You have been here before. Standing in front of a shelf, holding a box of 24 energy gels in some flavor called “Tropical Burst” or “Berry Blast,” wondering if this will be the one that works for you or the one that sits in your kitchen cabinet for the next 3 years.
Maybe you bought it anyway. Maybe it tasted like cough syrup mixed with regret. Maybe your stomach staged a protest somewhere around mile 8.
This is the problem with buying energy gels the traditional way. Most retailers force you to buy in bulk. A box of 12. A case of 24. And you are supposed to commit to all of that without knowing if your body will even tolerate the stuff under actual race conditions.
The Feed, an online marketplace built specifically for endurance athletes, does something different. They let you buy single servings. One gel at a time. Mix and match across brands and flavors. Test everything before you commit to anything.
The Problem With Bulk-Only Buying
Energy gels are personal. What works perfectly for one runner might send another sprinting for the nearest porta-potty. The formulation matters. The consistency matters. The flavor matters, especially when you are 4 hours into an event and the thought of putting another sickeningly sweet gel in your mouth makes you want to quit the sport entirely.
But most stores sell gels in multi-packs because that is how manufacturers ship them. It makes sense from a logistics standpoint. It makes zero sense from an athlete’s standpoint.
You end up with one of two outcomes. Either you find something that works on your first try, which is rare, or you accumulate a collection of half-used boxes taking up space in your gear closet. Neither outcome is ideal.
How The Feed Approached This Differently
Matt Johnson founded The Feed in 2013 after serving as President of the Tour de France Team at Slipstream Sports.
He watched professional cyclists dial in their nutrition with precision, using specific products at specific times, and saw how much of an advantage it gave them in training and racing.
The riders who fueled correctly performed better in the final portions of races and throughout multi-week stage events.
He built The Feed to bring that same approach to everyone else. The company stocks over 200 brands and lets athletes order single servings of nearly everything. You can buy one Maurten gel, one GU gel, one Honey Stinger gel, and test all 3 in separate workouts to see what agrees with your body.
The company has been growing 60-70% annually since launch, which suggests athletes have been waiting for someone to solve this problem.
What Single Servings Let You Test
The differences between gel brands are real. Take traditional gels versus something like the Maurten GEL 100. Traditional gels are basically water and carbohydrates mixed into syrup, often with added flavors and preservatives.
Maurten uses what they call a biopolymer matrix filled with fructose and glucose, wrapped in hydrogel technology that changes how your intestines process the carbohydrates. The company claims this allows uptake of up to 100 grams of carbohydrates per hour.
Whether that technology works for your body is something you can only figure out by trying it during actual training. And trying it means buying it first.
The Feed stocks products from Clif Bar, Skratch, Maurten, GU, Bonk Breaker, Honey Stinger, Precision, and dozens of other brands. You can sample across the entire range without gambling $40 or $50 on a bulk pack that might end up donated to a running club swap meet.
Variety Packs For Structured Testing
If you want to approach your gel testing with some organization, The Feed offers curated variety packs. Their Ultimate Gel Pack includes 10 gels from brands like Maurten, AMACX, and Science in Sport. It functions as a sampler of what the company considers the top performers in 2025.
This gives you a structured way to work through multiple options. You could test one gel per long run or workout, note how each one performs, and narrow down your choices over a few weeks of training.
By the time you are ready to commit to a larger purchase, you have actual data from your own body instead of relying on online reviews written by people who may have completely different physiology.
The Flavor Fatigue Factor
Not everyone wants their nutrition to taste like candy. The Feed has noticed this trend and stocks neutral-flavored options alongside the fruit-punch and citrus varieties.
The reasoning makes sense. When you are consuming multiple gels over the course of a long event, flavor fatigue becomes real. What tasted good at mile 5 can become nauseating by mile 20. Some athletes find that less intensely flavored or neutral products let them fuel more consistently without their taste buds staging a rebellion.
Single serving purchases let you test neutral options against flavored ones and figure out which approach keeps you fueling effectively when it matters.
What Happens If You Hate Something
Consumable products present a return problem that most retailers avoid thinking about. You cannot resell an opened gel. The Feed addresses this with their Always Happy Promise.
Here is how it works: if you are not satisfied with a nutrition product within 30 days of receiving it, you contact them. They will not take back opened food items, but they will issue store credit so you can try something else.
Consumable products over $40 receive 50% store credit. Specialty items like ketones, CBD, and supplements fall under this policy too.
For athletes who join their Feed 1st membership program at $99 per year, there is an additional benefit called the Flavor Guarantee. If you do not like the taste of something, you can swap it for a different product at no cost. The membership also includes free shipping on all orders and 5% credit back on every purchase.
Getting Help Figuring Out What To Try
The Feed employs coaches who can chat with you live and help build a customized fueling plan. They aim to answer every chat within 20 seconds, and when you connect with someone, that person is focused on your conversation rather than handling 5 chats simultaneously.
This becomes useful if you are new to structured fueling or overwhelmed by the number of options available. High-carb fueling strategies have become standard among professional endurance athletes, from World Tour cyclists to ultra trail runners.
Figuring out how to implement those strategies yourself can feel confusing. Having someone available to answer questions and make recommendations based on your specific training cuts through that confusion.
Quality Control Behind The Scenes
Every product sold on The Feed has been taste tested by their team. They reject anything that tastes like cardboard or chalk. They also test products during real workouts to verify performance claims.
The company favors natural products and keeps inventory turnover high so everything ships fresh. This matters for gels and nutrition products that can degrade over time or taste noticeably worse as they age.
Shipping Details Worth Knowing
Standard orders ship quickly, with most domestic orders arriving within a few days. Orders under 1lb or shipments to APO/FPO and PO Box addresses go through USPS and may take 1 to 2 additional days.
Free shipping applies to orders of $49 or more within the contiguous United States. Below that threshold, shipping costs $7.95. Feed 1st members get free shipping on all orders regardless of size, which makes ordering small quantities of single servings more economical.
Trying Energy Gels One at a Time Actually Works
The ability to test performance fuel one at a time before committing to larger quantities solves a genuine problem. Your stomach, your taste preferences, and your performance needs are specific to you. What works for the person who left a glowing 5-star review might be completely wrong for your body.
The Feed was built by someone who watched professional athletes dial in their nutrition with precision and wanted to make that level of intentionality accessible to everyone training and racing at any level. The single-serving model, combined with variety packs, satisfaction guarantees, and expert support, makes the discovery process practical.
You can buy individual energy gels, test each one in training, and make an informed decision about what deserves a spot in your race day kit. No more gambling on bulk packs. No more drawers full of products you will never use. Just methodical testing until you find what actually works for you.
