Too bad they aren't interested in assisting the poor. This could have been a godsend. The market their price targets will likely show little interest. They like and can afford food.
“I’d like this to be something that is like coffee — a commodity something that’s available everywhere. Maybe a utility like water and power. Something that is ubiquitous and easy to consume,” he said. “I’d like to see it in grocery and convenience stores soon.” ( http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/01/soylent-1m-preorders/ )
You have to keep in mind this is an early adopter, hot-off-the-manufacturing-line, hey-look-this-might-work version. Give it time to grow, mature, and let economies of scale kick in.
Yours is the 3rd comment that says almost identically the same thing. Are you guys in on this bashing together?
Low cost hinges on scaling up (and hopefully also being less strict about pseudo-"hypo-allergenic" properties).
It's impact on poverty world wide could be like the potato was to Europe and the Islands. On second thought...
To that end, Soylent has a DIY section where people have contributed recipes so you can make soylent yourself, often with a button to add all the ingredients into your amazon cart.
http://diy.soylent.me/wiki/why-diy-soylent
And you can view the recipes by my favorite or most complete: http://diy.soylent.me/recipes?pctComplete=0.99&sort=favorite...
The thing to remember that when you DIY, you're buying the ingredients in bulk and it seems expensive. Take for example the [QuidNYC's Superfood for him](http://diy.soylent.me/recipes/quidnycs-superfood-for-him) which will cost you $437 up front, but gives you an ~80 day supply, so it really comes down to $5.50/day. Also, if you compare that to the Soylent campaign prices, it's $255 for a 1 month supply, or $130 for a 2 week supply. There's no real "trial size" at this point, so it's rather difficult to try a bunch of recipes and see what you like.
Also, not all recipes are created equal: http://diy.soylent.me/recipes/hungry-hobo-i-cant-believe-its...