Oh, Soylent. Where Have You Been?

Sunday night our family spent about three hours preparing, cooking, and cleaning up a pretty big dinner.  The entire time, I'm thinking, "This is madness.  Why should this have to take so long and be such a chore?"

The short story is that I was missing my Soylent.  I ate nothing but Soylent for a week a couple weeks back and documented that experience, and I found it rather freeing.

Pretty much every meal I've prepared since then, even juicing, has been an exercise in patience.  I enjoy food prep. I really dislike food cleanup, and they kinda go hand in hand.  I missed the simplicity of going to the fridge and pouring myself a glass of lunch.

Note: I was an early backer of Soylent.  I love the concept, and despite the criticisms, it's working for me.  My first batch was Soylent 1.0, and I really enjoyed the flavor and texture by the end of things.

I did become a subscriber.  Once a month, a week's worth of Soylent will be dropped off at the house, meaning that I can enjoy a "Soylent day" about twice a week and be happy with my occasional vacation from the tyranny of cooking and cleaning up my own meals.

This new batch was Soylent 1.1, and they certainly are taking care of their repeat customers, as it shipped a week after I ordered it.  New customers have to queue up for the stuff, while I get the leisure of the monthly subscription being delivered without fail.

So how does Soylent 1.1 stack up to the previous formulation?  I have a couple reactions.  One, the texture of the drink is a little smoother, as if the tiny oat flakes are more finely chopped.  I am not sure I like this new mouthfeel.  It makes the Soylent feel a little thinner than the previous version. Second, 1.1 is not nearly as sweet as the previous version.  I heard it was made that way to be a little easier to flavor the way you want it, but I preferred the slightly more sweet variety.

I still feel it's kinda odd to want this liquid food.  It seems crazy to me that the food I'm eating is being versioned like software, but overall, I find myself drawn to it.  The gas we pass is still strong with this formulation, but I don't intend to do it more than a day at a time, so I don't expect it will reach the former levels of toxicity.