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Comment by Gordonjcp | Hacker News Reader

I don't see the point of this stuff.

Why not just eat food?

I love cooking, it's been a hobby since I was 11.

But not for myself, for myself is just a chore. I will gladly spend 1-3 hours in the kitchen with prep, cooking time, setting up plates and so on for loved ones or guests. For my day-to-day? I'd much rather just pop a portion of Jake Food (my favourite powdered food after trying a few different brands), shake it and drink it knowing that it's vegan and has been designed to contain most of the micronutrients and protein I need.

I used to cook all the time for myself, accruing the time of prep, cooking, and cleaning; on top of that forcing myself to eat something for days in a row that I didn't really feel like I wanted to but had to so it wouldn't spoil, I prefer to have a practical way to get the nutrition to survive.

Cooking nice food can be saved for when I can enjoy it properly. I love having my lunch hour free for myself to do what I feel like.

Food is typically more expensive per calorie than Soylent and competitors (should) be. Also requires time to shop for groceries, prepare food, wash dishes. If you're on the go these are perfect, in theory.

I lived for a month in Amsterdam in 2017 and didn't have the money to rent / book an apt with a kitchen so I stayed in hostels. The problem then became food cost, a meal in amsterdam was around 15-20$ so 3 meals a day would be around 70-80$ which was too much for me so I went with JimmyJoy which is a dutch competitor and that reduced my costs to around 6$ per day. Now it wasn't perfect, I had a LOT of gas which I managed to reduce by making the shake with mint tea but the freedom and cheapness of it made me very happy

You are comparing soylent to eating out. Most of us compare soylent to eating at home, and soylent is much more expensive. Not to mention it tastes like dirt compared to, you know, food.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Defense_of_Food

I still find it unfathomable, that we as human beings, supposedly the smartest creatures on earth cannot figure out what to put in our mouths.

> I still find it unfathomable

Fathom this: some people make money, and lots of it, by confusing us about what to put in our mouths.

No doubt.

I haven't tried Soylent. Jimmy joy is currently 15 euros for a 950g bag which has 4000 calories, that's 3 euros for a 800 calorie meal so it should be cheaper than homemade food.

I can get about 8000 calories of rice for $5 retail at a grocery store. Granted it costs money to cook it, and you'd want to mix in other ingredients for taste and nutrition. But 800 calories for 3 euros should be doable.

For fast food, the Cheesy Bean and Rice burrito is still on the dollar menu at Taco Bell. 420 calories for $1, and a fairly complete lacto-vegetarian protein source. Buy one of those and a Fiesta Veggie Burrito ($2 for 570 calories) and you've got some vegetables too at almost $1000 calories. Make either of them Fresco and you replace the dairy with diced tomatoes, losing about 110 calories for the CBRB, and 145 calories for the FVB. Fresco only one and you still have greater than 800 calories. Maybe this isn't possible in Europe?

> I can get about 8000 calories of rice for $5 retail at a grocery store

Meal replacement shakes like Jimmy Joy / Huel / Soylent do have a lot more nutrition than just plain rice + some veggies / condiments

I'm no nutrition scientist but those Taco Bell items you pointed out don't seem like nutritionally complete meals you could eat all day. I did eat Jimmy Joy all day for a month or so and I did feel healthy but to each his own. Also didn't require me to drive 3 times a day to a Taco bell wasting time in the process, waiting in line etc.

A man has to take 2500 calories per day, that's 9.35€ per day, 280€ per month. That's much more than most people spend on food at least in the south of Europe

I live in Romania, I spend about that much on food since prices have gone up and I eat probably less than 2500 avg. I might buy more expensive ingredients though and if I bought shittier food I might go to around 200 euros but that's a stretch given how much inflation has risen produce prices.

The point isn't that you should replace all food with meal replacement shakes. You could use them while traveling to not eat out as much. You could use some for emergencies when you didn't have time to cook or ran out of groceries. You could use it at work if you have a hellish work env and an abusive boss that doesn't even grant you 30 minutes for a lunch break. Last one is a true story a bank teller told me. Granted you should quit a job like that but if for whatever reason you need to stay a while longer it's better to have a shake ready than not eat at all.

> You could use them while traveling to not eat out as much

This is about the only reason I put up with travelling, eating food in different places

> You could use some for emergencies when you didn't have time to cook or ran out of groceries.

You need to plan better.

> You could use it at work if you have a hellish work env and an abusive boss that doesn't even grant you 30 minutes for a lunch break.

Fuck 'em. Take a lunch break. Your health is more important than their clock. What are they going to do, get their own hands dirty doing your job?

> This is about the only reason I put up with travelling, eating food in different places

I would have never stayed for a month in Amsterdam if it cost me more than it did which was about 1000$. Some people have a tight budget

> You need to plan better.

Some people are young and don't have that ability yet. Or are like me, I don't care that much about food, I'd rather do something more interesting than spend 1h cooking something. I just don't care that much about how food tastes if it costs me time or money.

> Fuck 'em. Take a lunch break. Your health is more important than their clock. What are they going to do, get their own hands dirty doing your job?

Check your privilege lol. Some people live paycheck to paycheck, judging them for not having the strength to stand up to their boss isn't right imo.

At a time when my mental health was at its lowest and I was completely unable to eat anything at all, the ready to drink versions of mana, huel and plenny shake kept me alive, healthy and fit.

The time savings compared to normal food preparation and consumption are insane, if you compare it to ordering lunch to your homeoffice it usually ends up much cheaper and ultimately it's probably much healthier than the average persons diet.

It absolutely makes sense in many situations.

> At a time when my mental health was at its lowest

> The time savings compared to normal food preparation and consumption are insane

Read both of these together, slowly.

Has the penny dropped yet?

If I didn't had to eat food 3 times a day I wouldn't, and I am not the only one who thinks like that. Soylent type stuff is a shortcut to that.

Eating can be the highlight of your day if done right.

There is no legal requirement to eat 3 times a day.

Plenty of people eat once or twice a day. Some even give it a fancy name like intermittent fasting.

What could possibly be more important than eating? You know, the thing that keeps you alive, and all that?

It is geared toward people who want an inexpensive, convenient meal that theoretically contains all the nutrients you need. Some people use it as an alternative to breakfast or lunch, and some people are all in as a complete meal replacement because they don't really care about the experience of eating that much. The founder says he uses Soylent for most of his daily nutrition but will still eat out with friends. The people who use it for a complete meal replacement talk about how they have to chew gum. Otherwise, they get muscular dystrophy in their jaw.

I see the benefit of it as a convenient breakfast or lunch. I like food too much to replace all my meals with it.

To consume food you must:

Decide what to eat

Purchase the food

Prepare the food

eat the food

Clean up

All that combined with a habit of sleeping through every available moment before rushing off to the train in the morning meant that I was often skipping breakfast or eating something silly like a handful of crackers while trying to run. Taking all of those steps out of my morning was worth it for me. In that way, it's pretty similar to fast food, but it's much easier than actually swinging by Dunks.

I think it also helps as a way of conceptualizing food and convincing yourself viscerally that you won't starve if you control your portions.

Finally, I can be a picky eater sometimes and having it as an option means I'm never faced with having to starve or compromise on food choices.

People who use powdered food shakes etc. generally do eat other foods too.

As for reasons why they include powdered foods in their diet, it is often as a tool for losing weight (replacing other meals), or for bulking up (in addition to other meals), or as a lifestyle or economic choice (easy & cheap weekday breakfasts).

If you believe a significant proportion of powdered food fans eat only this stuff, you are unwittingly participating in someone’s marketing ploy.

Yes food for sure since bioavailability may be an issue.

Nutrients, minerals, fibre, and protein are there but how do they interact and how does your body respond to a slurry of it.

damn your reasonable logic!

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