Sometimes planning for camping meals can be a drag. Great Outdoors Food makes shopping for camping meals convenient and easy. I’d seen Laura and Great Outdoors Food lurking around on social media, so when she reached out to me to review the meal builder, I said sure!
As first and foremost a meal planner, it allows you to select a variety of pre-packaged meals from various offerings of meats, veggies, desserts, condiments, beverage packets and snacks. The site also offers a store to easily stock up on favorites.
The site itself is very basic. You start off by naming your meal. If you opt not to name it, the default is “My Meal”.
From there, you are taken to a screen to choose the first part of your meal: protein.
Clicking on each individual item shows you the nutritional label and allows you to specify a quantity. This screen would be more useful if it allowed you to view how to prepare the package too. The majority of the time it will be add hot water and, but sometimes those instructions are little tricksters.
Unfortunately, once you make a choice and hit the next button or skip a screen, there’s no way to go backwards without starting from scratch. This makes it difficult to peruse what exactly the site offers. As a workaround, add everything you think you might want, and then remove at the end of each meal.
The review your order screen doesn’t actually allow you to make an edits to individual meals. You are only given the choice to remove and start from scratch again. It would be much more user-friendly if you could update quantities of meals and individual items.
The checkout process is handled through Shopify. The store accepts credit cards or Paypal.
After placing an order, Great Outdoors Food will pack, label, and ship them to you individually so you can stay organized. Each meal will be packed individually in a resealable plastic bag that you can reuse to collect your trash.
Prices are the comparable to REI or any sporting goods store. I found it a little odd that you’re charged for little condiment packages like ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, etc. But you are paying for the convenience instead of fetching those from a fast food restaurant yourself. If you sign up for the mailing list, you’ll receive a 20% off coupon your grand total before tax.
Shipping prices are reasonable. For items under 1lb via USPS, it is $3.50, saving you some gas money from making you a trip to the store. I was not given any other options for my items.
The Great Outdoors Food Meal Builder is a great tool for putting together meals quickly without leaving the comfort of your couch. The idea is great but the usability of the site could use a good overhaul to make it more click-efficient and time friendly.
I was sent a promotional code to review the website. However, the compensation does not affect my opinion of the site.
Last updated on June 20, 2014.
