Soylent Meal Replacement Review

Have you heard of Soylent yet? According to the Soylent website, it's "healthy, easy, affordable food."

But What Is It?
Soylent is a nutritionally complete food product. It comes as a powder that you mix with water and drink. It's a healthy alternative to eating, well, regular food.

Imagine taking the nutrients that your body needs from the food you eat. Pull out those good bits and isolate them from the stuff you don't need (including flavor!). Mix that into a smoothy / shake type beverage and you have Soylent.

Soylent Green Is People!
Yes, Soylent is a clever play on the food that the society ate in the movie Soylent Green. In that awesome movie from 1973, staring Charlton Heston, we watched as society "solved" their food crisis by turning dead people into food. Lucky for you, Soylent isn't made from people. Of course, when you taste it you may have your doubts. More on the taste later.

Soylent Green Is People!!! Soylent is not. Credit bandita

According to the Soylent website, they'll tell you that the name is inspired by the 1966 book Make Room! Make Room! In that book, Soylent was made of soy and lentils. Not as fun as people! But when you're funny product name turns into a big business you probably don't want to tell everyone it's based on a product made of people.

What's In It?
The nutritional makeup of Soylent includes protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Everything put into the mix is based "commonly-accepted and replicable findings by the scientific community."

It gives your body the same stuff you'd get from a healthy diet without adding in extra sugar, fats, cholesterol.

A True Daily Meal Replacement?
Yes and no. It certainly can be a daily meal replacement and you can replace all meals with Soylent. It supposedly has what your body needs to thrive. Plenty of people are drinking Soylent on a daily basis, so it can be done.

The question you're asking should be, "Do you want to eat this for every meal?" The answer to that is a big NO. It's an awesome product, I love it. Part of the fun being human is eating different types of foods. Either at home or at a restaurant with friends and family. Eating is fun!

Do we want to give that freedom up to drink a beige paste four times a day? I don't.

But here's the important part: Soylent is by far the best single meal replacement I've ever tried. When I drink it, it fills me up as if I just ate normal food. I don't feel crappy 2 hours later. I feel like I ate a meal.

I like it to replace one meal a day, maybe a few times a week at most. When you don't feel like making food you grab the Soylent, mix, drink, and you're done.

How Does It Taste?
Not good. It's not gross, but it's not good. It's like baby formula. Even if you've never tasted baby formula, smell some and you'll know what the taste is. It mixes up as a beige, thick liquid. It tastes exactly how it looks.

Yes, it tastes just like it looks. Credit rklopfer

The secret is to mix something into it and then it's any flavor you want. You can mix in bananas, vanilla, fruits, etc. I even mixed in some of Torani Raspberry Syrup which was tasty (but less healthy).

The best option is to mix in frozen fruits like strawberries, blueberries, bananas. Do it in a blender or NutriBullet for best results. Frozen fruits work great because they make it super cold, and that also helps the flavor. Warm Soylent is not pleasant.

Nothing to mix with it? Then mix with water and ice, blend, plug your nose and drink. It's gone in seconds. Wait 20 minutes and it will feel like you ate food.

Is It Expensive?
Not at all! A one week supply, which gives you 28 meals, costs around $85. That's just over $3 per meal. Shipping is extra.

You can get bulk discounts if you buy more at a time or subcribe for monthly deliveries. For example, a 4 week supply gives you 112 meals for $300. That's around $2.70 per meal.

All things considered, pretty cheap stuff.

Should I Buy Soylent?
Only you can make that decision. Personally, I really like it. I'm not buying it to live off of, nor would I want to. I'm buying it so that I have cheap, easy, and affordable meals that are always ready to make in seconds when I need them.

If you've tried other meal replacement powders or shakes, give Soylent a try. I've never had success with those other options but Soylent leaves me feeling good after I drink it. I get nothing if you buy Soylent, I'm just a happy customer.