So I tried my first batch of Huel for lunch yesterday (water, 3 scoops of unflavoured powder, Huel toffee flavouring) and it was a massive struggle despite having blended it and left it overnight in the fridge. Something about the taste made me gag a couple of times and I could only manage to drink about three quarters of the standard sized bottle over the course of an hour or two, mixed with lots of gulps of Diet Coke to try and wash away the taste. Not a fun experience, though it did keep me reasonably satiated until dinner time.
Today I tried a mix of the unflavoured powder with skimmed milk, a banana and a few teaspoons of low calorie liquid chocolate (‘Choc Shot’, 15 calories per teaspoon) and the difference was remarkable. The consistency was much thicker and it tasted like a passable milkshake, verging on being pleasant.
I realise that adding these extra ingredients is ‘cheating’ a bit, but I think it’s worth making a miserable lunch something more palatable for the sake of a few extra calories. I’m hoping it’s still going to be a healthy alternative to the usual lunch and snacks throughout the day.
I’d be curious to hear if anyone else has any other ways of enhancing their Huel mix to make it a more palatable drink.
I usually just mix some instant coffee or cinnamon in mine. But I also mix half unflavoured and half vanilla and then leave it over night. The result is good, it’s not nearly as watery as ‘freshly’ made Huel.
I assume it’s the toffee flavouring making you gag as opposed to the Huel itself??
Not cheating at all. Huel is a food. Some people like their food prepared differently than others.
Huel is not a diet food, so there is no right or wrong way to prepare it. If you are on a diet, then you can account for the higher calorie counts by consuming less overall Huel and other foods.
Assuming you are on a diet, then the important thing is for your experience to be pleasant. If that means adding milk, banana, chocolate, etc, so be it. The number one benefit of using Huel as a weight loss product is that it is very easy to track calories. It is still easier to track calories while including bananas and skim milk.
And remember: no matter what you add to your Huel, it is still more nutritiously complete than what most people consume on a daily basis.
Unflavoured Huel is pretty hardcore and not for everybody. Of all the flavours I have tried so far (4 off), Toffee is weakest so I doubt it did much to tame the unflavoured Huel.
Unless you can get used to it or flavour it some other way you might want to give Vanilla a go. It’s much more palatable on its own and actually quite nice with some of the flavours.
Letting Huel warm up to room temperature also makes it a lot worse IMO. I make mine with chilled bottle water and put ice in and always consume within 15 minutes.
You may, like me, struggle with the sweetener they use in flavoured Huel. I just can’t get it past the back of my throat. Unflavoured is great on it’s own or with fruit. I’d say I do about 90% straight unflavoured with a couple of treat frozen fruit blended smoothies. It mixes easier, tastes better and is purer
I use vanilla powder currently. I have not tried unsweetened. I do not find it hard to take on its own.
For variety, i got some flavour drops bottles from the myprotein website. I did consider getting the huel powder pouches but because I travel a lot I would find the little bottles of liquid much easier to transport than an extra powder pouch.
They’re fine. I don’t recommend the peanut butter one though.
