Soylent

[mallie99]

Hey everyone, first real post and I think it may spark a lot of conversation...

Have you heard of Soylent?

Nothing quite as scary as the 1970's film about eating people, but I did a quick search on this forum and didn't return any results on Soylent so thought it would be worth sparking a bit of chat about it. I

As a Computer Geek, it's something that has come to my attention over the past couple of months. Primarily because it's the only food substitute that I know of which has it's own programming branch in Github. If you dont know what Github is, it's something really geeky where program code gets shared among other geeky people. It's a geek thing.

Anyway, long story short!

Soylent was born of someone who figured that everything we eat, everything that goes into our bodies, is some chemical balance of things and stuff. So, he decided to test this theory by identifying exactly what chemicals and other ingredients we really need to live with and tested this theory by living without 'food' for as long as he could. He's still doing it.

Soylent went through Kickstarter on the web and raised money to continue its development, the final idea is that you can buy Soylent packs from them or get the information you need to make your own. It's pretty popular in some circles in the states with a couple of tech magazines doing evaluations of it. With some varying degrees of success.

How will this be of benefit to a Prepper?

I did some quick online lookups (ie. Amazon.co.uk) on MRE's and what 72 hours of food will look like. Cost aside, the packs themselves will take up quite a bit of space when committed. With the Soylent option, you will know exactly what you will need to survive (being the optimal word) for x number of days. All you will need is a container to mix the solution (will also be storage, I submit) and clean water (which brings me to another piece of tech).

After some additional investigation into Vacuum sealers, it would be useful that a rigidly balanced diet (of nothing, really) can be maintained easily and without really any space taken in your survival packs. Now, this would only be of real use for a short period of time, unless you are building a fortress in which you can store large quantities of ingredients... But one thing that springs to mind is that you CAN store large quantities of ingredients... Less worrying about shelf life and such. But, is is really viable? If so, how would you consider this would fit into your life?

For me, it would be beneficial to lose weight. Yes, boring. But if my body can regulate itself better with Soylent and it works, I wont complain and should be able to lose weight easily. For storage, I can store premix or ingredients for however long, it wont take up space in my pack and will be easier to prepare than freshly caught rat (flippant humour, testing the water for the forum here). That's not to say that you'll never need to hunt and forage. There are additional conversations here that I'm hoping to promote with this post... I just want to see how it goes before I get back on my soapbox and shout.

DIY Soylent

As mentioned previously, the Soylent idea is not trademarked or held for gain, it will be 'Open Source'. If you want to find out more about the project you can go to the following sites:

https://campaign.soylent.me/soylent-free-your-body

If you want to find out more about the DIY side of Soylent, there are a few recipes here:

http://diy.soylent.me/

I will be experimenting with this over the next couple of months. I have no clue if it will come to any fruition but if there is interest I will post more information as and when it comes available.

Clean Water

This brings me to something else I found online while investigating prepping this weekend. A company out of the UK has created a seemingly reasonable water purification system... I will mostly be keeping my eye on this and getting a couple for my BOB's. If only money wasn't a concern!

http://www.lifesaversystems.com/lifesav ... ver-bottle

They do a large 18 litre version, but to think about this you'd want to be Bugging 'in' or building a Bug-Out Vehicle.

Mallie

[mallie99]

Good evening everyone

I've been buying odds and sods over this month and nearly have all the ingredients to do a first-run of my own Soylent Recipe. This will not be a complete recipe as yet, since I do not have the full macroingredient and mineral breakdowns of all the ingredients I have purchased, but it will give me a good 'starting' idea of my recipe.

If you're interested in following the development for this in a bit more detail, check out the recipe at: http://diy.soylent.me/recipes/malliedam ... mebrew-01a

Mallie

[ForgeCorvus]

So, this is something you're planning on using as subsistance rations ?

Had a quick nose at your recipe, 1000 mg of Vit C!

Might want to wind that back a bit (although, I can't see where its coming from). Vit C poisoning is nasty, I think the symptoms are silmular to scurvy (AKA Vit C deficiency) part of the reason why its so bad

[mallie99]

I'm planning on trying it to see how feasible it is as a product, being a techie I love the concept. If it works then it would prove useful as subsistence rations.

I'm still working on the recipe, it's not anywhere close to anything I'd promote... So you may find other mistakes like the vitamin c being too high thanks for noticing that!

[riversong]

So, this is something you're planning on using as subsistance rations ?

Had a quick nose at your recipe, 1000 mg of Vit C!

With respect ForgeCorvus - 1000mg of Vit C per day is not excessive.

I have a tub of Boots Own brand 1000mg chewable VIT C/ One per day.
Highly Recommended.

I'm going to look at this in more detail. My initial thoughts are that in an emergency
and for a limited period of time, it could be fine - but I wouldn't want to live like that forever.

Bring on the fatted calf. Questions needs to be answered such as shelf life - assuming each meal is vacu packed with an oxygen absorber.

An interesting experiment - please keep us updated

[morgawr]

I am aware of this method, but I don't think I have the ability to go without food even though I don't eat that much.
I would say It sounds like a great way short term to clear your body of nasty chemicals and crap, but when you start eating again you would need a very safe slow eating plan to avoid Death, makes me think of Concentration victims who died after being freed but fed to much to quick.

Vitamin C tends to have extras added to it in a lot of products that stop the absorption of the Vitamin, so research what Vit C to buy and avoid the rip offs.
That information can be found at Earth Clinic.

There are people that don't want you healing yourself on the cheap and selling naff Vitamins is a ploy that is used.

The Miracle of Vitamin c.pdf ( A book found online for free ) is a great read and it will tell you exactly what Vit c you must use. Not a brand but whats in some that prevents proper use of the Vitamin.

[nickdutch]

It sounds interesting as a concept and do keep us posted, but IMHO, there may always be a few nutrients that your body can only get from real foods.


Please don't forget that if you want to come back to steamed potatoes and broccoli, it will welcome you with opened arms.

[Vespa]

Interesting subject but aren't there natural foods that supply everything a human needs to feed on from carbs, protein, fats vitamins and micro nutrients The one that springs to mid is hemp seed. Does avocado do the same thing?

[Werecat]

Interesting subject but aren't there natural foods that supply everything a human needs to feed on from carbs, protein, fats vitamins and micro nutrients The one that springs to mid is hemp seed. Does avocado do the same thing?

H
Soylent was born of someone who figured that everything we eat, everything that goes into our bodies, is some chemical balance of things and stuff. So, he decided to test this theory by identifying exactly what chemicals and other ingredients we really need to live with and tested this theory by living without 'food' for as long as he could. He's still doing it.

My main worry would be if Soylent gives you all the micronutrients you need. Nobody knows all the micronutrients you need, so you can't make a "cover all" meal that will sustain you for extended periods of time. Months, yes. Years, perhaps but i wouldn't count on it. The good part, though, is that you would need to eat very little "natural" food to cover this unknown micronutrient demand. So you could stock up on soylent and add an apple one day, some rice another, even throw in some animal products (hell a beetle might even be a nice idea.), and in that way stretch your supply of "regular" food in the pantry.

I might go for this.

[mallie99]

My main worry would be if Soylent gives you all the micronutrients you need. Nobody knows all the micronutrients you need, so you can't make a "cover all" meal that will sustain you for extended periods of time. Months, yes. Years, perhaps but i wouldn't count on it. The good part, though, is that you would need to eat very little "natural" food to cover this unknown micronutrient demand. So you could stock up on soylent and add an apple one day, some rice another, even throw in some animal products (hell a beetle might even be a nice idea.), and in that way stretch your supply of "regular" food in the pantry.

Very true, there has been a lot of debate over this as we honestly do not know. Our bodies have evolved over generations to eat and break down a wide range of foods to get the nutrients we need, and we're not entirely sure exactly what it is we need. There is a few generations of science gone into the chemical and mineral breakdown of what's in food (and what's not in poo) that we have some idea, but my guess is that this is only with a 40-60% tolerance.

And that's why I really like this as a concept - and lets not forget that the concept is that Soylent can replace food, not that it will. It's a nutritional supplement, meaning if you want to add some banana to the mix you can, if you want to use soylent for breakfast and then have a big slap-up meal for dinner then you can. The Soylent principle is that with testing and development we can find out with a little more certainty what our bodies need. If I need some more protein in my diet I wont need to change much other than the relevant ingredient for a time. If I need more Potassium I dont have to go and eat a million bananas. The Sci-Fi fan in me likes to think that if it works then in 5 or 6 generations time we may be closer to the answer, but I like the idea that I can be a part of that. Maybe. If I can make something work that doesn't make me really sick

There are so many flights of fancy from this point, maybe we can make food more nutritious, maybe we are all wrong and die horribly, maybe it is the thing that makes space travel possible. I dont know, all I know is it's an interesting idea and I'm willing to have a play. I tend to think of this as the IAMS for people It never did my cats any harm!