I've been looking for an all in one meal to meet my daily nutrient requirements, I couldn't find anything really easy to meet my meal prep needs though, however, I remembered a US contractor I worked with telling me about Soylent last year so decided to check it out again, given the various EU alternatives and the fact I wanted a lite version for some weight loss the main options were Queal lite or Jake lite.
I ordered 27 Queal lite meals, one of each flavour which is 9 460g pouches, with 3 meals per pouch. I also ordered 20 Jake lite meals.
I'll just highlight some differences between the two that I've noticed with my limited exposure thus far.
Shipping (to Dublin):
Queal - this did arrive sooner, so it had a bit of a head start to win me over, the Queal arrived on a Thursday.
Jake - it was slightly slower and I didn't receive it till the following Tuesday, not a huge difference really.
Flavours:
Queal - Obviously Queal has the upper hand with it's various flavours, because of shipping I got to try about 5 of the different flavours before I tried Jake, but they were generally underwhelming, the only one I would order more of is the chocolate peanut flavour, first one I tried and it set the bar high, the rest haven't lived up to it. I haven't tried the vanilla or honey oat, so I still have high hopes for them, the fruit flavours were pretty much duds, the strawberry was very mild and the kiwi and forest fruit flavours where barely there.
Jake - It has a mild vanilla flavour, but it also has a really nice nutty/oaty taste, on par with Queal despite it's many flavours.
Shaker:
Queal - The shaker looks better tbh, the design is a bit more modern, the mixing ball is bigger, for whatever that's worth. The design does mean that after mixing, sometimes when you open the completely removable mouth cover it does tend to spray a tiny bit, usually in my face (>_<)
There was also a rubber seal in the lid that I didn't realise came off while I was washing between uses, when the seal was off the mix leaked out while I was shaking it, it pops back in easy enough though so it was a quick fix.
Jake - looks a bit old school, no rubber seal, but however it's designed to screw on it didn't leak at all, I kept the white mouth cover pressed down when shaking as it seems like it might pop open, don't want to risk it even for science!
Mixing and Smoothness:
Queal - The pamphlet says to use 350ml of water and to add 4 - 5 scoops using the scoop provided which is supposed to give the 150g needed for a meal, my scoop was broken and it seemed flimsy enough anyway, so I ended up just using a digital scales and tablespoon, probably would have anyway since 4 -5 scoops as guidance isn't really accurate enough.
The pouches are resealable, but they come filled right to the brim, so a bit of squeezing to make sure powder doesn't go everywhere as you open them, then I've needed to use a knife to clean out the little plastic seal so that it closes properly and is actually resealable.
It then says to shake for 30 seconds, I did this for the first one and learned that wasn't nearly enough, so far I need to shake it as hard as I can for a few mins to get it as smooth as I can, even then there are still small bits in it, I assume they are clumps of powder as the ingredients say oat flour, so I don't think it's bits of oat. Whatever the bits are, when swallowed, they stick to the throat a little, meaning it's better to chew a little, before swallowing, to be sure to catch the bigger bits.
Jake - Instructions say to use 450ml of water and Jake comes in ready to go single serve pouches, really convenient that it's already measured out, just open and pour.
After getting used to the shaking needed for Queal, I was expecting the same for Jake and laughed when it suggested 10 seconds in the instructions, so I initially shook the mixture for about 15 seconds and couldn't see any powder, again, based on my experience with Queal I erred on the side of caution and gave it a few more shakes for good measure, not even vigorous, just tilting from side to side and it seemed done. After a quick taste I am still surprised at how smooth it was.
So forgive my first post/brain dump, just wanted to share some thoughts so far, I just covered the main things I noticed that stood out so far, I left out price comparisons since depending on how much you order the price will likely be different with all the different discounts etc.
But so far.....I'm kind of regretting ordering so much Queal, as I said I may order some of the choc/peanut again but the Jake prep and smoothness factor pretty much blows every other comparison I can think of out of the water. It's early days, I still have 40 meals between the two to use and am mainly just using them as an evening meal. But my prediction is when I need to reorder it will be Jake all the way.
