We knew we needed pellets because we often can’t babysit the smoker continuously for many hours. Pellets allow us to actually use the smoker often. We got the biggest traeger available at the time because we have a large family; most Sunday dinners are about 20-25 people. The big traeger was great but still not big enough for that crowd size, but we kind of muddled along, and figured out tricks to make it work like smoking in multiple batches and finishing in the ovens. The traeger is great, just too small.

When MrDaBaDe became Bishop DaBaDe he knew immediately that we had to have something quite a bit larger if we were going to feed our YSA ward regularly. Which of course we were because YSA show up for almost any food but they REALLY show up for great food. So we added a Yoder. (This one: https://www.yodersmokers.com/pellet/the-ys640s-competition-pellet-grill-stainless-shelves/)

It’s still not big enough to handle the load for 100+ YSAs but it’s perfect for even the biggest family events (like 40 for thanksgiving 💗). So we run both smokers in batches for YSA ward functions like break the fast, but only the Yoder for most things.

I wish we had started with the big Yoder; it’s so much more user friendly! We could have added a second one for the big events and then we’d have 2 yoders instead of the one traeger plus the good smoker.

Idk if we should have just bought the gigantic commercial size Yoder (larger than the one we have) to begin with and then we wouldn’t need two smokers. I think maybe not because having one that’s too big most of the time seems inefficient.

Maybe I should just give the traeger to one of the kids and get MrDaBaDe a second Yoder for Christmas? 🤷‍♀️ He’s hard to buy for…