Hi all. I’m brand new to Huel after it was recommended by a friend who is using it every day and whose opinion I trust. I’m excited to see if I can lose some weight. (I recently tried calorie-counting for the first time in my life - using an iPhone app - and I was delighted to find it really does come down to balanced nutrition and a daily calorie deficit. But logging everything I ate was hard to sustain after a few weeks, so I’m keen to try something even more straightforward.) If I can keep up the enthusiasm with Huel, I’ll return here to update this journal.
I can’t remember the last time I ever spent more than £40 on the purchase of a single foodstuff, so I was hesitant until my friend told me about the “one meal” £4 sample which also rewards a £4 discount on the first full order. That was a no-brainer and I ordered in moments. (Feedback: I think this offer should be front-and-centre on the site, as I would not have seen it otherwise; it’s right at the bottom of the page and if you’ve already gone to the “Buy” page it’s not clearly advertised.)
Now that I’ve done a fair amount of reading about the product, I feel I “get it” just fine and I’ve got no concerns about purchasing, storing, measuring, mixing, etc. My thoughts now are almost entirely about the flavour, specifically the sweetness. My vanilla sample arrived quickly and the first mouthful was quite alien. By the third or forth gulp my tastebuds understood what I was drinking and by the time half of it was gone I found it hard to stop. By that I just mean that If I had tried to make the drink last over the course of a couple of hours I would have failed, it was already just the right amount of moreish and I could already see myself giving it a proper go. By the end of the day, I had ordered my first week’s supply.
Now, here’s where it’s going to get more complex for me. I though the vanilla was good but a little too sweet for me and left a slightly cloying, sickly aftertaste. The unsweetened version sounded like a good solution, with the benefit of being able to mix in savoury flavours for more variety too. I must admit I did not pay enough attention to the clear warnings about it almost certainly needing sweetener. As soon as I tried it, I realised what a good job the Huel team had done in formulating the regular/vanilla version! Honestly, I slightly regretted getting the unsweetened version. I hope I get used to it.
Since it’s the first day, I’ve only had two full shakers of unsweetened Huel, but I did split one up and experiment with flavouring. I tried it with coffee, with vanilla extract and with chocolate powder. Each blended in just fine and I will use them in future, but each of them also needed sweetner. I drink my coffee black and unsweetened but unsweetened Huel is definitely chalky and REALLY bitter. I’ve found that a small amount of granulated sweetner makes a huge difference. Unfortunately I haven’t got it tasting as good as the regular huel sample was, because it’s more like tasting one bitter taste and one sweet taste at the same time, with the flavours separated (if that even makes any sense).
OK I’ve written enough for now. If you’re still reading, then I think the take-away message is that I found the Vanilla a bit too sweet and the Unsweetened too bitter. This sweetening lark is TRICKY! I can totally understand why @Julian has firmly settled on the vanilla like most people. Anyway, I will continue to experiment with some of the suggested flavourings like cinnamon and fruit and I’ll report back. Right now I’ve got the weird contradiction of enjoying a Saturday evening at home and almost looking forward to Monday morning so I can head out of the door with my Huel breakfast in hand! 
