Use a glass or ceramic dish for marinating your meat. Metal can transfer a metallic flavor.

To keep meat tender, leave in the vacuum pack and thaw in cold water, or overnight in the refrigerator. Don’t microwave – it actually toughens and damages the meat before it even reaches the grill.

Brush the grill lightly with vegetable or olive oil before cooking, and even during cooking if the food starts to stick. If you use an oil spray, apply before lighting the barbecue.

Avoid salting your meat before cooking. Salt draws out the juices and dries it out.

Brush on sauces that are tomato, sugar or honey-based only during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. This avoids scorching the food. Oil and butter-based sauces can be applied throughout the cooking.

Lock in juices. To seal in the natural juices, sear both sides of meat on high heat. Then lower the barbecue temperature to cook through as desired.

Twice is just right. Don’t turn your steaks more than twice during cooking to prevent excess loss of juices. And, don’t use a fork. A fork pierces the meat and allows juices to escape. Instead, use barbecue tongs.

For grilled veggie packets, wrap vegetables in aluminum foil and top with butter and seasoning. You can also add a few ice cubes to the packet; as the packet heats, the cubes melt and the vegetables steam beautifully.