[Xanza]

I'm actually really pissed off at this product -- as with many, I've had both high hopes and reservations since the start of this whole ordeal.

With me being a college student with a VERY limited budget I get very little nutrition that's needed for my body to operate normally. I was so turned on to this product because it was initially advertised to cost the creator between $50 and $100 per month. Now, all of a sudden it's going to cost me $230 just to get started.

It's starting to sound more and more like a scam; I'm pretty livid.

[jgj]

I'm not sure that the cost of a month's supply on this campaign is necessarily what it will ultimately cost in full production. The prices listed here, I assume, are what they think they need to charge to reach their 100k goal to enter mass production (based on how many people they expect will support the campaign). Ultimately they have a lot more costs than just the price of the ingredients, and their first run is likely to be more expensive than subsequent runs.

[gwern]

Exactly. If it really cost $65/week or whatever the Kickstarter is charging, why would they bother doing it? The whole point is apparently to raise funds to cover all the startup costs - of course you are paying more than the marginal cost of Soylent.

[nazgulnarsil]

Poor Uni student here, I spend ~$2.75/day on Soylent Orange. Blood work after 8 months is peachy. Of course I still buy food, but my overall food bill is way lower than anyone I know.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjA38cUd4BZBdGZ...

[angersock]

Spent one summer living off of ramen, eggs, carrots, and celery. It's like tenbux for a week of food, and can be filling--poaching an egg into the ramen with a sliced up carrot and celery stalk is where it's at.

[imperialWicket]

It was always pretty clear that the early costs represented ingredients only, and the ingredients themselves have changed over time. There's also processing, containers, shipping, etc. when you're interested in someone making it for you.

The ingredients list is published and available, there's even a spreadsheet up with online locations where you can buy everything.

I can understand being dissatisfied about cost - but it was never claimed that you could receive this delivered to your door for $100/mo.

[beefman]

Where is the ingredients list and/or spreadsheet?

[imperialWicket]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEKV0eF0YrqdHR...

I'm not certain who's maintaining or how up to date this is; but here is the one I'd previously seen. There may be better data sources around.

[beefman]

Thanks. I do think this is outdated... the video mentions "nootropics" for instance.

[dpcx]

It's a $230 "backer", and you happen to get a months worth of the stuff as a prize. Same with all the Kickstarter stuff.

[angkec]

Yeah I remembered he claimed to be able to control the monthly cost for around $103 and I got pretty excited over that. Now I'm disappointed to see the price rose to $230. I guess it is time to really find out where my own mix went wrong: I feel the irresistible urge to eat a ton a few days after I'm on my own mix.

[samatman]

Don't forget the null hypothesis: you're feeling the urge to eat because we evolved to eat solids and you're not.

[troebr]

I don't think it's really cheaper than making your own food. If you buy it for a month and you eat it three times a day, it ends up being about $2.5 per meal, or $7.5 a day. My breakfast costs me $.5 to $1, so that leave $3.5 per meal. It's probably what I average already, if not less. I think I spend about $100 maximum on groceries per week for my girlfriend and me, and that includes extras like an occasional bottle of wine.

I think I remember him saying that the recipe was "open source", maybe you could just make it yourself to save.

I can see his saving time argument though. Although there are days I gladly spent an hour or more in my kitchen, some days when I'm busy or lazy I would consider it.

Sidenote - calling this "corporation", I don't know if it's a joke or just poor marketing.

[mongol]

I don't understand how it ever can be cheaper than making food from raw ingredients. This powder they are selling are a mixture of processed ingredients, that must have originally been extracted from something from something harvested, right? It is a more complicated process to make it, compared with letting things grow in the sun mostly by themselves, and then harvesting.

[tunesmith]

Re-read his first post. It initially cost him a little over $150/month.

[infinitone]

Precisely this.

I remember when I first read the creator's blog post and how little it costs to make. Now I come and see it costs about the same amount it costs me to purchase food for a week.

[Afforess]

...compared to eating out. His comparison was eating out almost every meal. $230 is cheaper than grocery shopping for a month for a lot of people too.

[dragonwriter]

> $230 is cheaper than grocery shopping for a month for a lot of people too.

Put probably not cheaper than grocery shopping for a month for one person, unless that person has particular food tastes that Soylent isn't going to address.

[papsosouid]

Show me a shopping list that provides 100% RDI of all vitamins and minerals (without dangerous excesses of any of them), a reasonable balance of protein, fat and carbs, sufficient omega3s, and 2000 Kcal/day. You don't even need to worry about making actual meals out of this random assortment of ingredients, just the ingredients themselves. I do not believe you can do it for $230/month.

[Avshalom]

  Multivitamin ~10$
  1 gross eggs ~20
  30 cans refried beans ~20
  ~100 small tortillas ~7
  5 lbs rice ~5
  3 lbs sour cream ~9
  salt ~.7
  pepper ~1
  garlic ~2
  10 lbs potatoes ~10

spend the remaining ~3/day on whatever you feel like. suggestions include: pasta and sauce at ~1 a meal. whole fat chocolate milk at about ~2 a day. a pint of olive oil a day. a case of ramen a day. a pint of ben and jerry's (there's 2000 kcal by itself).

Prices sourced from an H.E.B. supermarket in Austin Tx. Oh, also, I've been living on less than 3$ of food a day for the last year, so this isn't exactly theoretical. 230 per person per month would the height of luxury for me.

[papsosouid]

Read the requirements again. You aren't even approaching them.

[Xanza]

I'm a college student -- I live off of ramen noodles, and whatever I can steal at my parents house. $230 per month simply isn't in my budget. I was excited because ramen isn't healthy, in fact I've gained about 30-40lbs because it's basically all I eat; and it's becoming a serious health issue.

[kkty]

as someone who has been in your situation, ramen is actually really expensive, both in terms of $/cooked oz and $/nutrition.

I highly recommend you switch to brown rice, wheat pasta, beans, produce, and cheap cuts of meat. Add in a slow cooker if you don't have much time.

Oh, and as for this soylent product, I would run screaming away. I only read his recipe up to the carbs section, and the fact that he thinks all carbs are the same because they end up as ATP is mind-boggling. It's as if he isn't aware of the huge problem with HFCS. Any biochem undergrad can tell you about the incredible complexity of the feedback and regulatory mechanisms of the body; to focus only on the end product of a mechanism is ignorant at best.

[Afforess]

I understand - but why are you mad? He never misrepresented the costs, you misinterpreted them.