I’ve seen a lot of recipies on here that require blending, and I like blending the Huel and leaving it over night, but is it safe to make, say make a larger batch (say, 6 scoops + water+additives) and keep it in the fridge for a day or two in a sealed container? Has anyone done this?
24 Hours after mixing is the “drink by” standard when refrigerated. Some folks have stretched that out some. If you do, give it a sniff, it it smells off, dump it.
This is one of the main reasons I still use Soylent more than Huel (which is superior in a number of ways imo). I like to make a couple of batches in the blender (with added bananas, spices, et cetera) and then refrigerate them. Huel is only good for 24 hours, so why bother making more than one batch at a time? Soylent is good for 48. With both you could probably stretch it a bit, but they will start to ferment and get funky past the last use point.
So I tried this, and I made a double batch Wednesday night. I drank the first Thursday for lunch and second Friday for lunch and it seemed the same.
Hey, if you want to test the limits, I won’t try to stop you. It probably would be OK for a little beyond the suggested expiration date. I once had some that was more than 24 hours old and I did not get sick from it, but it was beginning to go sour.
FWIW, more than once I’ve brought my Huel in for lunch on Friday, wound up going out to lunch instead and had the Huel for lunch on Monday. It spends the weekend in the refrigerator at the office and I’ve never had any issues, gastric or taste-wise.
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I’ve been using Huel for a while now and I honestly never realized that there was a 24-hour “expiration” on a blended shake. I’ve been making my shakes on Sunday and drinking them through Friday. I’ve never had an issue or noticed an “off” smell.
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I wanted to reply to this post because I’m intrigued about the texture or consistency of your shakes if you make them ahead of time. I use a Nutri-Bullet to blend my Huel, and I make it so that its consistency could be compared to a thin-ish milkshake. I use U/U, and I add a heaping teaspoon of Ghirardelli double chocolate powder, ice, and water.
There were a few times when I blended my Huel in the morning and took it to work so that I could drink it for lunch. Every time, I felt that the Huel “rose” or something strange. It increased in volume, and it thickened dramatically.
Have any of you noticed that? Does it bother you? How did you combat it?
I also use a Nutri-Bullet, and I have also noticed the increase in volume after Huel has been left to sit. I find this volume issue is especially true when Huel is kept cold in a refrigerator, and I was able to combat some of that thickness by just shaking my Huel and leaving it out on my work desk for 5-10 minutes.
In the cases when the Huel was still thicker than I’d prefer, I just splashed a little extra water in my Blender Bottle and gave it a final shake – and the added liquid seemed to ‘knock back’ the thickness and the volume considerably.
As a general rule, I don’t advise making more Huel than you plan to consume right then. Huel seems to change in flavor, consistency, smell, and even appearance the longer it sits – and I don’t like what it becomes, if I’m honest. I now just bring a Blender Bottle to work and keep a bag of Huel in my filing cabinet and grin and bear through the grittier-than-I-would-prefer shaken Huel that I make at work rather than choke down pre-blended Huel that is thicker and more viscous than Jell-O.
As always, your mileage may vary, and different strokes for different folks. Let me know if you happen upon a better system.
I use just water in mine and make two at a time in a regular blender. It does thicken up overnight to the “thin milkshake” consistency but I like that. It doesn’t get any thicker the longer it sits - the texture of my shake on Monday is the same as the one on Thursday. I haven’t noticed any difference in taste at all.
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You make shakes on Monday and consume them on Thursday? I’ve noticed after ~48 hours that Huel does taste discernibly different. At least to me. Perhaps my palate is more sensitive, or something, but I can’t imagine a shake I made on Monday tasting great (to me) toward the end of the week.
Not only that, but I can’t imagine a shake I made on Monday would still be left unconsumed on a Thursday, unless I made considerably more on Monday than I could reasonably consume.
I make 4 shakes on Sunday - my blender is big enough to make two at a time. I drink one a day for lunch; on the other day I usually have a ready-to-drink Huel. (I eat an apple for breakfast and have a regular dinner, by the way.)
I can’t say that I’ve noticed a taste difference but I also haven’t compared a “new” one vs. one that is several days old. Maybe I should give that I try one day…
Interesting. I’m not trying to imply that the taste between a ‘new’ Huel and an ‘old’ Huel is so apparent and so unpalatable as to be inedible, but I do notice a difference. And if not so much in flavor, definitely in texture.
But I appreciate your reply and your insight. Huel is different for everyone (especially since it is prepared and doctored differently by everyone, and satisfies a different need in each Hueligan’s life), so I like being made privy to what does and does not work for other people.
It’s always interesting to hear how others make it! I use 2 scoops and about 22 oz. of water along with 2 tbsps of ground chia for texture. They do thicken up in the fridge but I give them a good shake and the texture seems the same to me.
I did find this note from a Huel nutritionist on another post:
“The 24 hours point is a guide as sensory-wise, we don’t feel Huel is so great after that; plus after a long time it can separate. There may be some nutrient losses of the more labile micronutrients too.”
I’m not sure what “labile micronutrients” are but I don’t feel that there’s any separation that can’t be handled by a thorough shaking before I drink it.
It’s the flaxseed that does that. It has thickening properties that increase over time. The longer it has been since you added water, the gooier the flax will get (thus thickening your shake). Adding a little more water and shaking vigorously will usually get it back to a thinner consistency if that’s what you prefer.
Yep. And I had to learn the hard way not to add flaxseed to my overnight oats. It turns them slimy.