first off, i'd like to say thank you all of making this a great community. it's been a great source of info for me. i've become somewhat passionate about these products (enough so that my brothers have been trying 100% Food and my coworker has been trying MealSquares), and i feel like i've learned a lot about energy, diet, nutrition, etc. in trying to understand how these foods would work for me.
i've tried a decent number of the products out there, and i wanted to share my experiences/opinions about each. for some context into my shipping situation, i live on the US east coast, mid-atlantic region. here they are the reviews:
Hol Food
price per 2000 Cal $9.71 retail (after CAN>USD conversion) $8.74 with 10% subscription discount
first off, it has 28g saturdated fat per 2000 Calories. that sounds like too much. do you all agree? i've read that some people are starting to say that "saturated fat is bad" may not be such a solid rule, but i'd still rather have less.
obviously, the price is very good. also, it tastes pretty good, as other reviews, etc. have mentioned. i also kinda like how it hits all the micro-nutrients right at 100%.
it took a long time for the hol food to get to me. i heard that they may have been having product delivery issues, but it would have been nice to have some notification/communication about what to expect. i ordered 16-MAR and didn't get any status updates for 2 weeks (the order status page still read "your order is confirmed," just like it did when i placed my order. so, i e-mailed them 29-MAR. i was told it would ship 6-APR. 7-APR came around and the order status page remained unchanged. unexpectedly, i received the shipment 12-APR, but i was just glad i finally received the hol food.
unfortunately, the contents were also unexpected. i thought it was cool how i could customize, to a certain extent, my order. i ordered 14 x 1000 calorie bags, and there were 7 bags in the shipment i received. i think they were 2000 calorie bags, so i still got the amount i ordered, just it wasn't customized as i had expected, given the order that i placed.
i will say that James was very responsive to my e-mails, and i appreciate that.
one little other thing is that the nutritional label sent with the bags of hol food did not match up with the label on the website. the label i got said there is 32g protein per 2000 Calories, but the website said 125g protein.
finally, one thing i think is notable is that the bags weren't sealed (the way tsogo and biolent came). they kind of look like they should be (see the two perforations(maybe not the right word) at the top of both sides of the bag in this picture). they do have a zip-loc, so you can close the bag between uses.
grade: C- on a scale where C=satisfactory, i'd have to rate my experience as less than satisfactory. it's hard to imagine i would re-order, not because i dont believe these issues could be worked out but because there are many other decent options. having zero idea of the status/delivery date of my order, receiving something other than i ordered, and the lack of a seal on a food item really drive this rating.
Soylent 2.0
price per 2000 Cal $14.17 retail $10.84 with 15% subscription discount and 10% SOYLENTCOMMUNITY1 code
there is 15g fiber per 2000 Calories. if i want transitions between soylent 2.0 and normal food to be relatively smooth, i think i'd want more than this. does this make sense/do you all agree?
i did buy my first batch at full price, for some reason, but the subscription and coupon codes make the price pretty good. again, i like how all the micronutrients are right at 100%.
i love the flavor. it's not as sweet as other products, but as far as i'm concerned, that's a good thing. i find it hard to take my time drinking the bottles because of how much i like the flavor.
my favorite thing about soylent 2.0 is its convenience. not having to refrigerate or prepare the drink is just too awesome. i can't stress enough how worthwhile this feature is.
the last thing i'd say about soylent 2.0 is that they ship SUPER quickly. my first order was placed 16-MAR, and it came in 18-MAR. my second came in 26-APR after i ordered it 24-APR.
grade: A- i'll save the A+ rating for THE perfect product, and i guess i'll take away a point since I'd like more fiber. w/e, it's still my highest rated product.
100% Food - RAW
price per 2000 Cal $11.43 for 21 bottles with free shipping with subscription (i didn't realize i signed up for a subscription)
price is solid, and can get even better if i get more bottles or order bags instead.
with the bottles, the convenience of 100% food is a close second to soylent 2.0 - i just need to add water.
one thing i was wary of prior to trying 100% food was its added sugar content - 42g per 670 Calorie serving. the first day i tried it, i felt pretty weird, maybe sort of a mini sugar high and crash. i don't ingest much sugar, and so my theory is that my body was getting used to it. the next few days i drank each half-bottle separately, and that seemed to help as well.
i like the content of 100% food. i appreciate having the texture of the seeds, etc.
shipping speed was solid - i placed the order 26-MAR and received it 31-MAR.
grade: B+ overall, great experience. for me, the sugar content brings the score down. i've ordered low sugar 100% food, so we'll see how that goes.
MealSquares
price per 2000 Cal $15 retail $14.17 subscription gives $5 discount on 30 squares
i like the idea of mealsquares and how it's a unique product, being the only solid option i've come across. this is probably why i gave it a shot despite its high price relative to other products.
i'm neither a dietician nor a nutritionist, but i did kind of like their whole food philosophy. at the very least, i thought that maybe that meant my body would have a relatively easy time transitioning into mealsquares as a source of food.
one of my concerns about the product is the high sodium content. there's 110% FDA RDV per 2000 calories; i don't know if i'm down with that. i see that they referenced a study for why they did that, and they also explained their reasoning, which is good.
another one of my concerns was how the mealsquares weren't shipped in a cooler or with any cooling agents but the website reads "Once taken out of the refrigerator, a square should be eaten within 48 hours."
as far as the taste/experience, i totally like it. i think i'm going to order another 30 squares. the one thing i would say is that i probably couldn't do a 100% mealsquare diet. i couldn't do 5 in a day. by the 4th, the parts of the mealsquare that didn't have chocolate, and thus very dry, were pretty hard to get through.
i also like how all you need to do is refrigerate them; beyond that, no preparation is necessary. i read that microwaving them isn't necessary, but i still microwave them for ~30s.
finally, delivery took awhile, but it was expected. the website said "Most orders should ship within a few weeks" and the confirmation e-mail read that the mealsquares "should get baked and shipped out some time in the next month." i'm thinking this is because they're still in the beta stages of their process and, as they said, it takes some time to prepare/bake the squares. i placed my order 26-MAR, the squares were shipped 5-APR, and i received them 7-APR.
grade: B its price is a little high, its sodium is a little high, and its delivery time is a little high. in the end, i still like the product as a whole. i think they're super convenient (maybe second only to soylent 2.0).
Biolent
price per 2000 Cal $11.49 (estimated retail, after CAN>USD conversion) $10.45 (with 10% off 1<3REDDIT coupon code)
i totally like biolent. the price is good. i really like the taste (i'd say it's second to soylent 2.0). the taste kind of suprised me because someone out there said there was an overwhelming shellfish flavor, but i didn't have the same experience.
shipping was solid. i ordered on 31-MAR, it shipped 3-APR, and i got it 8-APR.
my one concern is its micronutrient profile, but maybe i don't need to be concerned. a number of the micronutrients will be way over the RDV, but i think it's still under the recommended maximum. one thing i notice is my pee is sometimes bright, radiation green. over a long period of time, can i healthily take in way over the RDV of several micronutrients as long as its under the recommended maximum? it has a huge amount of fiber, too (60g/2000Cal). for these reasons, i almost feel like i can't go 100% biolent. what do you all think?
grade: B i like biolent a lot, but feeling like i need to limit its intake kind of loses points for me. i do think it's cool that they wanted a maltodextrin-less product and produced one.
