When you’re looking to buy a portable grill, you’ll need to take into account the number of people that you will probably be cooking for. Knowing that you’ll be able to easily determine how large a grill you’ll need to purchase.
As a general rule, the amount of food needed to feed one average adult will take up about 70 square inches on the grill. Add to that the amount of room needed for flipping a burger, or adding on an extra hot dog or two, and a grilling surface of 285 square inches will provide you enough room to cook for four people, depending on their appetites.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with buying more grill than you need, but then you’ll have to deal with waste heat and the potential waste of fuel to heat the larger area. Plus the larger portable grills aren’t always as easy to move around as a smaller one.
The best course of action is to think about how many people on average you’ll be cooking for years with this portable grill. If it’s only a few people or just yourself, a tabletop grill will provide more than enough room. However, if you’re the chef at the local tailgating party, something larger may be in order.