Hi folks, this isn’t a personal experience, but rather a request for others’ experiences. I placed my first order over the weekend and am hoping to see my order by the end of this week, possibly early next week.
So here are the experiences I’m looking for - How do you Huel at work? Do you pre-mix at home and take it with you and stick it in the fridge at work until you’re ready to drink? Do you take powder and shaker to work and mix it when you’re ready for lunch? How do you handle adding flavor to it if you’re not at home?
I invested in a few decent sized air-tight containers to store my Huel in to bring it to work so I always have some here, but I’m grappling with whether or not that’s the best option.
It’s worth noting that at one point I was seriously considering Soylent 2.0 because they have individual servings pre-mixed in bottles, but the idea of the waste that would create really bugged me, so I moved on.
I think this will depend on what facilities you have at work and how you like to prepare your Huel.
Personally, I drink Huel straight and freshly prepared, so I bring powder and a shaker bottle to work.
Giving it time to hydrate changes the texture/consistency which some prefer. Some prefer it cold. Some do a lot more to flavor their Huel. All of these could point to preparing it a head of time being a preferred option.
Flavoring at work should be easier once flavors launch in the US.
I pre-make. In the morning I mix up three shakes - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - and bring them to work with me. That way they are blended in the blender and flavored, etc. without having to worry about anything at work. I do have access to a frig, which makes that easily doable for me.
Thanks for the feedback! My personal ability at work is pretty flexible, to be honest. We have several break rooms with outlets for people who want to bring small appliances (usually coffee makers and toasters), microwaves, and fridges, so I’m not that limited as to what I can do here, and I’ve considered purchasing a small blender incase I end up choosing to flavor with things like fresh fruit. For right now, I’m seriously considering picking up flavored syrups like the ones produced by Torani, Eden, and Monin and combining them with my Vanilla Huel in order to achieve flavors like peaches and vanilla, strawberry vanilla, etc. The only reason why I haven’t grabbed them yet is because I’m still waiting for my order to be fulfilled and shipped.
Ooh, peach sounds delicious! It would probably be like a peaches and cream/creamsicle type flavor. Yum!
I’m sorry to hear your order is taking longer than expected. As a result of the overwhelming demand for Huel in these first weeks on sale in the U.S., we are experiencing a brief inventory delay of our Vanilla flavor that will impact select orders. We expect this delay to be only a few days, but we understand the importance of receiving your order in a timely manner and apologize for any inconvenience.
Teresa, I completely understand on the back order issue! I’m hoping it won’t take too long, today would have been the 5th business day since my order, so I’m hoping I’ll see it next week.
And I am really excited to try the different syrups I’ve found. Amazon has a huge selection, and yesterday I saved a few less-generic flavors like salted caramel, irish cream, white chocolate, and peppermint. It’ll mean my huel is slightly less organic than just drinking it without extra flavoring, but it’ll allow me to switch things up a bit so I don’t get too bored of drinking the same flavor all the time.
First I should say I’m okay with the taste of the unsweetened/unflavored Huel. It’s basicslly like thin oatmeal. Secondly, my goal is fat loss and muscle retention if not gain, so I’m also in the gym and use other proteins with my diet like casein protein. Anyway, my goal is to eat six small meals a day on a reduced calorie count for 5 of the meals being all Huel and the sixth meal being healthy, but up to me. Some days the sixth meal is also Huel and some days it’s a salad with 4oz. of protein like steak, fish, chicken, pork, etc. What this allows is for me to have a life balance with work and non-work friends. If my coworkers are going to lunch one day I can make my “me” meal during the workday and Huel the other five meals. If I want to go out to dinner with friends I can make that my “me” meal and Huel the other five.
As for specifically how, I bought 5 small reusable Tupperware type containers. The night before I measure 50g into each (that’s 200 calories - I used to do 62.5g for 250 calories but like I said I’m reducing) and I bring them with bottles of water to work each day.
The BIGGEST thing I can say for mixing is buy a Blender Bottle brand shaker with the little whisk ball. I’ve blendered and blender bottled and the results are close enough as the same. Unless you want to add bananas or fruit obviously no shaker can do that.
Anyway, I’m very strict about eating every 2 to 2.5 hours my 200 calories. I just mix and shake at my desk. Easy!
Typically I eat on either the odd or the even hours. So meals are at 0900, 1100, 1300, 1500, 1700 and then I eat my dinner before 2000 (8pm) and trust you will feel great, the weight will melt off, you will be super ‘regular’ in the bathroom and have energy all day.
Note that my “me” meal should be around 500 calories putting me at a 1500 calorie a day diet. That’s like fasting. You may want to 300 per Huel and hit a 2000 calorie a day diet. You can always adjust the numbers!
I appreciate the insight! I don’t think I could do unflavored, I think the biggest problem I’m going to run in to is that everything will taste the same without flavoring, but I’ve found solutions to that with the Torino syrups, which don’t add much in the way of calories.
As for eating that often, part of my current problem is that I don’t eat enough. I barely eat twice a day right now (or did, before actively trying to remember to eat three times a day a couple weeks ago), so I’m not sure I have it in me to do 5 meals a day, even when they’re smaller. I’m currently aiming to stick with 3 a day for a while, until I develop it as a habit and my metabolism gets adjusted to that, and then I’ll try to split up my 3 big meals to be 4 smaller, and then maybe more, depending on how things go.
As for calorie count, I’m actually aiming for between 1200 and 1500, per doctor’s orders, and in my experience with normal food, even then I had a hard time hitting that much, so we’ll see how it goes, lol.
Pre-measuring sounds like a good idea! I’d planned to just bring in a big thing of it and to measure out at my desk, but having something pre-measured sounds handy!
I suggest getting a cheap digital scale. The scoop is very unreliable unless you are packing each one down exactly the same.
I’m already concerned about your caloric intake. I really hope this is helpful to you. I’m sure you can do it!
Some things to consider, off the top of my head and I’m not a doctor so please follow doctors orders, but:
I assume with that low of a caloric intake you drink lots of water. If you’re having trouble ‘eating’ these meals maybe adding more water will make it more like drinking for you? I’m not sure what would be more helpful; less water and ‘eating’ the Huel or more water and ‘drinking’ it?
There are two ways to view the number of meals issue. Maybe 3 big meals a day is sustainable for you, but also maybe 6 small drinks a day would be less like ‘eating’ and would be easier for you to stick to?
I certainly don’t pretend to know, but just remember you have flexibility to make more or less meals and also each meal more or less thick/thin.
Either way, you have my support! Just get those calories in, you can do it!
I tend to drink a bunch of water already, given where I live (Miami). It’s so hot and humid here that I worry if I don’t drink enough, I’ll end up dehydrated, haha. I’m sure I’ll end up playing with consistencies to see what works best for me when my order gets here.
According to my doctor, 1200 is the “sweet spot” for someone like me, it’s just about actually managing to eat that much. When I tried doing it with regular food, I found I was never hungry enough to eat 1200. I’m hoping the fact that huel isn’t solid food will help. There was also the problem that because I don’t generally think to eat if I’m not hungry, it’s taking time to train my body to get hungry. I’m getting there, slowly. I’ve noticed I tend to wake up a little peckish, and I start getting the same way around 1030-11 am, and by 12 I’m downright hungry, so that’s definite progress!
I actually set an alarm/reminder on my phone. Like I said I either eat on the odd hours or the even hours depending on when I get up / eat breakfast, etc.
So my alarm either goes off at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm
Or
8am, 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm
Everyone I work with just got used to it saying “it’s 11am, time for Jobie to eat” I bring my blender bottle to meetings, etc. it’s never a big deal.
I don’t even really set the alarm any longer and sometimes coworkers end up reminding me it’s time to eat! lol
And yea, I live in Jacksonville so I get the water drinking too.
Today was my first day on huel. I received 2 shakers from Huel due to the backorder in US. Their shakers are pretty decent. With the cap on there was ZERO leaking. So I actually made my 2 shakes night before and stuck them in my fridge. Woke up and had my breakfast and brought my second one to work pre made and chilled… then stick in back in the fridge at the office. Worked really well.
Yay!! So happy you got your Huel after much anticipation and that you’re loving it so far! Chilling your Huel overnight is one of my fave tips for enhancing the flavor and texture of Huel. Plus, there’s just something awesome about waking up to your breakfast ready to go, right?
I had to search to find your post again since my Huel shipped today. This is exactly what I’m going to be doing. MyFitnessPal has me on a ~1500 calorie day, I try to come in around 1380 tbh, so I’m hoping that this plan will work for me.
blushing
Hope it works great for you. I’ve been weight training like 3 days a week and sticking as close to this as I can. I’ve lost 14lbs on the scale but also added a good bit of muscle so I’ve lost more than that of fat. Stick with it, encourage each other, thank you huel!
Sweet!! I plan on doing some rucking (Google: “go ruck” if unfamiliar) bc I’ve got an event in April to train for. So I’m hoping with the Huel + Ruck stuff I’ll get somewhere.
Truth be told I’m terrified of the April event, but it ran me like $100+ so… time to put up or shut up I suppose.
Re: OKC flight - Ha!! That’s awesome! Are you from here??
I portion mine into zip lock bags and just bring the shaker with me. This way I can have it ready no matter where I’m at. So far my fav thing to do is just add a couple spoons of instant coffee and also a little bit of cinnamon. Yummy
No. No. No. Nope I don’t live on OK. It was for work and pretty cool though. I got a really good steak at saltgrass.
You’ll do fine at your event. Just keep it up. You’ve got a goal and are working towards it. Just don’t let a setback scare you off. Those will happen. For every two good weeks I expect one bad one.
Plus, there’s just something awesome about waking up to your breakfast ready to go, right?
