Updated August 6, 2026: We originally tested the Ninja Foodi Grill AG301 in 2019, and the review and recipe below reflect that hands-on test. Ninja’s indoor grill lineup has grown a lot since then, so if the AG301 is hard to find near you, it’s worth comparing current models before you buy.
Do you love to grill, but don’t do it as often as you like? Maybe you don’t like the hassle or your outdoor living space won’t accommodate a BBQ? Or maybe you don’t have an outdoor living space?
A new kitchen appliance by Ninja called the Ninja® Foodi Grill is about to change all that and make grilling easy year-round, even if you have limited space to work with. We got a chance to give it a test drive before its official release and after using it for a few weeks we’re officially hooked!
Not only does the Ninja Foodi Grill grill foods amazingly (see below), but it also performs a variety of other functions to make it worthy of adding to your collection of kitchen appliances.
If you’re currently thinking, “Do I really need another kitchen gadget?” – let me be the first to tell you, yes.
Keep reading to see what our first impressions are and scroll down for the first yummy recipe we created using the Ninja Foodi Grill.
The Ninja Foodi Grill AG301, ready to go with a full Vietnamese mixed grill platter alongside it.
First Impressions And Grilling Experience with Ninja Foodi Grill
When I first learned about the Ninja Foodi Grill, I have to admit I was skeptical about how it would perform. I wondered if it actually gives food those amazing grill marks. Would the flavor be there? Would the food be juicy? Would we get that beautiful caramelization if the meat was glazed with a BBQ sauce or marinade?
I can now confidently say the answer is yes, yes, and yes. Not only is it an amazing indoor grill, but it exceeded my expectations in every way.
My first test cooking with the grill was with some zucchini and squash simply seasoned with salt and pepper along with some jumbo shrimp I had marinating.
Zucchini, squash, and shrimp on the grill grate during our first test run.
The grill can take up to 8 minutes to pre-heat so this is a good time to do any prepping or other tasks you might need to do. I made sure the grill grate was inserted and selected the max heating setting for 510 degrees, which is suggested for grilling the shrimp and veg.
The display on the unit will show the pre-heating progress and alert you with an ‘ADD FOOD’ message. This is your cue to open the hood and get that food on the grill.
I tossed my veggies in a bowl with some grapeseed oil and got them on the grill first. It’s recommended to flip halfway between cooking so you get those gorgeous grill marks on both sides. I forgot to do that, but the amazing result is pictured just below.
Ninja Foodi Tip: It’s recommended you use oils with a high smoke point like canola, grapeseed, or avocado to prevent smoking while grilling.
Now check out these amazing grilled shrimp ma 

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Does Nutritional Yeast Go Bad: At a Glance

Unopened, pantry
Up to 2 years in a cool, dark place

Opened, pantry, airtight
Best quality for 1 to 2 years

Opened, refrigerated or frozen
Optional; helps preserve flavor and B vitamins

Refrigeration required for safety?
No

Biggest real risk
Moisture getting into the container, leading to clumping or mold

Common myth
It does not cause or worsen yeast infections; it’s inactive

Fresh appearance
Bright yellow, loose, flaky, savory smell

Key Takeaways

Nutritional yeast is deactivated during production, unlike active dry yeast used for baking, so it can’t grow or ferment the way live yeast does.
Per Bragg’s own storage guidance, it lasts up to 2 years stored in a cool, dark place, and the fridge is optional rather than required.
Flavor and B-vitamin potency fade gradually with heat, light, and time. That’s a quality issue, not a safety one.
Moisture is the real enemy. A damp container can cause clumping and, in rare cases, mold.
Fresh nutritional yeast is bright yellow and flaky. Dull color, a musty smell, or visible mold are the actual signs to watch for.
It does not cause or worsen yeast infections. Nutritional yeast is inactive and cannot colonize the body the way live Candida does.

Why Nutritional Yeast Is So Shelf-Stable

The science: deactivated and dried, not alive
According to Bragg, nutritional yeast (often nicknamed NOOCH) is made by fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast in a nutrient base, then drying it out and breaking it into flakes for harvesting. That drying step is what makes it fundamentally different from the active dry yeast used in bread baking. Active yeast is alive and needs to stay viable to leaven dough. Nutritional yeast is deliberately deactivated and dried during processing, so there’s no living organism left to keep dormant or to accidentally reactivate. Its low moisture content also means there’s very l 

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Do Sardines Go Bad: At a Glance

Canned, unopened
2 to 5 years in the pantry

Canned, opened, in brine or oil
Best eaten within 1 day, refrigerated

Canned, opened, in tomato sauce
Best within about 3 days, refrigerated

Fresh sardines, never canned
1 to 2 days refrigerated

Biggest safety flag
Bulging, leaking, or badly dented cans

Unique risk for this fish
Histamine (scombrotoxin) buildup, undetectable by smell

Normal, not spoiled
A little surface rust you can rub off the can

Key Takeaways

Unopened canned sardines are shelf-stable for 2 to 5 years per USDA guidance for low-acid canned goods, and often safe well beyond that if the can is intact.
Once opened, the packing sauce matters more than most advice suggests. A 2022 peer-reviewed study found sardines in brine or oil hold peak quality for about 1 day refrigerated, while tomato-sauced sardines hold up for about 3 days.
Sardines are on the FDA’s list of fish prone to histamine (scombrotoxin) formation, a toxin that forms from delayed chilling after catch and cannot be removed by cooking, freezing, or washing.
Never buy or use bulging, leaking, or badly dented cans. These are classic botulism warning signs per USDA.
Light surface rust that rubs off with a finger is cosmetic. Rust inside the can, or a can that hisses forcefully or spurts liquid when opened, is not.
Fresh, never-canned sardines are highly perishable and should be treated like any other fresh oily fish: used within 1 to 2 days refrigerated.

Why Sardines Need a Little Extra Caution

The science: histamine, not just bacteria, is the real concern
Most fish spoilage comes down to ordinary bacterial growth, the kind that produces an obvious off smell. Sardines carry an additional, less intuitive risk. According to the FDA, sardines are among the fish species prone to scombrotoxin poisoning, more commonly called his 

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The Short Answer: Let the wax harden completely before touching it, scrape off the excess, then use a warm iron over paper towels to draw out what’s left. Treat any leftover dye color with an oxygen bleach soak. If the candle was scented, especially a paraffin candle, check for a separate greasy residue from the fragrance oil and treat that like a grease stain with dish soap or enzyme remover, since heat alone won’t touch it.

Why Candle Wax Stains Are Different
Most guides treat candle wax as a single stain: scrape it, iron it, done. That misses that a candle wax spill can actually be up to three separate problems layered on top of each other. There’s the wax itself, a solid film that needs cold to harden and heat to lift. There’s the dye, since colored candles carry pigment that can leave a shadow behind even after the wax is gone. And there’s the fragrance oil, which many scented candles carry in real quantity, paraffin candles especially can hold up to 10 to 12 percent fragrance oil by weight, and that oil behaves nothing like the wax around it. It sits in the fabric like any other grease stain and needs its own treatment, not heat, or it’ll still be there after you’ve successfully removed every trace of the wax.
The Golden Rule
Treat this as three problems in the right order, not one. Cold first, to harden and scrape off what you can. Heat second, to draw the remaining wax out with an iron. Then, only if the stain looks the least bit greasy or the candle was heavily scented, an oil-stain treatment last. Skipping straight to the iron, like I did, or stopping after the iron step because the wax looks gone, are the two most common ways this goes wrong.
Wax Type Variants
Not all candle wax behaves the same way once it’s on fabric:

Paraffin wax is a petroleum-derived wax and the most common type in mass-market candles. It carries the most fragrance oil of any common wax type, so a paraffin spill is the most likely to leave that separate greasy residue behind.
Soy wax has a lower melting point than paraf 

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Real estate
Private equity
Venture capital
Commodities like gold or oil
Collectibles such as art or wine

Adding these assets can really improve portfolio diversification because their performance often doesn’t move in the same way as the public stock market. For example, the stock market might be volatile because of interest rate changes, but a rental property in a growing city could stay stable or even go up in value. This separation helps protect your wealth from single market shocks and provides a cushion during uncertain economic times.
The allure of real estate
Among the many alternative investments, real estate consistently stands out because of its unique advantages. Unlike stocks, which represent a share in a company, real estate is a physical asset. You can see it, touch it, and improve it. This tangible nature offers a sense of security that digital or paper assets can’t. Plus, real estate provides several ways to make money.
First, there’s the potential for appreciation. Over time, property values in desirable areas tend to go up, helping you build equity. Second, rental properties can bring in a steady stream of passive income, giving you cash flow regardless of how the stock market is doing. The ability to diversify with real estate is a powerful tool for any investor. Looking into alternative real estate investments like commercial properties, vacation rentals, real estate investment trusts (REITs), or pre-construction homes can open up even more growth opportunities.
Making rental properties work
Owning a rental property can be a great way to build wealth, but it’s not entirely hands-off. Being a landlord comes with significant responsibilities, from finding and screening tenants to handling maintenance a 

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What actually goes into a steel canopy:

26-gauge steel panels, resistant to corrosion and extreme weather
Siliconized polyester finish, available in a range of colors
Pre-engineered design, which speeds up construction and cuts labor time
Fire-rated compliance documentation available for code requirements

Lower maintenance over time
Upkeep demands affect long-term cost more than most people budget for upfront. Wood canopies require sealing, staining, and frequent inspections, and missed maintenance shortens their lifespan fast.
Steel canopies need far less care. Occasional cleaning keeps surfaces clear, and the structural components remain stable without regular treatments. For property owners who value simplicity, that reduced maintenance saves real time and effort. A canopy should protect assets, not create extra work every season.
Fire and pest resistance benefits
Safety factors matter for any structure near homes or equipment. Steel do 

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What an independent clinical study actually found:

33% improvement in skin hydration after 8 weeks of nightly use
16% visible improvement in skin firmness over the same period
90% of participants reported softer, more supple skin
86% saw a noticeable reduction in fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes

Quick tip: apply night products 20–30 minutes before lying down, not seconds before your face hits the pillow. Give them time to absorb and they end up in your skin. Skip the wait and a good share ends up in the pillowcase instead.
Sleep quality writes on your face
Products only assist; the sleep itself does the heavy lifting. Skimp on deep sleep and you cut growth hormone release, which cuts collagen production, and no serum compensates for that. Research on sleep-deprived skin shows measurably slower barrier recovery and, in one well-known study, observers rating short-sleepers as visibly less healthy and less attractive after just a few bad nights. Your coworkers noticing you look tired is not their imagination. A closer look at how to prioritize sleep for better health makes it clear how much of this comes down to sleep architecture, not willpower.
Cortisol adds the second punch. Short nights elevate the stress 

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1
Choose flexible data options over fixed plans

Nomads rarely stick with default roaming plans, since those tend to limit control. Instead, they prefer flexible data options that scale with how they’re actually traveling.
A flexible plan lets you scale usage based on your daily activities, so you’re not paying for unused data or running out unexpectedly. A setup like a Nomad UK eSIM gives more visibility into how data is being used, and makes it easy to switch between plans as travel patterns change.

2
Track daily usage to stay in control

Keeping an eye on data usage is one of the simplest habits experienced travelers stick to. Without some monitoring, small everyday activities can quietly add up to a much bigger total than expected.

What to check daily:

Total data consumed through apps
Background usage from updates and sync
Data-heavy actions like streaming or uploading

Reviewing these details helps you stay within your limits and avoid sudden interruptions when you’re relying on your phone for navigation or bookings. Consistent tracking keeps the whole connection more predictable.

3
Use Wi-Fi strategically without relying on it fully

Public Wi-Fi is widely available in most tourist areas, though performance varies a lot from place to place. Experienced travelers treat it as a support tool rather than their main source of connectivity.

Best moments to use Wi-Fi:

Downloading large files or updates
Backing up photos and videos
Accessing heavy content when you’re stationary

This balanced approach cuts down mobile data usage without risking an unreliable connection. Pairing Wi-Fi with a flexible data setup means you stay connected even when public networks are slow or crowded.

4
Limit background data to avoid waste

Plenty of apps keep using data even when you’re not actively using them. That background activity can quietly eat through a large chunk of your data allowance without you noticing.
Turning off automatic updates and restricting background refresh helps cut unnecessary consumption. You can also manage app permissions to control how often they sync. These small adjustments add up over a trip, and they help preserve data for the tasks that actually matter, like navigation and staying in touch.
“The goal isn’t cutting data use to nothing. It’s spending it on what matters and skipping the rest.”

5
Plan data use based on  

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