I bought a green egg ceramic grill. Not cheap but its the best grill by far I’ve ever owned. I slow cooked a nice ham this weekend, a good 18 hours of cook time. Used maybe 1lb of charcoal and had plenty left over. You can close the grill up and stop the oxygen flow which puts out the fire.
I don’t think I’ll need 1000 pounds of charcoal with it and can enjoy some mighty fine pulled pork in the meantime.
/johnny
It really depends on how often you cook outdoors - every meal, for example, or twice a week - and if you are using a dutch oven in addition to grilling directly over a flame.
The dutch oven can bake bread, cook rice and casseroles. It doesn’t require much in the way of charcoal or briquets, but daily use will take a chunk out of your energy supply.
I’m considering buying a small griller that uses sticks as a fuel source. I want to heat water in the morning for coffee and do not want to use either of my two set-ups which cook large amounst and require a considerably larger fuel load than an old camp kettle for heating water.