Barbecues are an excellent method of cooking and also a good way of conducting a social occasion around food, when it is warm enough outside to do so. The secret of managing to host a good barbeque is to be really prepared, and that means having all of the tools that you could need to both cook and serve your food.

Obviously you need an actually barbecue and charcoal to be able to cook your food, but other than that it is advisable to buy some actual barbecue tools to help you out. These differ from normal utensils as they should have a longer handle and definitely be heat proof (most have plastic ends, or plastic handles); this is necessary due to the fact that flames can shoot up from the barbecue and so a safe distance needs to be maintained. Please ensure you use the correct kind of equipment for the job.

Firstly you will need a good pair of tongs. These need to grip well and mean you can turn over items on the barbecue, to ensure that you cook them all of the way through. Please wash these between uses to make sure if you touched raw meat with them, that you cannot spread salmonella or any other food poising bugs.

A spatula can also be used for this purpose, and for serving burgers and larger items. Make sure that your food does not get stuck to the grill by regularly inserting your spatula underneath them and occasionally turning. A fork is also a good tool for picking up sausages and other smaller items to serve. This will be two pronged and have a long handle.

Food at barbecues is often skewered, so make sure you get a good set of metal skewers made of stainless steel, or a similar material. Thread the meat onto these, or use them for items such as sweetcorn cobs, in order to give a bit of variety to your serving methods. 

An often overlooked tool for a barbecue can be a good quality brush. This can be useful for adding marinade, or a good barbecue sauce, to any items you are cooking. Adding extra components such as this can often increase the food quality, making sure the meat does not burn, and has an extra flavour to it.

Look in outdoor shops, as well as homeware stores, to find sets of barbecue tools. You can often buy a complete matching set in one go, which is already pre-packaged, and may save you money compared to if you bought the components separately. Having a back up set is always useful too, as you never want to have to rely on normal kitchen equipment for barbecue cooking if your tools break, as this can be dangerous.