The Harbor Freight Centech 37772 multimeter is on sale for $20 until
10/28 (regularly $25).  It has several features that recommend it for
our use, particularly including a) a rubber "holster" b) a tilting
display with enormous digits c) a thermocouple (supposedly extra but
included in the package) that lets the meter read up to 1000C and d)
a twenty-amp current range, instead of ten amps.

A Fluke it ain't, but the meter with thermocouple cost three dollars
more than the thermocouple I bought a while ago for a different
meter.  And the 20 A range really opens up its uses for measuring our loads.

Yours,
David