Ready to drink complete food

1

Hi All,

I’ve been using Huel for quite a long time and love it. For me, the only downside is that’s not always convenient to bring powder on the go.

I’m aware Huel are going to make a RTD, but there’s been little information on the release date.

Does anyone have a complete list of RTD’s available or coming to the USA soon?

So far the only ones I know are:

Soylent www.soylent.com
I think everyone has heard of Soylent. For me, it doesn’t taste bad but not great either.

SATURO us.saturo.com
I came across them a few days ago on Reddit and It seems like they’re going to be shipping in the US very soon. Has anyone tried them before?

Please add anymore you’ve had experience with. I think the US is currently lagging behind Europe for choice of RTD meal replacements.

2

Once again, it looks like another one that has maltodextrin as a majority ingredient, which seems to turn a lot of folks off.

I’m not sure how much Huel appreciates posting ads/links to competitors, but most of us are here because in the analysis we’ve done, Huel’s nutrition profile is more in line with what we’re looking for than some of the others.

Yes, the others may be more convenient, but then again, driving through the McDonalds to grab a Big Mac is more convenient than making my own food even when that’s just shaking up a shake and then having to clean the bottle… but it’s not preferable in any sense of health…

RTD would be nice, but… I’m gonna aim first for what I think is the best for me and most meets my body’s needs, and only if two are equivalent in that will I drop to “OK, which one offers this in a format that is most to my needs?”

1 Like
3

Maltodextrin has a glycemic index roughly twice of that of oats. This means that if you consumed xx grams of maltodextrin it should cause the blood sugar to rise about twice as fast as if you ate the same xx grams of oats. In fact, maltodextrin GI is basically the same as wheat flour, around 85 to 100. Drinking Soylent is like eating the bread-sticks at Olive Garden, with added soy protein.

It’s not that maltodextrin is “evil”. Complex carbs all break down to their glucose monomer sugars in the small intestine. Rather, if I’m gonna eat a complete food, I’d rather my main carbohydrate source be something that doesn’t digest so fast and won’t cause such a rise in glucose and (therefore) not such a rise in insulin from my pancreas. Also, slower digesting carbohydrates last longer. So I don’t feel like I have to eat again so soon.

I wonder if maltodextrin is less expensive than oats, which is why some of these competitor products use it. When I think of maltodextrin, I think of weight gainers from GNC, Carnation Instant Breakfast for kids, or Ensure.

[Caveat: the actual glycemic index of Soylent will not be 85 - 100. The fiber and fat content will lower the glycemic index. Just like the GI of Huel is actually lower than plain oats. But I am confident that Huel’s GI is lower than Soylent.]

Having Huel in powder form is an advantage over ready-to-drink stuff, IMO.

  1. More compact to store/ship
  2. Longer shelf life
  3. I can dilute it how I want
  4. I can mix and match different liquids to blend it with
  5. I’m gonna end up putting it in my insulated thermos anyway
  6. Less plastic waste

As far as bringing on the go, I get in the habit of blending and putting in an insulated thermos before work. Often, the night before. It’s just part of my routine for work, the same as showering and dressing. Once you get the routine down, it doesn’t take much time. Certainly less time than making a sandwich or cooking chicken and rice.

4

Hey!

I think you are absolutely right on this point. Actually, I think the whole US MR market is lagging behind. I do not know whether is because Soylent’s shadow, or the fact that you live in a single country (whereas in EU many countries have their MR brands) or other factors (probably a mix of many).

As a curiosity, there is one area that US has more of; keto meal replacements. It is a fairly competed niche. And in this niche is one of the other RTDs; Sated Drink (currently in preorders).

Saturo is pretty similar to Soylent; similar nutrition wise and taste wise (although some prefer Saturo, and I guess others Soylent). For me, they are both meh. It is interesting that Saturo is making the jump to the US, since they are the RTD with most similarities to Soylent. They just have more flavours, and different size bottles.
More about saturo here: https://latestfuels.com/saturo/

As for other RTDs, my favourite must be YFood, a German brand that makes milk based RTDs. I find their taste to be more pleasing, as well as, 33g of protein for 500kcal is nice.

Mana Drink is meh. Pretty similar to Soylent original.

Feed. has very interesting RTDs, especially if you consider pre-powdered bottles as RTD. They have a really weird range of flavours like Spicy Tomato or Carrot&pumpkin, as well as more normal ones. They are fairly pricey unless bought in bulk.

And many that I haven’t tried, Trinkkost, PlennyDrink, Your Pop Up Meal…

I hope that Plenny Drink comes to the US soon.

As for the US RTDs…
There is Ample that offers premium organic meal replacements (they offer pre-bottled powder).
And the Canadian Vital house (same format as Ample) that offers high protein MRs.

What I really hope is that Huels finishes developing their RTD soon. That is going to be a market changer I feel.

5

You bring up a very good point. The convenience of being able to drink a Huel product already in liquid format would make it the ultimate easy “complete nutrition” product. However, this has drawbacks.

  1. The shelf life will be one issue. As of now, powdered Huel has a best–use date of a year after it’s manufacturing. And many of us have used our Huel 6 months or more after it was made and it seems just as fresh as if it were only a month old. Dry Huel retains freshness really well, it seems. Sticking it in water before shipping will seriously cut this down.

  2. Huel may be forced to add preservatives to their liquid Huel products in order to maintain a semblance of shelf life. Right now, Huel has relatively few ingredients. And it’s almost all stuff that I recognize and have eaten in one form or another. If they start adding chemicals to the ingredients, it will kinda ruin the purity of the product.

  3. One of Huel’s goals is to be environmentally friendly. Unless they plan on having a world-wide glass bottle recycling program, they’ll be forced to used plastic bottles. Not everyone has recycling at home.

  4. Cost will go up. Not only is it more costly on a per meal basis due to the extra packaging, but shipping costs will rise as well.

Take a look at Ample. It seems like a legit product. And it’s not even in liquid format. It’s the powder, unit dosed into a plastic bottle where you add the liquid yourself. The price per 400 calorie meal is like 3 times the price of one 500 calorie Huel meal. And the storage for a month of servings is way more than storing a month of Huel.

Which is why Huel might be better served by going the route of bars instead of premixed liquid product, at least as a next step. Huel powder and bars would be nice. The bars are convenient, environmentally friendly, good shelf life. But it better come with a warning to drink plenty of water with it. Ever eaten a fiber one bar and not drink enough water?

1 Like
6

I live in the US and receive my Huel within 3 days of ordering.

7

Hi,

Yes you definitely brought up some very good points and current issues Huel faces currently. I am not a big fan of RTDs myself, as I believe they have a higher environmental impact than normal powder products.

However, I think the market is currently favouring these convenience products and most companies will be “forced” to market one. Perhaps, I am wrong. But with Jimmyjoy bringin Plenny Shake, Soylent going to Europe (RTD) and other RTD brands taking momentum, there will have to be an answer.

There was a small discussion in the UK forum about this, but it did not go anywhere meaningfull (although some good remarks were made):

You point out the advantages powder has over RTD, and you are spot on right. However, as they told me in the other thread, maybe we should be comparing RTDs with RTDs.

As for the middle-way option pre-bottled powder, that Ample and Feed. use, I quite like it too. If only because it does not force you to change the product. But we run into the waste issue again.

Regarding to bars, I feel like bars tend to be more skewed in macros. They tend to have high saturated fats (solid at RT) or a lot of sugars. There are some good alternatives out there, but I just feel that the proper recipe has not been nailed down, yet.

Let’s see where they go

8

I expanded upon my thoughts in this article:

I also used some of the points you made and integrated them with other factors.

As I said, Huel RTD will come, but it will be interesting to see how or when.

9

I am hoping that if Huel does implement a RTD, that they still offer the OG Huel powder for those of us who prefer it that way.

And Huel, please don’t make your RTD from human flesh like your competitor does. [Gawd, that joke is funny every time.]

2 Likes
10

Tried out the mixing, washing, or shaking for a couple bags.

I now drink a Soylent + protein RTD bottles to get around the same macros as a Huel meal. Drink and toss. No engine noises, no shaking, no washing blades.

If Huel has an RTD, I can drink 1 bottle instead of 2, so I’d buy Huel again. Just sayin’.