After Soylent changed their formula to include soy protein, I discovered I had a soy allergy. Between falling in love with Soylent 1.5 and Soylent 1.6 betraying me so hard, I've been on a quest to find a new form of liquid meal replacement. But everything I found either had soy in it, was too expensive or was out of stock. So I took matters into my own hungry hands.
Always consult a nutritionist or doctor before trying any new diet. Read all warning labels and do your own research. The following article is not intended to be taken as professional nutritional advice. All data has been collected using FDA approved Nutritional Facts Labels.
Bulk Barn Soylent Challenge
I decided to see if I could grab a bunch of ingredients from a local bulk food store and see how closely I could replicate the cost and nutritional value of Soylent. Most food is pretty loaded with salt, sugar and carbs, so my priorities when searching the aisles were protein, fat, fibre, and VitC.
My Hetero-genius Mix
I grabbed about 200g of each of these ingredients, mixed them in a bowl and prepared 2 scoops as I've done with Soylent. It has a very earthy, nutty taste. Since the ingredients don't mix in water very smoothly, the immediate meal was thin and chunky, definitely not as palatable as a smooth and creamy Soylent. I imagine if I left the meal to soak in the water for a bit, the chia seeds and bran would have made the slurry thicker and smoother. The meal was definitely just as filling and satiable as a liquid people mix.
Bulk Barn vs Soylent
After crunching the numbers and accounting for a 106g serving size, here's how this foodie Frankenstein compared to Soylent 1.6:
Bottoms-Up!
I didn't expect these stats to be so close, mind you I have no idea what the micro-nutrient levels are. My guess is that they aren't too far off, but I ain't no lab technician. I do know you'll have enough Vit-C for a whole platoon of apocalypse soldiers.
Just add some table salt, a bit of honey and maybe a multi-vitamin for good measure, and you got yourself a pretty decent meal replacer. The cost is pretty damn good too. Allows room for customising, whether it's with fruit or protein powder or more minerals/vitamins. Keep in mind that this isin't intended to replace every meal, but can be used for workouts, road trips, late-for-work mornings, lazy dinners, or after long nights at the bar.
For more nutritious meal replacers, check out my Bug-out Bar recipe:
*UPDATE: Slurry 1.1
I've decided to fortify my formula by adding Pea Protein Isolate (canadianprotein.com).
I will be constantly tweaking the formula, but for now I've mixed 1:1 ratio of BulkBarn slurry to pea protein. Here's how it compares:
Henceforth, my Franken-juice will be called;
"Lil' Butcher's Slurry"...the nutritious slop you need in a hurry.
**UPDATE: Slurry 1.2
I've re-worked the formula a bit more by cutting out some of the expensive ingredients which brought down the cost significantly. The micro-nutrients for Slurry 1.2 can simply be consumed in the form of a multi-vitamin, which go for approx $0.20/tablet. My next challenge is to figure out the shelf-life of Slurry. For now, I keep mine in ziploc bags in the fridge.
