I recently stumbled across a Food & Wine article claiming to list the top 12 essential REI camping items based on “over 10 years” of experience. As someone who’s been camping throughout the Pacific Northwest for four decades, I need to be direct: this is affiliate marketing disguised as camping advice.
The author lists $1,271 worth of “essentials” including a 14-liter Yeti cooler (too small for actual camping), a $275 Coleman stove (massively overpriced), and a tent marketed for people who want to “sleep in” (not a real camping problem). Either the author is exaggerating their experience or they were assigned a hack piece to drive affiliate sales.
I’m going through each of their 12 recommendations to show you what’s actually wrong and what you should buy instead. Real camping gear that works, for a fraction of the price.
