Student/recently turned vegan

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Hi everyone!
I am a 4th year university student and recently turned vegan (it has been about a month). (female, 5ft4in, 10st2lbs, minimal activity)
I spend most of my time in the library studying and have little time or money to cook and buy food/ingredients.
Was wondering if there are in other students who use the product? I’m looking to lose weight and become healthier.
Questions: does this product travel well, could I make one in the morning then take with me and have for lunch?
Is it more cost efficient than regular (studrent) food?

I have struggled a lot with finding vegan meals I enjoy, quorn meat substitutes have not been sitting well with me. Also have actively been trying to half more than half my meals as vegetables including breakfast but found myself getting bored quickly and running out of new ways to enjoy the food.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, I am very excited that this could be thing to sort all my problems!

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Well, let’s try and adress a few of your questions!

First up, YES! Huel travels very well. I often go to work with 3 resealable small bags with 3 scoops ( for me, a main meal with 550ml of water) in each. That’s an entire days worth for me, ready to add water, shake and drink. It washes off so easily with water, so yeah, Huel is very easy to transport. If you prefer a few less lumps (I’ve never found a problem with the lumps) then a blender is the way to go, in which case storing in the fridge is the recommended way to keep it, so a little less travel suitable. Honestly, a vigourous shake for 15 seconds, and I’ve not found the lumps to be a problem, just be sure to put water in first then empty a bag into the shaker (premeasured bag, not an entire Huel bag!)

Secondly, is it more cost efficient than regular food, for the average student, NO. noodles and cheap vodka cost hardly anything, and that is what I lived off when I was a student!
However the Vegan side of things changes that. Quorn is relativly cheap, but if you cant get on with it then you need to look at other options. How much are you spending on fruit and vegtables atm? You didn’t state your age, so I’ve made a guess at 21, and so your calories are around 1650-1700. Huels “week” is based on 2000 calories, so you’ll last longer (so pay less!) but a months worth for 2k is 162 quid. I’d say you’ll be spending 35 a week ish for your complete food using Huel. Weigh that up compared with what you spend atm, and see.

Regarding getting bored easily, Huel currently comes in 6 different flavours (4 flavour pouches, original vanilla, and unsweetened/flavoured). You can also add your own flavours to the mix, a few of the forum users have experimented with different sweet and savoury options (things like expresso and chocolate are popular, but I’ve seen people try chilli sauce!) Making your own savoury options might be an idea using things like cinnamon powder, ground ginger and the like to keep it vegan (A fair few sauces are not vegan friendly).

Hopefully this should give you information you require to make a choice that works for you. If you need more help / have more questions, pop in a reply!

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Thank you @welwynd for you your in depth, great info.

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Thank you very much for the detailed reply! And yes sorry I am 21 years old. I currently do the majority of my shopping at aldi, and as I’m not buying any meat I usually never spend much more than £30 on a weeks worth of food.

Also, I have been sticking to a diet of 1200 calories a day tracked using the myfitnesspal app on my phone. From this I’ve noticed I’m not getting anywhere near enough protein as is recommended. Even when eating meat my protein intake was minimal so this has just gotten worse.

Although I have lost 2lbs so far I don’t think the diet I’ve been following is at all sustainable

It’s good to hear that it travels well, and less bulky than the packed lunches I have been carting in to uni along with all my books!

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Also, I’m sorry I realise this is crude but as I am in the library most of my day I do have to use public toilets. If I had huel for 2 of my meals how would this affect my “toilet habits”?

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you might need to pee a bit more, as Huel is a liquid meal. I’ve not noticed any major untoward effects though. I used to have horrendous “toilet habits”, and I eat Huel for either 2 of my meals or all of them, depending on how busy I am. Nowadays, I’m regular and clean. You will still want to drink water ( or coffee, you’re a student after all! ) as well though.

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Thank you very much for the info! Away to purchase one weeks worth!

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I eat huel for 2 meals a day and for me everything in that department is absolutely fine and wouldn’t cause any issues in public toilets. In fact, I’d say that everything is more dependable, predictable, comfortable and… er… less offensive, when eating huel. I went away for a few days recently and didn’t take any Huel with me… The difference was noticeable after eating just rich restaurant foods… :mask: :blush:

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@HarryTuttle is spot on. The high amount of fibre in Huel makes stools more solid. The trouble comes when you eat rich food, curry, etc.

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The only issue I’ve ever experienced on a 100% Huel diet was after not drinking much water on a long car journey and then using a service station toilet; the vanilla flavouring left quite a strong aroma that I’m pretty sure must’ve been noticeable!

A note on traveling; if you want to blend for a thicker shake and/or no lumps but don’t have access to a fridge, I make a shake around 08:00 and leave it in a bag unrefrigerated and start drinking it after midday, sometimes finishing it as late as 16:00 or even 17:00, tastes fine. I did once end up being treated to a solid lunch unexpectedly and then tried drinking my lunch shake at about 21:00 though, and it was undrinkable, definitely not pleasant, but I assume refrigeration would extend it as plenty of people mention they make shakes the night before and put in the fridge. Just giving you that info in case it suits your situation.

I wanted to go vegan but don’t have the nutritional knowledge to ensure I’m getting everything I require or the culinary skills to make the meals palatable, so until I heard about Huel I gave up on the idea. Not only does Huel make it easy, but I find it cheaper than when I was buying normal food. I wish I’d had it when I was a student! It might not be as cheap as tesco value noodles and such (cheaper than takeaway pizza though) but per meal, it’s actually pretty cheap and considerably better balanced nutritionally, which I think would be all the more important if you’re going vegan too; studying is hard enough without getting ill too!

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Thank you for the info! My huel is arriving today so will be having for dinner tonight! Very excited!
Although I’ve seen that they have reduced the sweetness which I’m worried about as I have quite the sweet tooth!

There are water fountains in the library so I’m planning on pre weighing and bagging some huel then shaking it all together for lunch in the library. I think I’ll manage with the ‘bits’ in it after not too long hopefully.

Hoping for once I’ll finally be getting enough protein in my diet though!

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So I just had my first taste of a huel meal, and I hate to say it but I am currently struggling to finish the bottle (because of taste, I am still hungry!). I mixed 2 weighed scoops and measured the water, blended then added to shaker with some ice cubes, but I’m really struggling with the taste. (Although it does smell amazing! Like cake batter!)

Can someone please tell me this improves as you become more accustomed to it?!

:cry:

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Quote isn’t suitable for vegans as it contains eggs.

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Oh! Really! I never even thought to check the packaging for quorn! Luckily I only had it for about week just for dinner if that.

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Yes, the taste improves, although I never found it bad at all! I liked it to start with, but now I look forward to it, and can taste it when I’m hungry (taste memory? )

Which version did you get? I’m assuming Vanilla if it has the great smell!

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It took me nearly 2 hours to finish it. I just really wasn’t enjoying it. I’m going to try with some cocoa powder and extra sweetener tomorrow. Determined to get myself hooked on the stuff! Yeah it’s the vanilla version.

It’s weird because the initial taste is ok, but then I just don’t want to swallow it and the taste just seems to progressively become less appealing. I tried it around 7pm and at this point I had only had 160 calories throughout the day. Was hoping because I was so hungry it would go down a treat. Going to try the flavour packs maybe after a bit more reading about them.

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Yeah I get what you mean, and yes that does get easier to swallow! It’s almost a gag reflex, once you train your body/mouth to ejust swallow it, it’ll go down much easier, then you’re just left with the initial flavour which is rather pleasant!

From what you did drink, how are you finding the aftertaste? Personally I liked it, as it’s like a mild flavour of the initial drink.

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The aftertaste definitely lingers for quite a while. Although I found it almost like kind of cardboard, hard one to explain, haha. There is just a very distinct undertone to the flavour that I’m struggling with.

The taste of sweetener is not a problem for me (I add 2/3 sweeteners to my tea!), just wish they still sold the sweeter version that I read was like melted ice cream :heart_eyes: . That would be right up my street!

I definitely think there should be 3 options available, the unflavoured/unsweetened, v1.1 and then v1.2. Everybody is different and like different things and would save from having to purchase flavour packs which I also think should have a “plain” (vanilla) version for people that really like vanilla!

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Indeed, having the core Huel (unsweetened version) as standard, and then having each flavour pack available for sale (such as vanilla etc) so you could increase the strength to how you like! You want a nice subtle vanilla hint? just a dab of powder and you’re sorted, you want to get brainfreeze from icecream flavours, stick in a whole spoon!

That way, they only need to manufacture ( and stock!) the 1 flavour, and everyone can customise how they like. As we order more and more, we can add to our flavour selections. They could also do a mixbag for flavours, like 20grams of each flavour as a taster kit sort of thing.

@Julian what do you think?

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“Brainfreeze from ice cream flavours” - this is definitely me! :joy: