Holiday Discount – Save 10%

Well, it’s a little late to offer a Christmas discount, so we thought we’d throw a general discount out there and extend it through the end of the year. So all orders between now and December 31st get a 10% discount when you use the coupon code HOLIDAY2011 at checkout. Happy shopping!

Oh, p.s. Don’t forget to check in every few days since we’re constantly adding new products to the catalog. We have a bunch of really cool camping products coming soon. We also have some hunting stuff lined up. We think you’ll love the new stuff!

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Good Luck to all the Deer Hunters this Weekend!

I know bow hunting season has been open for a while but I always get really excited when the gun deer season opens here in Wisconsin. That event happens to be tomorrow, and I wanted to wish a safe, fun, and successful hunt to all those who will be spending time in the cold this year.

We’re looking for neat or unique hunting gear to add to our product line, so if there’s something cool you’d like to see on our site please let us know!

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Grate Outdoor Solutions at the Cub Scout College

On Saturday, November 5th we were invited to set up a booth at the local Cub Scout College for the Boy Scouts of America in Cleveland, Wisconsin. We were honored to be the only camping goods vendor invited to display products. Our cool camping gadgets generated quite a buzz from the visitors.

Not only did we have a blast showing off our cool camping products, but we met some awesome people and caught a glimpse of how leaders build future leaders.We were definitely impressed.

We also learned a lot from the event and we’re excited to set up at some RV shows next spring to try out some of the new ideas we got from the Cub Scout event. Check out the pics:

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Welcome to the Grate Outdoor Solutions Blog!

Ok, we’re about to break every rule in blogging here. If you have a blog, the worst thing you can do is just have one post or not post frequently enough. But since we are going through some changes in our branding and social media strategy, our blog is somewhat lacking.

Not for long!! Give us a few days and we’ll have some awesome content up here. The intent for this camping blog is to provide camping articles, recipes, gear reviews, campsite reviews, and a whole lot of fun stuff.

So stick around and have some fun. After all, if we can’t have fun, what’s the point?

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1st Annual Outdoor Fest is This Weekend!

The first annual Outdoor Fest is being held this Saturday, Aug 13th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Squirmin’ Worm Farm in Plymouth, WI.Come out and join the fun at N5254 State Road 67, Plymouth, Wisconsin.

Not sure how to get there? Click here for a map to the 1st Annual Outdoor Fest.

Grate Outdoor Solutions and Jim’s Really Cool Camping Stuff will be sharing a booth and displaying our awesome camping & outdoor products. We’ll have Rotis-a-Prongs, Bagalots, Campfire Tongs, Poison Ivy Soap, and more on display and available for purchase. Come on out and say hi!

Outdoor Fest was put together by Dave Wallace, owner of the Squirmin’ Worm Farm. He’s organized a great event with exhibits, demonstrations, prizes for kids, and tons of fun for all who visit. Check out the flyer:

Camping, Hunting, Fishing Show in Plymouth, WI

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Toasted Coconut Marshmallows Roasted Over the Campfire

Toasting marshmallows over a fire pitOne of my wife’s favorite recent finds at the store (dating back to last summer) is toasted coconut marshmallows. She absolutely loves coconut, so when she found these marshmallows I thought she was going to die from anticipation.

I, on the other hand, can do without coconut. But since she was trying them I felt obligated to give it a shot too. Here are the results:

  • We tried them plain, fresh out of the wrapper. I thought they were so-so. My wife said they’re ok plain.
  • We toasted them over the campfire. I thought they were a little better. Almost tolerable. My wife thinks they’re to die for.
  • We tried them in s’mores. Well, she tried them in a s’more. I couldn’t push myself that far out of my comfort zone. I’m glad I didn’t try them because the wife said it wasn’t that great.

The verdict: if you’re a coconut lover, these are for you. You may like the toasted coconut flavor straight out of the bag, but we definitely recommend toasting them over the fire. Sounds a little redundant, but you do need to toast the toasted coconut marshmallows to truly appreciate them.

Give them a try this summer and let us know how it goes!

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Marshmallow Murder Video

I happened to be on YouTube today uploading some videos and I came across this video about some marshmallows unjustly murdered. Ok, I have to admit I thought it was mildly humorous but mostly stupid. Anyway, since it has to do with roasting marshmallows, I figured I would share it. Enjoy.

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Rotis-a-Prong Featured on Camping Gear TV

Our friends Ben and Josh at CampingGearTV.com did a great review of our signature product, the Rotis-a-Prong. These dudes are pretty cool and, in my opinion, pretty darn funny to watch. Check them out and make sure you like them on Facebook. You’ll be glad you did!

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Chocolate Drizzled Marshmallows: Yum!

Roasting Zebra Marshmallows over the CampfireAwesome New Marshmallow with Chocolate Included!

The wife did it again! She brought home some marshmallows with chocolate already drizzled on top. You know I couldn’t wait to roast those over the campfire.

These are the Campfire Zebras. They’re smaller than normal marshmallows but that just means you can roast more than a few at a time. By themselves, they’re pretty good. The marshmallow tastes, well, like a marshmallow, and the drizzled chocolate on top has a slightly hard texture, like a shell. Pretty much what you would expect from a Hershey bar or similar chocolate.

But the real taste of these bad boys is unleashed when you roast them over the fire. When you get them nice and toasted, the chocolate takes on a rich, dark chocolate flavor. You don’t even need to use a chocolate bar for making s’mores. They add the chocolate all by themselves and they are absolutely delicious!

I don’t think we’ll replace the traditional s’more completely with these since my 5-yr old likes to eat the chocolate and graham crackers by themselves (without marshmallows) but this is definitely something we’ll be doing again!

Zebra marshmallow in s'more without chocolate bar.

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Pizza Rolls Cooked over the Campfire

Pizza Rolls roasting over campfireWell, my kids did it again. We decided to have a campfire and roast some hot dogs for supper with s’mores for dessert. But the kids weren’t sold on hot dogs and when someone mentioned pizza rolls, they asked if they could roast them over the fire. Being the adventure seeker that I am, I figured it was worth a try!

So we broke out the Rotis-a-Prong campfire roasting forks and put two pizza rolls on the fork to heat up with the campfire. I didn’t defrost them at all – I just stuck the frozen pizza rolls on the end of the fork. It took a little while to heat to the right temperature since they were frozen but with a little patience they came out fine. I was pleasantly surprised by the light smoky flavor added to the normal taste of the pizza rolls. In a way it reminded me of pizza baked in a wood fired oven. Delicious!

The only drawback to cooking your pizza rolls this way is that you can only do a few at a time. It takes a little while to cook enough for you to make a meal out of it. But, if you’re just looking for a nice snack and you enjoy being around the campfire, this might do the trick for you. I’m also thinking about seeing if we can find some larger size pizza rolls to try. All in all, I’d have to give this a thumbs up, and I’m ready to do it again!

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