Hello there, folks of Huel (forgive the overly dramatic topic title)
Got a bit of a dilemma. Received my delivery of Huel (Vanilla flavour) a couple of days back… and I’m struggling with the taste of it at the moment. I haven’t been able to finish a whole container of it as of yet. Drinking it is certainly not a terrible experience - it’s just tricky to push my quibbles with the taste of it all out of my mind. Tried mixing some blueberries and then some strawberries in with it but to no avail.
I thought I’d really prefer the Vanilla to the Unsweetened/Unflavoured variety - it’s come as a bit of a surprise.
So I’ve ordered a sample of the Unsweetened/Unflavoured along with a couple of the Flavour/Sweetener pouches (Banana & Toffee) because I’d hate to give up on this magical sounding stuff at the first hurdle. Basically, I wondered if anyone had any advice in terms of how to go about doing things from here. If I’m not a fan of the taste of the Vanilla… would you expect me not to really dig the Unsweetened/Unflavoured alternative? And I’m also wondering if the Flavour/Sweetener pouches are powerful enough to make a difference really?
Suggestions that make a lot of difference for me are a) refridgerating it b) playing with the consistency as it alters how strong the flavour is and c) using milk instead of water (dairy milk or other wise). And experiment with all of these things and different flavourings.
I make my morning shake 125g and 350ml, and the rest of the day 125g and 450ml. Thick shake is my favourite. He finds it too strong like that so he adds more liquid. We both agree that for whatever reason it is a lot nicer out of the fridge.
Even if you usually drink cows milk, I would recommend trying some dairy-free milks as you have more room for variety of flavour, even if you go 50:50 water:milk (which I sometimes do if I am low on milk). I use soya milk with cocoa powder every morning. In the evening after work I usually have a coffee shake (instant coffee granules work very well) which I find ok with water as long as I don’t make it too thin, but coffee granules are also nice combined with rice or almond milk.
The last thing is that in my experience, using fruit etc needs a LOT of fruit to affect the flavour so it tends not to be worth it for me but you might want to try it using a lot more and see how that goes. If you aren’t sure about the powders then myprotein also do ‘flavdrops’ that can be useful (but they’re not marked vegan and only some are vegetarian right now) and some people use syrups etc.
I on,y have one hurl meal a day but my recipe is 200ml semi skimmed milk, 150ml water. Two scoops vanilla and half teaspoon(at the most) strawberry flavour and I find it pleasant to drink.
It’s nicer still to make the evening before and refrigerate.
Coffee!
I added a heaped teaspoon of instant coffee to my huel for the first week. Now I really like it on its own. It took a while but I think my body craves it now so it tastes nicer. Kind of like green veggies when you’re little, if that makes sense.
I’ve a similar experience. The first sip of Huel I took left me wondering if I had just thrown away £45. Now I crave it. I aim for two Huels a day and one regular meal, but sometimes after eating a regular meal I’m left wishing I had consumed Huel instead.
@DanKyte, most of my Huel meals are mixed with frozen berries and something I’ve found helps the Vanilla flavour substantially when mixed with berries is a good squeeze of lemon juice. Without it, it doesn’t have enough acidity and becomes a bit cloying. The combination of a more balanced flavour profile from the citric acid and being icy cold from the frozen berries makes it nicer for me. My standard recipe is 400ml cold water 2.5-3 scoops of Huel, a good squirt of lemon juice (plastic bottles from Aldi have been easiest/cheapest), and enough frozen fruit to fill up my 600ml container, all blended until smooth. I usually blend the Huel and water first, then add the berries and lemon juice as it prevents bits of dry Huel from caking on the side of the container.
I’ve found chocolate nesquik powder really works well with huel! I struggled with the vanilla at first as well but with nesquik it just tastes like a lovely thick chocolate milkshake! I use 150ml of milk and 350ml of water with 3 scoops of huel and it comes out a great consistency!