Simplify that menu

I mean, really simplify.

Just a simple powder, and water--Yum

(No personal connection, etc....)

Cheers,

If you really want to simplify, might I suggest the original food-of-the-future... space food sticks?

HA! There is also an diy recipe, which I mix up for my husband for his breakfasts. We have discussed this actually for hiking, though we haven't tried it yet - it tastes / the consistancy is better after sitting overnight though.

Not just water and powder - there is an oil to add too (even in the bought version.)

My four week supply will be here Monday.

So, it's formula for adults. Forgive me, but I'm pretty skeptical that will ever be as healthy as just eating normally. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure some of those ingredients are GMO (canola oil!). I could see it being useful in extreme situations though, like as aid in disaster areas.

Unless the whole thing is a joke and I'm just the most gullible person alive. That would explain the horrible name. "It's people!"

No, it isn't a joke

One population it "calls" to, is those of us who _hate_ to cook. I personally wouldn't eat it exclusively, but it is a real task to get my husband to eat breakfast and this meets his needs for that.

YMMV, of course!

Actually it has a dedicated following among the tech crowd, with some very hardcore people who work at the science behind recepies..

I've had it on a number of occasions...

Am I the only one here who remembers Soylent Green?

sure, that's where the name comes from!

See my post above where I quote from the movie.

Am I the only one here who remembers Soylent Green?

Heck! I have a hard enough time just remembering who billstephenson is!

Good Job!!

I remember my parents talking about that movie. It was "shocking"!

I can see why gamers would like it. You can play world of war craft without worrying about pesky things like food.

This is just oatmeal with a bit of rice protein added, and a high glycocemic polysaccharide which is technically not a sugar to boost the calory count. The vitamin/mineral list looks just like the "daily multiple USP" formuation. Sounds like a hipster rip off to me. Daily multiple tabs, $13 for 200, instant oatmeal $5 a pound, and whey protein powder $9 per pound. Or you could use Carnation breakfast essentials, which is more or less the same, in a glass of milk at less than $1 per serving. (Obviously, not so hipster, but far better value)

I love science. It was my favorite subject in school. It's very useful to the human race. However, when it comes to biology, and especially nutrition, I will never trust that scientists have it all figured out better than nature. I'm not saying this stuff doesn't have it's place, but I think people should only eat this kind of thing rarely, or in great need.

It's sort of how baby formula was invented to meet an important need, but unfortunately it gets used far too often these days, not because there's a genuine need but out of convenience. Just like formula will never be as good for babies as breast milk, this stuff, or carnation, or multivitamins, etc. will never be as good for adults as a normal healthy diet.

And, by normal healthy diet, I don't mean "average" diet either, but that's another topic.

I'm with you on that. A healthy diet is really a personal thing with a very long list of variables that influence it. I tinker with mine on a daily basis.

A "healthy diet"is all very well, but you would need a mule to carry that amount of fresh food on even a week hike. Your "5 a day" weighs 400 g and would be rotten in a week(even here in the N.E.) a Daily Multiple USP weighs under 2 g and makes sure you get ALL of the required substances. The carbs can easily (and tastily) be carried as dehydrated pasta,rice or potato. A spoonfull of metamucyl (spelling?) in the morning oatmeal(or "breakfast essential") takes care of that - and don;t underestimate the importance of staynig regular. Boost protein content of meals by adding whey powder (or Soy equivalent) - fresh protein is really heavy and rots even quicker than the fruits. Oils and fats are best obtained from nuts, the least expensive and most convenient being peanut butter(OK, I know peanuts are not really nuts).

These are not dietary supplements, but essential parts of a balanced healthy diet in hiking circumstances.

And they are typically,light weight, the title of the thread is "lite food" after all.

I don't disagree with you. I don't narrow what I consider healthy down to just fresh food only.

My main point is that what a healthy diet consist of differs from one person to another and is really a quite complex thing.

I learned this from my grandmother. We talked a lot about how food makes you feel, and what foods made you feel good, and why.

My grandmother was small. She never gained or lost much weight, and she didn't eat much, but she ate a wide variety of things. One of my aunts was a big women. She ate a lot but she never gained or lost much weight either. My aunt ate a lot, but like my grandmother, most everything I saw her eat was considered "good for you" and she made most of her food "fresh from scratch" too.

They both lived to be in their late `90s and both of them were pretty active and healthy up to their last few years. It would've been easy to conclude my aunt's diet was unhealthy just by looking at her weight, and I admit I did at one time, but I don't see how that could have been a fact now. Both of them told me most everyone their age had long since past years before they did and no one could dispute that.

I think each of us has to figure out what works for us, but I believe we'd all do well to be taught to "feel" food, kind of like we're taught to "feel" drugs. Both my aunt and my grandmother talked a lot about how good food made them feel good. No one talks about that much anymore.

Bringing along a mule isn't a bad idea. I've done it. It was great. There ain't no food lighter than what a mule carries for you.

That makes a lot of sense and it is that kind of sense that these guys based their product on. Unfortunately... much research has been coming out that multivitamins don't do anything for you at best and often can be quite harmful. Micronutrients are pretty poorly understood and the refinement and purification processes don't seem to do your body any good.

My technique is do the best I can while I am out there and eat twice as many fresh fruit and vegetables when I get home.

I like the way you think, BZH. I'm sure we'll all come up with a compromise between healthy and light that works well for us (and hopefully eat better at home).

There has been a hell of a lot of research over the last 150 years which show how dramatically ill you become if those minimum levels are not maintained - scurvy in long sea voyages in the 18th and 19th century are a good example. I think that the reports to which you refer are the taking of massive doses of one or more vitamins. Bodies such as the NIH and equivalent around the world have determined the levels required to avoid deficiency illness.As you say, a deficiency for a few days can easily be made up on return to civilisation. Not true on a long through hike.