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How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

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Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#111

Post by nether »

jules wrote: post #104
bane wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't. You just drink it instead of meals when you don't expect to have a a culinary and social experience. Surely not every meal you eat is such a delight. An awful lot of food is just calorie stuffing to maintain energy. Replace those with Soylent and you're also probably getting better nutrition. Then when you want to have a regular old meal experience just don't drink the Soylent. It's not a lifestyle choice,…

> Surely not every meal you eat is such a delight. An awful lot of food is just calorie stuffing to maintain energy. It is? Not really for me and people I know. You can still make calorie stuffing enjoyable. Even if I'm alone I can whip up a 10 minute meal that tastes damn nice compared to what Soylent is supposed to taste like. E.g. heat a wok with a bit of oil, dump in a package of pre sliced wok vegetables and a h…

> Even if I'm alone I can whip up a 10 minute meal that tastes damn nice compared to what Soylent is supposed to taste like. E.g. heat a wok with a bit of oil, dump in a package of pre sliced wok vegetables and a handful of cashew nuts.

Your lack of empathy for others' lifestyles is outstanding. Not everyone has access to a kitchen at lunch, or wants to deal with the grocery buying and washing dishes that come with cooking from scratch (which you excluded from your time calculation). Soylent replaces shitty convenience eating like McDonalds, not home cooked meals. Your argument can (and should) be aimed more at fast food, which is both pricier and less healthy than Soylent.

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#112

Post by Nadya »

cblock811 wrote: post #79

The value prop that people will save money is kind of funny to me. My diet: Breakfast: Oatmeal, honey, cinnamon $0.20 Lunch: Large Salad(spinach, carrot, tomato, cucumber, mushroom, bell pepper, sometimes almonds) $2.50 Dinner: Steamed Veggies and Seared Tilapia (kale, carrot, tomato, capers, tilapia) $3.50 If people just budged properly they would be fine. That being said, I'm curious to try soylent and have purchas…

There's also an issue of taste. I dislike the taste of many foods considered healthy for me. I try to eat the ones I enjoy but many are expensive depending on the season.

For example, I cannot stomach green beans. Attempting to chew them results in vomiting within my mouth. The smell of them alone is repulsive to me.

If I can have a bland solution to eating healthy - that's a win for me. The only thing preventing me from trying Soylent is the price of buying enough for 2 people, since all of my current meals are shared. Having to buy normal groceries and Soylent would nearly double my monthly cost for foodstuffs.

I'd have a healthier, cheaper diet if I only had to buy food for myself.

E:

Not to mention every "cheap alternative healthy food" to Soylent I see mentioned only targets a small section of nutrients and vitamins and often ignores proteins altogether. They aren't well rounded - even if they're healthier/cheaper than McDonalds. Soylent strikes the "well rounded" healthy food. Without the hassle of having to buy groceries or prepare the food.

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#114

Post by seanflyon »

jules wrote: post #32

This is very interesting and strange to me. Cooking and eating tasty and new food in the company of other people is a major source of enjoyment in my life. I understand that most people may not enjoy cooking, but surely most people enjoy eating tasty food. Why would you give that up for Soylent?

For what percentage of your meals do you cook and eat tasty new food in the company of other people?

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#115

Post by jahewson »

Nadya wrote: post #112
cblock811 wrote: post #79

The value prop that people will save money is kind of funny to me. My diet: Breakfast: Oatmeal, honey, cinnamon $0.20 Lunch: Large Salad(spinach, carrot, tomato, cucumber, mushroom, bell pepper, sometimes almonds) $2.50 Dinner: Steamed Veggies and Seared Tilapia (kale, carrot, tomato, capers, tilapia) $3.50 If people just budged properly they would be fine. That being said, I'm curious to try soylent and have purchas…

There's also an issue of taste. I dislike the taste of many foods considered healthy for me. I try to eat the ones I enjoy but many are expensive depending on the season. For example, I cannot stomach green beans. Attempting to chew them results in vomiting within my mouth. The smell of them alone is repulsive to me. If I can have a bland solution to eating healthy - that's a win for me. The only thing preventing me…

> For example, I cannot stomach green beans. Attempting to chew them results in vomiting within my mouth. The smell of them alone is repulsive to me.

Sauté them with butter, it's like a different food.

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#116

Post by jules »

nether wrote: post #111
jules wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Surely not every meal you eat is such a delight. An awful lot of food is just calorie stuffing to maintain energy. It is? Not really for me and people I know. You can still make calorie stuffing enjoyable. Even if I'm alone I can whip up a 10 minute meal that tastes damn nice compared to what Soylent is supposed to taste like. E.g. heat a wok with a bit of oil, dump in a package of pre sliced wok vegetables and a h…

> Even if I'm alone I can whip up a 10 minute meal that tastes damn nice compared to what Soylent is supposed to taste like. E.g. heat a wok with a bit of oil, dump in a package of pre sliced wok vegetables and a handful of cashew nuts. Your lack of empathy for others' lifestyles is outstanding. Not everyone has access to a kitchen at lunch, or wants to deal with the grocery buying and washing dishes that come with c…

My argument can't be aimed at fast food because most people find that it tastes nice. You could indeed make a different argument based on price and health against it. The point of my argument is that you don't need to choose between healthy and fast (Soylent), or tasty and fast (fast food), or healthy and tasty (elaborate home cooking). With just a little bit of know-how and practice you can have all three.

I'm not talking about making this for lunch, but for dinner. Which lunch is available to you of course depends on where you work (though even in that case you can take something with you, like muesli+yogurt+fruit or a sandwich, but I can understand why some people might prefer Soylent in that case). Unless you eat 100% Soylent you are not going to save much time on grocery shopping because you have to go to the supermarket anyway, so you might as well take a few packages of vegetables with you. If I understand it correctly then Soylent requires washing a blender and a glass, not much different than washing a wok and a plate (and you don't even need the plate).

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#117

Post by jahewson »

pdeuchler wrote: post #97
cblock811 wrote: post #79

The value prop that people will save money is kind of funny to me. My diet: Breakfast: Oatmeal, honey, cinnamon $0.20 Lunch: Large Salad(spinach, carrot, tomato, cucumber, mushroom, bell pepper, sometimes almonds) $2.50 Dinner: Steamed Veggies and Seared Tilapia (kale, carrot, tomato, capers, tilapia) $3.50 If people just budged properly they would be fine. That being said, I'm curious to try soylent and have purchas…

What's your hourly wage? Don't forget an hour of your time! Not saying that makes it impractical to cook your own food, but we can't act like the only cost in making dinner is the raw materials. As an aside, it's pretty difficult to maintain those price levels if you'd like to eat more than oatmeal, spinach salad, and tilapia every day.

That only makes sense if you're taking time off work to cook, which most people aren't. Otherwise you weren't getting paid for that hour anyway.

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#118

Post by JoshTriplett »

jimrandomh wrote: post #45

I notice that the instructions for Soylent stopped mentioning salt problem somewhere between v1.3 and v1.5. How much sodium to eat is very controversial, but if you're eating sodium, you should know that they took the extreme low-sodium position. The current version contains 1640mg of sodium per pouch, which is about half the typical intake. This creates a risk of deficiency, especially when exercising or in hot weat…

Sodium needs vary by person; some people require a low-sodium diet, some average, and some higher than average.

While I find the current Soylent interesting, I'm also looking forward to a future Soylent 2.0 that's customized to a specific person's nutrient needs.

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#119

Post by jamii »

Retric wrote: post #47
jamii wrote: post #11

I tried soylent for a while and found the experience fairly unpleasant. I switched to http://www.mealsquares.com/ instead. Warmed up, they taste like a dense brownie. The thinking detailed on their website and the level of care that clearly went into choosing a safe recipe gives me a lot more confidence than soylent did eg > First, there's nothing especially risky or unusual in MealSquares; they're made from a broad…

That's 50% more expensive than soylent, and has a significantly shorter shelf life. If you want something approaching food while backpacking etc. you may want to just go for MRE's. Also xylitol, lactase, potassium citrate, rice bran, and vegetable glycerin are not really 'whole foods' by most definitions.

I tried MREs for a while - they are fine for camping but too high in sugar and salt for regular eating. They are also very bulky (two of these per day - http://usarmy.vo.llnwd.net/e2/c/images/2013/05/30/298090/siz...) and leave behind a lot of trash.

Re: How Soylent Ships a Trillion Calories per Month

#120

Post by Nadya »

jahewson wrote: post #115
Nadya wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also an issue of taste. I dislike the taste of many foods considered healthy for me. I try to eat the ones I enjoy but many are expensive depending on the season. For example, I cannot stomach green beans. Attempting to chew them results in vomiting within my mouth. The smell of them alone is repulsive to me. If I can have a bland solution to eating healthy - that's a win for me. The only thing preventing me…

> For example, I cannot stomach green beans. Attempting to chew them results in vomiting within my mouth. The smell of them alone is repulsive to me. Sauté them with butter, it's like a different food.

I don't tend to have butter (or margarine spread) in the house. Not to mention I would have to cook them and clean the dishes :)

I've tried them buttered, steamed, roasted, in a casserole, mixed into Mac&Cheese, and 1,000 different methods my mother tried to sneak green beans into my diet as a child. I struggle to stomach them no matter how they are prepared.

I have little concern for trying foods I dislike. I make an attempt to revisit them every few years (ie. I hated sushi as a child, I absolutely love it as an adult) but don't actively try different recipes or "force myself to like it".

The few foods I eat actively, I eat because I enjoy. The other foods I eat because I guilt trip myself into eating healthy. I'd live off nothing but rigatoni with old-school traditional Ragu sauce day in and day out if I could. But I limit that to once-a-week and figure out more balanced and healthy meals the other 6 days (if I eat at all).

Soylent would likely do wonders for my dietary health.

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