Those also mostly require storage infrastructure not always so readily available - I've lived out of a hotel room with no fridge before. Maybe the person is lactose-intolerant - some friends of mine are. Maybe they are OK with the cost increment for the amount of time it buys them.
Or possibly they simply make personal choices about what they put in their own personal bodies differently than you.
You can always push storage infrastructure off onto grocery stores. Stop by one in the morning, buy your calories for the day, eat them throughout the day.
I get that not everybody is me. I'm trying to provide the viewpoint that we don't need a new product to solve the issue of healthy, zero prep food. Plus, the existing options are way, way cheaper per calorie, which is a pretty important consideration, since most people seem to be resource constrained (including me).
Not everyone has the option of putting infrastructure off onto a cheap, convenient, quick, readily available grocery store either. I've personally been in situations where such was not available. Plus, doing that is almost certain to nullify the intended cost advantages and impose extra time costs.
The viewpoint you endeavor to provide is one we are all aware of. After all, it's the default that Soylent exists to provide an alternative to. Myself, I found Soylent incredibly useful for caloric restriction in ways that whole milk, cheese, nuts, grocery stores, and the attendant required infrastructure are not.
I get that you like Soylent. More power to you. But I don't think most people are already aware of the alternatives to Soylent and how much cheaper they are. For instance, you said, in response to my comment about buying food from a grocery store every day, "doing that is almost certain to nullify the intended cost advantages".
According to Soylent's website, their drink is $2.69 per 400 calories. That same amount of money buys you 1 gallon of whole milk at the grocery store, which is 2400 calories, or a half gallon of organic whole milk, which is 1200 calories.
The numbers are similar for nuts, cheese and yogurt. And I haven't even gotten into eating olive oil, which can get you another 2x reduction in cost per calorie over milk.
That is a 3x - 12x decrease in food cost. In other words, that choice alone can make or break a household's monthly budget. And if food storage is an issue, the savings will pay for a fridge in short order.
Any real grocery store near me will set you back $5-$6 for a gallon of organic whole milk. That's without factoring in that neither of them are along my commute, adding time.
I think most people who are willing to consider Soylent are well aware of the costs of the customary diets they have been eating for many years. I also think that most people who are willing to consider Soylent are looking to optimize differently from you.
1. I know that organic whole milk is more expensive. I mentioned it in my response. It's still 3x less expensive per calorie than Soylent.
2. I understand that going to the grocery store is a non-starter for you, but that is not the case for the vast majority of North Americans, who already source a huge portion of their calories from grocery stores (and have refrigeration). Perhaps being able to get the main component of your diet from a grocery store is a benefit for many people, not a drawback.
3. You keep suggesting that perhaps I am unaware that other people have different priorities than me. But I'm not. I was not addressing all users of Soylent. Instead, I responded to somebody who said that Soylent was too expensive for them by mentioning an alternative which has more or less the same benefits as Soylent, but which is much less expensive.
4. Perhaps there are people interested in Soylent who are trying to optimize differently than you. Maybe somebody has zero extra time and is spending a small fortune on delivered lunches at work, so they're interested in something which is just as convenient but much less expensive. Maybe they don't care that they have to buy supplies at the grocery store (or, crazy enough, maybe they would prefer that to having to remember to replenish online). Maybe they're not fully thought out on the subject yet, but they've heard about this Soylent thing. Maybe the information I shared would be useful to somebody like that.
Comments
Those also mostly require storage infrastructure not always so readily available - I've lived out of a hotel room with no fridge before. Maybe the person is lactose-intolerant - some friends of mine are. Maybe they are OK with the cost increment for the amount of time it buys them.
Or possibly they simply make personal choices about what they put in their own personal bodies differently than you.
You can always push storage infrastructure off onto grocery stores. Stop by one in the morning, buy your calories for the day, eat them throughout the day.
I get that not everybody is me. I'm trying to provide the viewpoint that we don't need a new product to solve the issue of healthy, zero prep food. Plus, the existing options are way, way cheaper per calorie, which is a pretty important consideration, since most people seem to be resource constrained (including me).
Not everyone has the option of putting infrastructure off onto a cheap, convenient, quick, readily available grocery store either. I've personally been in situations where such was not available. Plus, doing that is almost certain to nullify the intended cost advantages and impose extra time costs.
The viewpoint you endeavor to provide is one we are all aware of. After all, it's the default that Soylent exists to provide an alternative to. Myself, I found Soylent incredibly useful for caloric restriction in ways that whole milk, cheese, nuts, grocery stores, and the attendant required infrastructure are not.
I get that you like Soylent. More power to you. But I don't think most people are already aware of the alternatives to Soylent and how much cheaper they are. For instance, you said, in response to my comment about buying food from a grocery store every day, "doing that is almost certain to nullify the intended cost advantages".
According to Soylent's website, their drink is $2.69 per 400 calories. That same amount of money buys you 1 gallon of whole milk at the grocery store, which is 2400 calories, or a half gallon of organic whole milk, which is 1200 calories.
The numbers are similar for nuts, cheese and yogurt. And I haven't even gotten into eating olive oil, which can get you another 2x reduction in cost per calorie over milk.
That is a 3x - 12x decrease in food cost. In other words, that choice alone can make or break a household's monthly budget. And if food storage is an issue, the savings will pay for a fridge in short order.
Any real grocery store near me will set you back $5-$6 for a gallon of organic whole milk. That's without factoring in that neither of them are along my commute, adding time.
I think most people who are willing to consider Soylent are well aware of the costs of the customary diets they have been eating for many years. I also think that most people who are willing to consider Soylent are looking to optimize differently from you.
Several things:
1. I know that organic whole milk is more expensive. I mentioned it in my response. It's still 3x less expensive per calorie than Soylent.
2. I understand that going to the grocery store is a non-starter for you, but that is not the case for the vast majority of North Americans, who already source a huge portion of their calories from grocery stores (and have refrigeration). Perhaps being able to get the main component of your diet from a grocery store is a benefit for many people, not a drawback.
3. You keep suggesting that perhaps I am unaware that other people have different priorities than me. But I'm not. I was not addressing all users of Soylent. Instead, I responded to somebody who said that Soylent was too expensive for them by mentioning an alternative which has more or less the same benefits as Soylent, but which is much less expensive.
4. Perhaps there are people interested in Soylent who are trying to optimize differently than you. Maybe somebody has zero extra time and is spending a small fortune on delivered lunches at work, so they're interested in something which is just as convenient but much less expensive. Maybe they don't care that they have to buy supplies at the grocery store (or, crazy enough, maybe they would prefer that to having to remember to replenish online). Maybe they're not fully thought out on the subject yet, but they've heard about this Soylent thing. Maybe the information I shared would be useful to somebody like that.
Why would you write such a pointless, combative comment? You don't actually believe you're contributing to a discussion, do you?