I would like to prepare multiple shakes at once that would last me for around three days, and I was wondering if freezing the extra shakes and then thawing them in the fridge before I wanted one would bypass the thing about how you have to drink it within 24 hours? Does someone actually know the answer to this? I know we could speculate, but I want to actually know. Thank you.
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Well, I’ve had some experience with freezing Huel.
I made Huel ice cream before. I made it real thick. 1 cup milk, 2 big scoops vanilla Huel, frozen bananas, vanilla extract. Froze it and covered it. Then I partially thawed it several days later and ate it semi frozen. Tasted very good.
I am thinking that a Huel shake could probably be frozen, then fully thawed 3 days later and drank as a shake.
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I… love ice cream. I’ll try this.
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Sabra–I have heard of people making Huel ice cream this way. I don’t think it would thaw back into a liquid form properly once frozen–it would probably remain thick.
So, I took one cup of whole milk, two scoops of chocolate Huel powder, two bananas, and blended then froze it. It bananay and good… I had a very small bowl. Now it is super rock hard in the freezer, I’ll defrost some another time to scoop it up.
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I did it. It worked out great. When it thawss, it just goes back to normal the way that it was when you put it in the fridge. It just takes longer than I thought because I had it in the fridge for like six hours, and then it was still frozen.
Sabra Ewing
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I just don’t know if it affects the nutrient content. Why do they tell you the 24 hour thing because it taste bad or because the nutrients will go away? Mine tasted great. It wasn’t separated, it wasn’t a different texture, and nothing was really different about it. I made it and immediately put it in the freezer, and then I just moved it over to the fridge. That way, I can make three or four of them at once.
Sabra Ewing
Freezing and cooling shouldn’t affect the nutrient content. Hot water does!
I’m not sure how it affects the nutrients, but freezing it and then thawing it works. It does not change the taste or the consistency at all. The only annoying part is if you have frozen things for ahead of time that it does take longer to thought than expected. It takes like a whole day in the fridge to thaw, but if you run the shaker under hot water for like 10 minutes or so, it will also thought that way. It doesn’t separate, nothing happens to it, and it does taste fine, but I’m not sure if the nutrition is affected. I imagine that if you left it out for like three or four hours that it would thought as well. If you wanted to have a nice cold Huel for lunch, but you were going to be in a place that might not have water or ice for example, you could make one ahead of time, freeze it, and then by the time you were ready to eat it, it would start but it would still be cold. I do not think that sewing in the microwave would be a good idea because when I have tried to thaw anything in the microwave, it is very uneven and one part will be really hot, which you don’t want, and then the other part will still be ice. The hot water for 10 minutes thing does work though. You just put the shaker under some running hot water, shake it up every three minutes or so, and then it will thaw, and it will be ice cold just like it came out of the fridge. Yes, I know that this is not safe to do with meat, but since you aren’t actually taking it out of the shaker, and because this isn’t me and you are not really worried about bacteria multiplying on it like that, I think it would be fine. You do not open the shaker at all using this method. You just submerge the outside of the shaker and hot water like lay it on its side in the sink and then run hot water over it. I find that method a bit cumbersome now, so I’m just going to plan better, and get my now on the counter. I don’t think that the 24 hour rule actually applies if you freeze it because mine has been fine. I have several shakers now, so I just make several ahead of time and just freeze them. It has worked out great. I would encourage the staff to try this as well, and add information about it to the website if it is a viable option. I think it works, and based on what I know about freezing, I don’t think it probably affects the nutrition, so I think it is definitely worth a try. You just freeze it right in the shaker. Just right back to the way it was. I was pretty sure that it would work because it is based on oats, and you can freeze oatmeal very well.
I’m still curious about the 24-hour rule. I made a shaker and took it for lunch one Friday. Got invited out to lunch and forgot about it in the fridge at work. Worked from home the following Monday so come Tuesday I had a five-days-gone batch of Huel. I drank it and it seemed fine and didn’t have any gastric episodes following, so it didn’t go “bad” as such. I am wondering if anything could have happened to the nutrient values though. My instinct is that everything was fine (fridge temp is 40°F), but I’d like to hear from someone with an actual clue.
I would like to know this as well. Do the rules only apply if it is in the fridge or does it still apply if it is frozen? Is it because of the nutrients, or because it might separate and go bad?
Sabra Ewing
The 24 hour rule certainly sounds like a rule of thumb and abundance of caution to me. Huel seems to reach peak thickness within 24 hours. How quickly it might go bad probably depends a lot on the microbiological environment and temperature.
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Well, there must not be that much bacteria in my environment because I lost one of my shakers for two weeks. I was sure it would smell disgusting and I would have to throw it away, but apart from a pungent, vinegar smell, probably from the tiny bit of yogurt that I had in there, it really did not smell bad at all and it cleaned out very easily. Shaker was empty, but had residual powder on the inside. Smelled weird, but not really bad.
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lol. You would not have been so lucky with a whey-based product! Two weeks would probably get it to hazmat level.
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I know. Rotten milk smells disgusting. I have just stopped buying milk because I don’t use it that much and it goes bad. Yogurt stays good for a long time so I just have that. I don’t really use milk that much, so even when I bought the half gallon, some of it would still go bad so that is how I know how gross it smells. Then with the Greek yogurt, one tub last me about three weeks.