5 ms·

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

by Xanza 13y ago

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.

dpcx 13y ago
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 13y ago
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 13y ago
  Don't forget the null hypothesis: you're feeling the urge to eat because we evolved to eat solids and you're not.
jgj 13y ago
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 13y ago
  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.
infinitone 13y ago
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 13y ago
  ...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.
  - Xanza 13y ago
    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.
    - Afforess 13y ago
      I understand - but why are you mad? He never misrepresented the costs, you misinterpreted them.
    - kkty 13y ago
      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.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > $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.
angersock 13y ago
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 13y ago
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 13y ago
  Where is the ingredients list and/or spreadsheet?
  - imperialWicket 13y ago
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEKV0eF0YrqdHRhZElNRGdmVkNKb1JxNjlXRV9PQ0E#gid=0 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 13y ago
      Thanks. I do think this is outdated... the video mentions "nootropics" for instance.
tunesmith 13y ago
Re-read his first post. It initially cost him a little over $150/month.
nazgulnarsil 13y ago
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=0AjA38cUd4BZBdGZYM012N0JZTzEtVk05MVF4dlZyZ2c https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjA38cUd4BZBdGZ...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
troebr 13y ago
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 13y ago
  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.

by Xanza 13y ago

dpcx 13y ago

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 13y ago

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 13y ago
Don't forget the null hypothesis: you're feeling the urge to eat because we evolved to eat solids and you're not.

jgj 13y ago

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 13y ago
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.

infinitone 13y ago

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 13y ago
...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.
- Xanza 13y ago
  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.
  - Afforess 13y ago
    I understand - but why are you mad? He never misrepresented the costs, you misinterpreted them.
  - kkty 13y ago
    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.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > $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.

angersock 13y ago

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 13y ago

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 13y ago
Where is the ingredients list and/or spreadsheet?
- imperialWicket 13y ago
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEKV0eF0YrqdHRhZElNRGdmVkNKb1JxNjlXRV9PQ0E#gid=0 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 13y ago
    Thanks. I do think this is outdated... the video mentions "nootropics" for instance.

tunesmith 13y ago

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

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

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=0AjA38cUd4BZBdGZYM012N0JZTzEtVk05MVF4dlZyZ2c https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjA38cUd4BZBdGZ...

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

troebr 13y ago

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 13y ago
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.