HI, been with Huel for almost two months now and have only recently had this experience. So i thought that i’d share and help others figure out what works for them.
Seen several posts talking about this general idea but could not figure out why this should be. UNTIL IT HAPPENED!! (duh, duh, duuuuuh)
Ever since i had my first shake i was making them with soy or 1% milk. thought i was branching out by trying them with cashew or coconut milk. how could anyone NOT like how these shakes were tasting?!
Because it’s the WATER, stupid. i’ve made three shakes now using water as my liquid and these shakes tasted pretty bad. i have chocolate, berry and vanilla Huel powders and some chai flavor boost sitting around, but at the rate i’ve been drinking two two-scoop shakes i’ve been putting some hurt on the jugs of milk. thought i’d give water a go…
no. i think this might be why i’ve read several posts by people talking about how horrible, or disgusting, or not cool these shakes were tasting. water is good to drink by itself. when you’re fixing a Huel shake for a meal or post exercise, whatever, try it with some soy, cashew, coconut milk. ANYTHING. i guarantee that no-water shakes taste 1000X better.
Good input - milk certainly adds a lot to Huel, including creaminess, texture, thickness, and…
Calories!
For some, like myself, who are drinking Huel for weight loss, water works best because it adds no extra calories and it’s significantly cheaper considering the price of cashew and almond milk. Taking into account each shake (at least, for me) uses around 20 ounces, and a half gallon of unsweetened almond milk costs a little over $2.50 for 64 ounces. With 64 ounces you can make 3 shakes, which coincidentally, is how much Huel I drink a day. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have it in me to pay an extra $21 a week to have 3.5 gallons of almond milk in my fridge dedicated solely to making Huel.
But of course, I’m biased. I like almond milk, I use Silk Unsweetened for my boring healthy cereal and it makes it tolerable - so I can definitely get why you’d prefer it in Huel as opposed to water. It just isn’t feasible for some people, like me, who drink Huel multiple times a day and sometimes in locations where milk isn’t available. Personally, I have no complaints over the taste of Huel mixed with water either, I pre-mix them in the blender before work and set them in the work fridge to thicken until lunch. I get the taste can be off-putting to some… But that’ll keep people from stealing my lunch - so it all works out!
I actually stole a tip from someone on here, I forget who, but they recommended adding a scoop of Muscle Milk (which has a more richly chocolate taste) and mixing it with Chocolate Huel. One scoop of Muscle Milk is 150 calories, in addition to one scoop of chocolate Huel comes out to a 350 calorie shake that tastes like a milkshake, has the added benefit of vitamins and minerals found in Huel, AND has a higher protein content (I use Pro Series). It’s the hack that’s worked for me =)
But then again that’s the wonderful thing about Huel, it provides an awesome base you can expand on and perfect to fit your own tastes. If you haven’t tried it yet, one of my favorite mixes is making chocolate Huel with cold brew decaf (I’m on a no caffeine diet - but feel free to use caffeinated!) and I find the coffee helps bring out the flavor of the chocolate even more so.
right?! i have a filtered water line that runs out of my fridge, this is what i had used…and the shakes were…still drinkable, didn’t really mind the consistency (came out a bit lumpier than usual), only thing i had to compare it to was how i’ve always made my shakes (soy) and whatever other ingredients i throw in.
since i started posting just over a month ago, as i said, i read a couple threads where people were disgusted with the shakes, talking about how it made them want to puke, and i couldn’t figure out why that was…until i tried a shake made with water,
i’ve read that most people that go with water use ice. maybe i should try this. or making a shake the night before and leaving it to chill in the fridge. who knows?!
I make my shakes with water and then throw them in the freezer for about half an hour. It would be hard for me to use almond milk due to the number of coworkers sharing a fridge and the minimal space we have, plus the cost and added calories. I love love LOVE Huel with water if you give it a little time to freeze and get thick. I usually add ice cubes to my chillded/thickened Huel and it’s quite delightful.
Yeah that might have been the problem all along. Make it thicker, it will taste better. But if you leave it like half empty for a couple hours and go back to it remember to add a bit more water because it thickens with time. I have the chocolate
powder and I add some extra cocoa and I really like the flavor is like a chocolate milkshake for me… (And I use only water)
I use almond milk in my Huel every day, you don’t need to use almond milk or water exclusively, for me I usually do 50/50 milk and water to get the benefits of having the milk without using up a bunch.
Wow. Never would have occurred to me. To me personally, regularly making it with milk of any kind seems counter-productive to every benefit that led me to choose Huel. In my mind, the whole point is that it’s complete as-is, you don’t need other ingredients, it’s cost-effective, it’s low-impact, and I’m looking to reduce total calorie intake, not increase it. Adding milk detracts from all of those. So I would never do that, but of course you do you.
I’ve always used water in mine, never had an issue. I like water because it’s 0 calories, way cheaper, and huel already has everything I need in it. Obviously adding 4 teaspoons of sugar (1% milk) will make it “taste better” but I’d rather not compromise the health benefits huel provides.