I've giving more BACK to Goodwill than I am buying. But now that I've caught the smoking bug, I suspect I'm going to stumble across some goodies. Just yesterday, snooping deep in one favorite store, I came home with four new Lau Kingdom grill mats-- $1.99 for all four ($16 on amazon), a new Grillpro Grate Wire cleaner for $4 and this bit of potential deliciousness. Like new. $4.

Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my biggest score from last summer that started this ball rolling: A barely used, like new 22" WSM that I picked up for $225 from a listing on OfferUp.

I do get excited about good finds. Hope others will discover this thread and add to it!

 

[bbqbrett]

Nice, I have not shopped at a 2nd hand place for a long time. Never really occurred to me to look for that type of stuff there.

 

[dcecil]

That’s thinking outside the box.

 

[phatbac]

One thing that you might want to consider too is old clothes from goodwill or the like. I get soot and grease and smoke all over my clothes when i smoke, so i try to wear something not so nice. if you get some pants and a shirt at a 2nd hand store if they get torn or stained you are out what a few dollars? Just an idea...

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[TomKnollRFV]

You know, here I am thinking of investing in a vaccum sealer and I didn't even think 'I should go to a thrift store'. I don't need some 300 dollar model, I just want one to seal up bags of shredded pork!

 

[yahoot]

Vacuum sealer is a good thought. We have picked up several small shop vacs to clean out ash. Don't feel so bad when one dies if you only paid $5 for it.

 

[greg1]

I love hitting our local goodwill stores and have a never found much I could use there for the smoking process. However I had a pretty nice score from a garage sale I stumbled into last week. A pit boss 820d for $100. The gentleman told me that he tried to fire it up the week before and the auger wouldn't turn and he had to fix his ribs in the oven. I told him for a $100 I was his sucker if he would help me load it. Got it home and my brother helped me unload and we fired it up and a couple minutes later we were producing smoke. Smoked a couple cowboy cut ribeyes last weekend and it worked great. The only downfall was the Mrs's wasn't so happy pellet smoker number 4 hit the deck.

 

[bbqwillie]

My best garage sale score was a MES 30 Gen 1 for $10 brand new, still in the box.

 

[BrontoBurger]

Oh you guys.....Look what I ran across today. It was open but had never been used. I gave it a test run. It's perfect. According to the tag it arrived yesterday...and I swooped in today. $20.

 

[BrontoBurger]

oh...plus I got the senior discount of 20% off. Holy cow.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

So Bronto how much for it for those of us who aren't so lucky to find one and don't have a discount? ;)

 

[BrontoBurger]

It's an older model (2005 or so). This one on amazon is similar to mine for $104, but it shows some used ones for about $50:
And I want to thank you guys for alerting me that one of this would be handy for our hobby!

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Haha I was implying you should send it to me ;) Can it use the vacum sealer rolls?

 

[BrontoBurger]

Haha I was implying you should send it to me ;) Can it use the vacum sealer rolls?[/QUOTE

:D You caught me sleepin' on that one, LOL

It does indeed use the rolls and came with a sampler pack. I think I am now obligated to go find a slab of something to freeze, lol.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I need to start hitting thrift stores!

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

I love hitting our local goodwill stores and have a never found much I could use there for the smoking process. However I had a pretty nice score from a garage sale I stumbled into last week. A pit boss 820d for $100. The gentleman told me that he tried to fire it up the week before and the auger wouldn't turn and he had to fix his ribs in the oven. I told him for a $100 I was his sucker if he would help me load it. Got it home and my brother helped me unload and we fired it up and a couple minutes later we were producing smoke. Smoked a couple cowboy cut ribeyes last weekend and it worked great. The only downfall was the Mrs's wasn't so happy pellet smoker number 4 hit the deck.

LOL!

George

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

My best garage sale score was a MES 30 Gen 1 for $10 brand new, still in the box.

OK, congrats but that's just not fair.

George

 

[HalfSmoked]

Great post here bringing out some great stories.

Warren

 

[BrontoBurger]

I'm just now visiting the forums again. I guess this is the time of year when I get motivated, LOL.

I went hunting at the Goodwill Outlet today. The Outlet is not a typical thrift shop. Items are unsorted, in large blue wheeled bins that folks comb through by hand. One side of the store is all textiles/clothing. Another side is books. And a third side is for all sorts of oddments: from baskets to board games; kitchenware to kitsch. You pay by the pound. It's a treasure hunt that doesn't suit everyone , but i love it and go once a week. (To get a better visual of an Outlet, look up Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" video. The big warehousy place with the blue bins? That's an Outlet.)

Today's big find, sitting right on top of a bin and ignored by passersby?

Little Chief Smoker​

Altho it was not in a box, it had obviously never been used. And I checked the heating element. It worked.

For $5

 

[Norwester55]

I like to go thru the knife bins. I haven't found any thing fantastic but a few good slicing and paring knives. My best Goodwill score was a couple months ago. A framed Bev Doolittle wildlife print for $10. I knew her stuff doesn't go cheap so I looked it up online when I got home and its going for $175-$200.