I think I do something similar to soccertxi.
I always keep one regular, big eye needle threaded with embroidery floss (or 28wt quilting thread). Yes, it takes me a while to get that thing threaded, but I only need to thread it once & then I can reuse it over & over & over again.
I put both ends of the floss through the eye of the needle, making a loop. On the back of my quilt, I will insert the needle by the end of my stitching line, about halfway through the quilt. Then, I feed the tail of my quilting line through the loop of the floss. I hold the quilting thread taught & pull the needle through the front of the fabric. As the loop starts to pull through the quilt, I gently hold the thread to ensure it stays relatively straight. And... Voila! My tail is on the top of the quilt!
You can use the same method to bury your threads by just taking the needle with the floss loop & going between the quilt top & the batting instead of all the way through.
I had the same issues with cheater needles shredding my thread. Part of it was my thread (I was using Guterman) & part of it was the needle itself. So I just don't use those needles to bury my knots anymore. Every once in a while the floss will come unthreaded from the needle, but that's rare. Still, if you have a helper to get those needles threaded, you might want to ask them to thread a half dozen so you have extras when you need them. Just make sure to use a generous length of floss. Too much is better than too little.