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Who's the market for Soylent bars? Is it people who don't have time to eat/prepare complete meals and need a fast alternative? I find it hard to believe Soylent

Who's the market for Soylent bars? Is it people who don't have time to eat/prepare complete meals and need a fast alternative? I find it hard to believe Soylent can provide all the nutrition you need. Is it to satisfy your hunger in the afternoon of midday as a snack? If so why not just buy granola or protein bars that at least have some flavor?

timjver 10y ago
>I find it hard to believe Soylent can provide all the nutrition you need. Why?
- martinko 10y ago
  We have no idea what all the important components of a balanced diet are on a chemical level, it is incredibly naive to think that soylent can mix up a cocktail that would be optimal.
  - stale2002 10y ago
    The point isn't really to replace your entire diet with this for months. It is meal substitution.
  - CydeWeys 10y ago
    Soylent bars are made out of food, specifically a variety of foods we know that people need all mixed together. It's not like they're mining rocks from the Earth and using complicated chemical reactions to turn raw inorganic materials into food. Also, what does "optimal" even mean? You're setting the bar too high; as long as they're healthier than typical alternatives of eating lots of fast food and processed packaged foods then their addressable market is huge.
    - leshow 10y ago
      > Also, what does "optimal" even mean? You're setting the bar too high; as long as they're healthier than typical alternatives of eating lots of fast food and processed packaged foods then their addressable market is huge. this is exactly the kind of research soylent doesnt have on their products. we have no idea if they are 'healthier' or not.
    - martinko 10y ago
      > Soy protein, Algal oil, Isomaltulose, Vitamins & minerals You call that food? Suddenly the 'balanced diet' everyone seems to be pushing is not applicable? Yeah ok, I agree that if you are coming from a mcdonalds-only diet, you might do better, but they are positioning themselves as a healthy meal replacement.
      - CydeWeys 10y ago
        It's worth looking at the full ingredients list rather than just a select few. See here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Bar_Nutrition_Facts_US_REV_NC-01.png/300px-Bar_Nutrition_Facts_US_REV_NC-01.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Ba...
    - DanBC 10y ago
      > Also, what does "optimal" even mean? You're setting the bar too high; Soylent set the bar that high during their kickstarter by saying it would put you in perfect health, and was suitable for everyone.
  - timjver 10y ago
    Perhaps not optimal, but in a lot of cases probably a lot better than someone's previous diet.
    - smallnamespace 10y ago
      Says what science?
      - timjver 10y ago
        I've seen several blood test results posted to the Soylent subreddit, and those generally are very positive. I know that's not a scientific study by any means, and people should be skeptical, but there really is a lot of (anecdotal) evidence out there of Soylent having a positive impact on people's diets. On the other hand, I've hardly seen any evidence of Soylent having a negative impact on someone's health.
- leshow 10y ago
  Because they don't have any research using their bars or their drink mixture to back up any of their claims. All they are doing is looking at the recommended levels of vitamins/minerals and macronutrients and mixing some shit together, and hoping for the best.
redka 10y ago
Convenience. It's the same with regular Soylent, Mana, and anything DIY in between. I make my own version of Soylent, both in liquid and baked form and use it whenever it suits me, mostly 1 meal a day.
- Klathmon 10y ago
  Yeah, I've wanted to look into something like this for a long time. For me, eating is a chore most of the time. I just want something cheap and quick that will allow me to not die.
  - TheDong 10y ago
    I doubt you really want just "to not die" from your food. Your mental health, ability to work, and happiness are all impacted pretty heavily by your diet. Lacking some nutrients can increase depression, lacking others can result in always feeling tired and sluggish, etc. The reason I'm wary of soylent is not because I doubt that I could live on it (many people have lived for fairly significant durations on basically only soylent), but because I worry it would overall decrease my quality of life. Saving time eating is great, but it's not worth feeling like shit the rest of the time.
    - Klathmon 10y ago
      That is a bit of hyperbole, but the sentiment is there. I'm not looking for a "food replacement" though. I just want something that I can eat for lunch because I often forget to eat anything at all (also with breakfast, but that's more of not wanting to waste the time on making a good breakfast). Soylent seems like a great choice vs nothing half of the time. It's also better than me just eating rasin bran for the 20th morning in a row.
      - smallnamespace 10y ago
        Breakfast is actually pretty easy to make 1) cheap and 2) easy to prepare. It takes about 5 minutes to grill an egg or boil one. If you soak oatmeal overnight, it takes about 10 minutes to fully cook. You can make toast or hashbrowns in about that amount of time as well. My routine is often start heating some food, then go brush my teeth while it's heating, so no time wasted. Small condiments can add a lot of variety -- buy a tub of yogurt, cream, cheese, salmon slices, sausage, etc., then just mix and match. You won't have to have the same meal twice in a week. And if cooking is simply too much of a hassle, why not just buy some apples, oranges, or whatever fruit suits your fancy, and just eat it whole? Pretty sure everyone agrees that fruit is healthy, and they're cheap.
ryanmarsh 10y ago
Worked with a guy who ate it. Said he felt better and was healthier when taking it and grew to despise having to fuck with eating a sandwhich at lunch. Apparently the taste is satiating.
Theodores 10y ago
The guy who developed the Soylent product was/is a programmer who had a diet of mostly junk food. This he realised was no good for him hence the product. The market is programmers like himself plus others.
paulsutter 10y ago
You might want to check how much sugar is in those "protein" and "granola" bars. Side note: nice if Soylent produced a version with less sugar (less or no fructose specifically).
- M_Grey 10y ago
  Just make your own... if you can boil water you can make them, it'll be less expensive, healthier, and you can tailor it to your taste.
  - serf 10y ago
    >Just make your own... that's the whole thing that Soylent is selling, convenience.
    - M_Grey 10y ago
      Can you mix a paste in a bowl, and stick it in an oven? Is that inconvenient? You get more, pay less, and it suits your needs and tastes. Do it once a quarter, and you'll spend less time on that than opening Soylent bars.
      - farnsworth 10y ago
        Any recipes you could share? I've made my own bars but they wouldn't last a quarter.
        M_Grey 10y ago
        Good Eats (forget the season) had some good baked ones, and this is my go-to base for protein bars: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/diy-protein-bars-healthy-bars-in-5-easy-steps.html http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/diy-protein-bars-healthy-bar... The secret is just... freeze them. I find the best results come by sandwiching each layer of them between wax paper, and then wrapping the whole thing up and storing in the freezer, separated out by 1 weeks. Just take your 1 week batch out at a time, pop in the fridge, and you're set. EDIT: I just want to add, it's a real GIGO thing; the better and tastier your base ingredients, the better the result... especially with nuts and chocolate.
farnsworth 10y ago
I often eat one for breakfast or in the afternoon. Simple, it has more protein and fiber than other bars, with much less sugar. I like the taste.
- eropple 10y ago
  I'd suggest taking a look at Mealsquares if that's what you're looking for. They're pretty good--like, actually good, not just nothing.
dajohnson89 10y ago
I have on average two bottles per day. Easy breakfast, and lunch at work. Or last night for example, I was tired from a long week at work, and didn't feel like cooking nor going to get take out. Had a bottle of soylent, and it hit the spot perfectly.
lobster_johnson 10y ago
Note that Soylent bars aren't unflavoured -- they're caramel. Liquid soylent has a strong flavour of soy and flour, and tastes quite a bit like drinking pancake batter. As for other bars, I suspect you will find that most energy bars are not healthy at all. Granola bars are mostly sugar/carbs. The only bar that I know that competes with Soylent in terms of being low-carb, high-fiber, high-protein is Quest. Like Soylent, they use isomalto-oligosaccharides (a whole lot of fiber), just more of it. Quest uses mostly natural sweeteners such as stevia and erythritol, though some contain sucralose. The average Quest bar (60g) has just around 5g carbohydrates.

timjver 10y ago

>I find it hard to believe Soylent can provide all the nutrition you need. Why?

martinko 10y ago
We have no idea what all the important components of a balanced diet are on a chemical level, it is incredibly naive to think that soylent can mix up a cocktail that would be optimal.
- stale2002 10y ago
  The point isn't really to replace your entire diet with this for months. It is meal substitution.
- CydeWeys 10y ago
  Soylent bars are made out of food, specifically a variety of foods we know that people need all mixed together. It's not like they're mining rocks from the Earth and using complicated chemical reactions to turn raw inorganic materials into food. Also, what does "optimal" even mean? You're setting the bar too high; as long as they're healthier than typical alternatives of eating lots of fast food and processed packaged foods then their addressable market is huge.
  - leshow 10y ago
    > Also, what does "optimal" even mean? You're setting the bar too high; as long as they're healthier than typical alternatives of eating lots of fast food and processed packaged foods then their addressable market is huge. this is exactly the kind of research soylent doesnt have on their products. we have no idea if they are 'healthier' or not.
  - martinko 10y ago
    > Soy protein, Algal oil, Isomaltulose, Vitamins & minerals You call that food? Suddenly the 'balanced diet' everyone seems to be pushing is not applicable? Yeah ok, I agree that if you are coming from a mcdonalds-only diet, you might do better, but they are positioning themselves as a healthy meal replacement.
    - CydeWeys 10y ago
      It's worth looking at the full ingredients list rather than just a select few. See here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Bar_Nutrition_Facts_US_REV_NC-01.png/300px-Bar_Nutrition_Facts_US_REV_NC-01.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Ba...
  - DanBC 10y ago
    > Also, what does "optimal" even mean? You're setting the bar too high; Soylent set the bar that high during their kickstarter by saying it would put you in perfect health, and was suitable for everyone.
- timjver 10y ago
  Perhaps not optimal, but in a lot of cases probably a lot better than someone's previous diet.
  - smallnamespace 10y ago
    Says what science?
    - timjver 10y ago
      I've seen several blood test results posted to the Soylent subreddit, and those generally are very positive. I know that's not a scientific study by any means, and people should be skeptical, but there really is a lot of (anecdotal) evidence out there of Soylent having a positive impact on people's diets. On the other hand, I've hardly seen any evidence of Soylent having a negative impact on someone's health.
leshow 10y ago
Because they don't have any research using their bars or their drink mixture to back up any of their claims. All they are doing is looking at the recommended levels of vitamins/minerals and macronutrients and mixing some shit together, and hoping for the best.

redka 10y ago

Convenience. It's the same with regular Soylent, Mana, and anything DIY in between. I make my own version of Soylent, both in liquid and baked form and use it whenever it suits me, mostly 1 meal a day.

Klathmon 10y ago
Yeah, I've wanted to look into something like this for a long time. For me, eating is a chore most of the time. I just want something cheap and quick that will allow me to not die.
- TheDong 10y ago
  I doubt you really want just "to not die" from your food. Your mental health, ability to work, and happiness are all impacted pretty heavily by your diet. Lacking some nutrients can increase depression, lacking others can result in always feeling tired and sluggish, etc. The reason I'm wary of soylent is not because I doubt that I could live on it (many people have lived for fairly significant durations on basically only soylent), but because I worry it would overall decrease my quality of life. Saving time eating is great, but it's not worth feeling like shit the rest of the time.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    That is a bit of hyperbole, but the sentiment is there. I'm not looking for a "food replacement" though. I just want something that I can eat for lunch because I often forget to eat anything at all (also with breakfast, but that's more of not wanting to waste the time on making a good breakfast). Soylent seems like a great choice vs nothing half of the time. It's also better than me just eating rasin bran for the 20th morning in a row.
    - smallnamespace 10y ago
      Breakfast is actually pretty easy to make 1) cheap and 2) easy to prepare. It takes about 5 minutes to grill an egg or boil one. If you soak oatmeal overnight, it takes about 10 minutes to fully cook. You can make toast or hashbrowns in about that amount of time as well. My routine is often start heating some food, then go brush my teeth while it's heating, so no time wasted. Small condiments can add a lot of variety -- buy a tub of yogurt, cream, cheese, salmon slices, sausage, etc., then just mix and match. You won't have to have the same meal twice in a week. And if cooking is simply too much of a hassle, why not just buy some apples, oranges, or whatever fruit suits your fancy, and just eat it whole? Pretty sure everyone agrees that fruit is healthy, and they're cheap.

ryanmarsh 10y ago

Worked with a guy who ate it. Said he felt better and was healthier when taking it and grew to despise having to fuck with eating a sandwhich at lunch. Apparently the taste is satiating.

Theodores 10y ago

The guy who developed the Soylent product was/is a programmer who had a diet of mostly junk food. This he realised was no good for him hence the product. The market is programmers like himself plus others.

paulsutter 10y ago

You might want to check how much sugar is in those "protein" and "granola" bars. Side note: nice if Soylent produced a version with less sugar (less or no fructose specifically).

M_Grey 10y ago
Just make your own... if you can boil water you can make them, it'll be less expensive, healthier, and you can tailor it to your taste.
- serf 10y ago
  >Just make your own... that's the whole thing that Soylent is selling, convenience.
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    Can you mix a paste in a bowl, and stick it in an oven? Is that inconvenient? You get more, pay less, and it suits your needs and tastes. Do it once a quarter, and you'll spend less time on that than opening Soylent bars.
    - farnsworth 10y ago
      Any recipes you could share? I've made my own bars but they wouldn't last a quarter.
      - M_Grey 10y ago
        Good Eats (forget the season) had some good baked ones, and this is my go-to base for protein bars: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/diy-protein-bars-healthy-bars-in-5-easy-steps.html http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/diy-protein-bars-healthy-bar... The secret is just... freeze them. I find the best results come by sandwiching each layer of them between wax paper, and then wrapping the whole thing up and storing in the freezer, separated out by 1 weeks. Just take your 1 week batch out at a time, pop in the fridge, and you're set. EDIT: I just want to add, it's a real GIGO thing; the better and tastier your base ingredients, the better the result... especially with nuts and chocolate.

farnsworth 10y ago

I often eat one for breakfast or in the afternoon. Simple, it has more protein and fiber than other bars, with much less sugar. I like the taste.

eropple 10y ago
I'd suggest taking a look at Mealsquares if that's what you're looking for. They're pretty good--like, actually good, not just nothing.

dajohnson89 10y ago

I have on average two bottles per day. Easy breakfast, and lunch at work. Or last night for example, I was tired from a long week at work, and didn't feel like cooking nor going to get take out. Had a bottle of soylent, and it hit the spot perfectly.

lobster_johnson 10y ago

Note that Soylent bars aren't unflavoured -- they're caramel. Liquid soylent has a strong flavour of soy and flour, and tastes quite a bit like drinking pancake batter. As for other bars, I suspect you will find that most energy bars are not healthy at all. Granola bars are mostly sugar/carbs. The only bar that I know that competes with Soylent in terms of being low-carb, high-fiber, high-protein is Quest. Like Soylent, they use isomalto-oligosaccharides (a whole lot of fiber), just more of it. Quest uses mostly natural sweeteners such as stevia and erythritol, though some contain sucralose. The average Quest bar (60g) has just around 5g carbohydrates.