1st time trying Huel; 2nd time trying smart food

Feedback
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Hi everyone!
I received my Huel parcel yesterday, and after having some for lunch yesterday, and for breakfast today, I already have a couple comments to make, and feedback to give!

It’s my first time trying Huel, but it’s not my first time trying smart food. I’m from France and have tried a similar concept from here. My local smart food producer (which I’m not citing, I mean that’s not an ad) proposes pre-flavoured solid bars, and powder. Some of their powder preparations are savoury though (tomato, kale, mix of vegetables…), and I feel that Huel is lacking any savoury or salty flavour boosts… I have a salty rather than a sweet tooth, and I’m not sure I can regularly have entirely sweet meals in the future.

Yesterday, for lunch, I tried following the recipe from the booklet as is: 400ml room-temp water with 3 scoops of Huel (1 UU, 2 New Vanilla) — shaking — then more water (about 150ml). Quick, simple, easy.
As for the taste, it looks like I’m amongst the unlucky ones who can feel a strong bitter aftertaste every 3-4 mouthfuls. I tolerate bitterness though (I usually have tea and coffee unsweetened), so it wasn’t that off-putting.
Nevertheless I got hungry a few hours later. My guess is I diluted it too much, so my body assimilated Huel more as a drink than as a meal.

Yet I had a look at the forum and found that some of you reported lessened bitterness after chilling Huel overnight.
Yesterday night, I decided preparing my Huel lunch for today, adapting the recipe from the booklet: first, I put 3 scoops of Huel (2 UU, 1 NV) with the 3g test dosis of Chocolate flavour boost — stirred —, added 450ml fresh tap water — shook — and chilled in the fridge for the night.

I just had lunch and am happy to report the bitterness has vanished! Also, it’s not too sweet, which I like. Though after having half of it, it started to be too thick for me to drink without gagging (but it filled my stomach up so quickly, so I prefer this consistency), so I tried adding a dash of almond milk. It did the trick perfectly and added an agreeable almond aftertaste.

10/10 would recommend. I’ll try other combinations/flavours and will post them riiiight here!

TL;DR: I put my points in bold letters.

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Interesting read, and looks like you are prepared to experiment to get it right; it’s hard to get it right first time, and I guess some are put off by the initial experience.

Whenever possible [most of the time] I refrigerate mine overnight, and I like it thicker too.

I am someone who prefers savoury tastes, but I haven’t found a savoury Huel option I like.

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Updates!

3rd try, for breakfast: 2 scoops UU, 1 NV, 450ml water, with Strawberry Flavour Boost. Chilled overnight and added a dash of almond milk. Not bad, but I’m not too fond of that artificial strawberry taste…

4th try, for dinner: 1 UU, 2 NV, 450ml water, with Caramel Flavour Boost. I put it in the fridge the whole afternoon. Perfect thickness, liked the taste at the beginning, but struggled to finish the drink as it got too artificial.

As for my 5th try, I experimented: 3 scoops UU, 8cl strong Sumatra coffee, 250ml water, and completed up to 500ml with almond milk. Chilled overnight. It got way too thick, had to add water up to the max, and it still was too thick. As for the taste… plain had to throw the whole drink away as I could not have more than 3 sips of it. :frowning: Quite disappointed this time, plus I have to go to work on an empty stomach now…

A conclusion I can draw up to now is, I think the “1 UU, 2 NV” ratio works better for me!

I’ll keep trying new flavours and recipes, but for now I have to admit that, out of 5 tries, I enjoyed the French counterpart better.

CU!

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Great to hear you’ve found something that works for you! Huel is all about experimentation and it can just take a few goes to get it perfect for you. I like the idea of savoury flavours but the ones we’ve tried just haven’t worked - I distinctly remember trying a tomato flavour Huel in 2016 which was potent to say the least! Do you enjoy the savoury flavours your french brand offer?

To clarify, the booklet actually specifies cold water. So this may have been this issue. I’d never have Huel with room temperature water if I could at all avoid it. Chilled Huel is the best!

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Hi people! Me again.

Since my latest disappointment I haven’t taken Huel often, besides once!
I went for 500ml cold water, 3 scoops NV, Rhubarb&Custard flavour boost — shaken and chilled overnight!
It was pretty tasty actually, although the flavour was quite discreet.

@Tim_Huel wrote:

Do you enjoy the savoury flavours your french brand offer?

Actually I did enjoy them! Their “tomato & basil,” “pumpkin,” and “assortment of vegetables” are pretty tasty, and they satisfy my savoury tooth.
But I have to admit I find Huel to have more potential with its unique possibility to flavour your shake to one’s own taste.

I just prepared tomorrow’s lunch and put it in the fridge for the night, will keep you updated! (500ml cold water, 2UU, 1NV, toffee flavour boost, 1/2 a teaspoon of organic vanilla sugar).

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haven’t taken Huel

Sigh.

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First off, as I mentioned, I’m not a native English speaker. Thanks for correcting me, that’s one fewer mistake I’ll make in the future. :slightly_smiling_face: After a thorough and complicated search (lmao), turns out the use of “had” would’ve been more appropriate.
Second, wow, thanks a lot for sarcastically correcting a minor mistake that did not prevent you in any way from understanding what I meant!
And finally, thank you so very much for your constructive, interesting, mature and well-thought feedback!
I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon. :slightly_smiling_face:

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First off, no problem.

Secondly, I didn’t correct the mistake.

Finally, no problem.

My comment was around the way people say “taking” Huel as if it’s some kind of drug. It should be ‘eating’ or ‘drinking’ or even ‘consuming’… Didn’t realise you weren’t native, so my bad.