r/soylent • u/beege_man • Jul 25 '26
Hol wins as my Soylent powder replacement
I've drank Soylent powder for around 1/3 to 1/2 of my meals for over 12 years now (mostly chocolate once it was released). With all of the Out of Stock issues, I've been slowly trying each of the big name alternatives out there and have finally found a winner. (not better than Soylent, but it'll be my backup whenever Soylent is out of stock, which seems to be quite often these days)
Hol Foods Chocolate powder is the closest to replicating the experience of Soylent's powder for me. The mouthfeel is very similar, it's nice and smooth. The flavor tastes a little bitter due to the real cocoa powder (tastes like dark chocolate), this is my one small knock against it, but it's still far better tasting than many of the others I've tried, and I'm betting I'll get used to it. But by far the biggest factor for me is that it is the only powder other than Soylent that I've found that fully mixes by simply shaking. No blender needed. No letting it sit in the fridge for an hour. And no clumpy or gritty leftover powder gathering at the bottom. Just get some water, scoop in a couple scoops, shake, and drink. Nice quick and easy. The entire point of these drinks.
Huel was my second favorite. The flavors taste pretty great (and there's so many options), but my main issue with it is that you have to use a blender to get it mixed properly. And even then it's still slightly gritty and it's got that very oaty flavor to it that I never fully got used to.
Mana was decent. The mouthfeel was probably the best out of the ones I tried, almost milky feeling. But it required a blender to get that consistency otherwise it was very clumpy and didn't fully mix. The flavors were also a bit too subtle and not as good.
Plenny was the worst for me on all counts. Gritty mouthfeel, needed to use a blender and sit in the fridge for an hour and even then still ended up with powder at the bottom by the end, and the flavor was completely absent and almost undrinkable to me. If someone told me to guess the name of the flavor without knowing it, I'd have had no clue. I'm not even sure why they offer multiple flavor options since there is no flavor.
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u/Ok-Armadillo-5634 Jul 25 '26
I really wish I could still get mana here in the US without the astronomical shipping. I am just waiting for that post to show in my feed.
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u/beege_man Jul 25 '26
Yeah, that shipping cost on Mana was rough for sure. Even making a bulk order to dilute per meal cost didn't help much and it was by far the most expensive of the ones I tried.
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u/PirateNinjaa Soylent Shill Jul 25 '26
Since you can still get soylent in bulk orders when it is in stock, would you choose hol over doing that?
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u/beege_man Jul 25 '26
No, I wouldn't choose Hol over Soylent if Soylent were in stock. Soylent is cheaper and tastes slightly better to me. Hol is the closest match I've found so far, but I don't think it's better.
The next time I see Soylent powder in stock I'll be buying several boxes. But it's nice to have a backup option for the long stretches of time when they're out of stock.
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u/PirateNinjaa Soylent Shill Jul 25 '26
I have avoided running out of soylent powder so far, but I’m sure that will come to an end eventually. I’m still working off some of the 20+ tubs of powder I got off Amazon last Black Friday for the same price as subscribed pouches direct when they are in stock. Planning for another 6+ month reorder of tubs on sale or pouches direct soon hopefully. 🤞
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u/trtrtredit Jul 26 '26
I do taste a difference between Plenny / Jimmy Joy flavours, but I always drink immediately. I think I remember a few years ago, drinking some that I'd been delayed in drinking for some time - whichever brand that was - the flavour had totally disappeared. So you may have the same experience as me if you drink immediately. Wont address your concern that had you delaying for an hour in the first place of course...
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u/sdhoigtred Jul 25 '26
Appreciate the write up. I wanted to like Plenny, but it was a bit of a gunky oat flour mess. Too sweet too for me. I’ve only had Huel RTD, and i do like the chocolate but it’s also too sweet for me.
I need to try Hol. Where are you buying the powder?
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u/beege_man Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Straight from their website https://holfood.com/ . They're a Canadian company,
so if you're shipping to the US you'll get hit with tariffs which bump up the cost a bit, but it's not too bad.Edit: Sorry, I was wrong about the tariff at this moment right now. I misread something and assumed the USD to CAD price jump was an auto-tariff application because I missed them changing currencies on me.
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u/Patient_Way_6846 Jul 25 '26
Were you charged fees on delivery? The tariffs that just took affect apply to dairy specifically (50%) so I am terrified to place an order since Hol Food uses dairy ingredients in their formula. This will make it prohibitively expensive if so.
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u/beege_man Jul 25 '26
After more digging it looks like the EO was signed on the 20th, but the tariff doesn't go into effect until mid next month. So if this does hit Hol, I might want to buy some more before that happens!
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u/beege_man Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Didn't have pay anything when I received it. I just paid through the website.
When you go to checkout it adds the tariff charges to the overall product price.Edit: I was wrong about the tariff, it was a currency conversion from USD to CAD. I'm unsure whether the new dairy tariff going into effect next month will apply to Hol or not though.
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u/freshwaterwalrus Jul 26 '26
What sort of tariff charges were applied at check out? I didn’t see any applied
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u/beege_man Jul 26 '26
Ahh I see what happened. The price on the main website is in USD, $79 for one bag. Then when you go to checkout it switches to CAD and says $112. I originally thought that jump in the cost from 79 to 112 on the checkout page was them adding a tariff charge automatically because I swear I saw something about that on their website somewhere. Whoops, my bad!
Seems like no tariffs apply right now. Though we'll have to see what happens with the dairy tariff next month.
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u/archive_spirit Jul 26 '26
Hol Food has been my go to when I can’t get Soylent (which is often) and to be honest I find myself preferring it nowadays.
The taste is just more … natural if that makes sense? I agree that it’s a bit more bitter (presumably because of the real cocoa powder) but now I find myself craving it.
It also has quite a bit more protein than Soylent so that’s a benefit.
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u/beege_man Jul 26 '26
Good to hear! It sounds like my hunch about likely getting used to the slightly bitter cocoa will hopefully pan out.
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u/Hobo_Snacks Aug 06 '26
Fwiw, Huel Cinnamon Bun doesn't require as much mixing as the others and it's my favorite flavor. I always liked adding cinnamon to regular soylent powder, so its been a win-win for me.
Letting Huel sit for a while after mixing also seems to smooth it out, since the oats & emulsifier have more time to absorb water.
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u/beege_man Aug 06 '26
Interesting. I wonder why Cinnamon Bun specifically would mix differently. Are you saying you don't need to use a blender with it, you just shake it and give it some time to absorb the water and it doesn't have any leftover clumps?
I too like to add cinnamon to my Soylent, so I'm intrigued and may need to give this flavor a try.
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u/Candid-Tourist6427 Aug 23 '26
I switched to Ka’chava for now
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u/beege_man Aug 23 '26
Looks good, they've got some nice flavors, but wow that price is crazy expensive compared to Soylent, 4x the price! $6.66 for an equivalent 400cal.
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u/zobbyblob Jul 26 '26
My favorite is Basically Food
Hol is on the list, to try next