Hello! We’re a food blog, but for camping.
Fresh Off The Grid was started by Megan McDuffie and Michael van Vliet as a passion project but has grown into the leading online destination for all things camp cooking.
From field-tested recipes, inspirational menu ideas, and instructional how-to guides, we share everything you need to enjoy great food in the great outdoors! Whether you’re an ultralight backpacker, traditional car camper, or van-dwelling nomad, we’ve got you covered!
Our Story
In 2015, we traded our 9-to-5 desk jobs and Los Angeles apartment for a shared dream of spending a year camping across North America. We loaded all our gear into Michael’s Ford Focus hatchback and hit the road.
We quickly tired of “traditional” camping fare and started experimenting with making healthier, more nourishing camping meals. Still quick and easy to make, just with more whole food ingredients. We started sharing our recipes on Instagram (back in its heyday), and they seemed to really strike a chord.
Working mostly out of coffee shops & libraries, we launched our website. We were constantly learning every day, refining our camp cooking skills while discovering the challenges of running a food blog without a permanent address or reliable WiFi. In those early days, everything was a struggle, but we were in it together, and we loved what we were doing.
Slowly, over many months, things started to click. We grew our social following, which attracted outdoor brands, which attracted more readers to our website. As our year on the road drew to an end, we gathered up our pennies and decided to rent an apartment in Bend, Oregon. From our new home base, we were able to really focus on building Fresh Off The Grid into the robust resource it has become today.
In 2017, Fresh Off The Grid graduated from a savings-draining passion project to our full-time gig. It’s a dream job we never could have imagined, and we’re so grateful to be doing it together.
In 2018, we built out a Ford Transit van and spent another year touring and developing recipes around the US.
In 2019, we got married in Yosemite National Park, cooked our own wedding dinner over a campfire, and then hiked the John Muir Trail for our honeymoon. It was perfect.
During the pandemic, we saw a huge surge of interest from first-time campers on our site. It was an honor and privilege to help guide so many people through the ins-and-outs of camp cooking (as well as getting them started on the best practices like Leave No Trace!)
In 2022-2025, we became parents to two beautiful children, and life very quickly became very… full. The highs, lows, and messy moments in-between—camping and cooking will never be the same for us.
Unable to separate our kids from our lived experience but firmly against posting them online, we pulled back entirely from social media. (We’re still sorting out what we want to do with that.) You’ll likely never see them on here, but to all the campers out there with kids: we see you, we feel you, and yes, it can be so hard sometimes. Prepare for a lot more kid-friendly recipes coming soon!
So that’s Fresh Off The Grid: two people who love to cook and camp, who want to share that love with all of you. Come along and join us on the journey!
What We Do
Fresh Off The Grid is your go-to resource for all things camp cooking. We share:
- Delicious car camping recipes made with basic, accessible ingredients
- Lightweight backpacking meals you can prep at home with or without a dehydrator.
- Instructional guides like how to pack a cooler, use a Dutch oven, or build a campfire.
We focus on healthy-ish meals that are simple to make, quick to clean up, and are satisfying after a long day outside. Our goal is to help you feel confident and excited about cooking outdoors—no matter your experience level.
Meet the Team
Megan McDuffie
Recipe developer, food photographer, spreadsheet wizard. Megan is the creative force behind many of our recipes and the one making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes. She brings years of hands-on camp cooking experience and a background in design and operations to the table.
Michael van Vliet
Recipe developer, writer, and on-site gear porter. Michael spends a lot time standing too close to the campfire, endlessly massaging the written word, and putting this over here and that over there.
Together, we test every recipe ourselves—often in our own backyard or on family camping trips. What you see on the site is exactly what we eat in the wild!
Why Trust Us?
- We are real people, with real lived experience and real taste buds.
- Over 5 million people visit Fresh Off The Grid each year for outdoor cooking advice.
- We’ve worked with REI, Outside Magazine, Eddie Bauer, and Backcountry to develop camping and backpacking recipes.
- Our outdoor cooking expertise has been featured on New York Times Cooking, Food & Wine, Backpacker Magazine, and the Washington Post.
- We’re proud members of 1% for the Planet and The Conservation Alliance, donating a portion of our revenue to environmental nonprofits like the National Forest Foundation and Central Oregon Environmental Center (see our full list).
- We test and photograph every recipe and product ourselves, so you know it actually works out in the wild.
Our Values
We believe in:
- Intentional Simplicity: Simple, effortless camping recipes need to be developed with a lot of forethought. We do all the heavy mental lifting so you can sit back and relax knowing it’s all going to work out alright.
- Everyday Inspiration: Approachable, achievable recipes that feel and taste gourmet.
- Human Authenticity: As humans, the communal act of sharing a meal with one another is one of the most sacred forms of connection. These are real photos of real recipes, from us to you.
Follow along:
📸 Instagram | 📌 Pinterest | 🎥 YouTube | 🎶 TikTok
Contact us
Contact us: hello (at) freshoffthegrid.com
Just a heads up, we do NOT accept any of the following, and emails regarding these will be deleted:
Advertising
With over 5 million unique readers, advertising with Fresh Off The Grid is a great way to reach a highly niched audience of outdoor enthusiasts.
We offer display advertising on freshoffthegrid.com, including in-content and preroll video ads. Our ad inventory is managed by Raptive.
Photo Sharing Policy & Copyright
If you’re a blogger interested in including our recipes in a roundup, you’re more than welcome to include a photo in your post, provided that you:
- Link back to our original post
- Don’t include the recipe ingredients and/or instructions in full
If you’re a brand/company interested in using our photography for commercial purposes (online or in print), please get in touch with us to discuss licensing.
All photography and written content is copyrighted, and we do not permit posts to be syndicated or republished.