{"id":1213,"date":"2014-05-21T20:48:45","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T00:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2022-10-05T01:52:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T05:52:50","slug":"soylent-in-canada-people-chow-3-0-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/soylent-in-canada-people-chow-3-0-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Soylent in Canada &#8211; People Chow 3.0.1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last year I started to see articles about <a href=\"http:\/\/soylent.me\/\">Soylent<\/a> on the websites I frequent: and as an overweight guy who eats all the wrong foods &#8211; it caught my eye. The idea of &#8216;meal replacement&#8217; foods isn&#8217;t new&#8230; but they&#8217;re trying to make something simple, cheap, and that you could eat 100% of the time and stay healthy. I liked the idea of making some breakfasts or dinners by just adding water and shaking things up, so I signed up for a couple weeks supply.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, they don&#8217;t ship out of the US yet, and Canadian orders may not arrive until 2015. But all the buzz about Soylent jumpstarted a community of people creating DIY (Do It Yourself) recipies to try to do the same thing: with one of the most popular right now being <a href=\"http:\/\/diy.soylent.me\/recipes\/people-chow-301-tortilla-perfection\">People Chow<\/a>. (Great name! \ud83d\ude42 )., I read more about the DIY projects in the <a href=\"http:\/\/discourse.soylent.me\/\">official<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/soylent\">Reddit<\/a> forums and decided to give it a try!<\/p>\n<p>The ingredients list included some supplements I had never heard of before, but I ended up being able to find all but one of them (from GNC) in the mall below where I work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Masa Harina (&#8216;Maseca&#8217; brand): $4.49 at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yongeeglintoncentre.com\/store\/storeprofile.ch2?storeid=997&amp;initial=M&amp;category=&amp;directoryid=482\">Metro<\/a><\/li>\n<li>NOW Foods Whey Protein Isolate (vanilla): $48.58 at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yongeeglintoncentre.com\/store\/storeprofile.ch2?storeid=997&amp;initial=M&amp;category=&amp;directoryid=482\">Nutrition Village<\/a><\/li>\n<li>NOW Foods Calcium+Magnesium supplement: $14.68 at Nutrition Village<\/li>\n<li>NOW Food Potassium Citrate: $15.81 at Nutrition Village<\/li>\n<li>Choline Bitartrate: : $6.77 at Nutrition Village<\/li>\n<li>Vegetable Oil (100% Soybean Oil): Store in my apartment building (or from Metro)<\/li>\n<li>Salt: $0.00 from the cupboard<\/li>\n<li>GNC Mega Man Vitamin (vanilla): $56.49 at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eglintonsquare.ca\/stores\/eglinton-gnc\">GNC<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(all prices Canadian, including tax)<\/p>\n<p>All the ingredients came in different sized packages, and are mixed in different ratios, giving me between 6 and 80+ days supply. Plugging everything into a spreadsheet showed that it cost me about $8.50\/day in food, which could quickly drop to about $6\/day if I bought some ingredients in bulk (lots of them are cheaper in the US, where it could cost as little as $3.50-$4\/day). One batch is 2000 kcals, and gives you 100% (or more) of your daily recommended intake of&#8230; well&#8230; everything \ud83d\ude42 . This is what I bought:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_01_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_01_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_01_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"930\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_01_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_b27bef9788a171b6148f205ae70b7a14\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_01_800x600.jpg-nggid03930-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_01_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_01_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I made a couple mistakes: I didn&#8217;t notice that I bought some of the supplements in pill form (instead of powder) &#8211; so instead of just drinking the mixture I also have to take 3 pills per meal (2 Choline Bitartrate and one Calcium+Magnesium). I&#8217;ll finish them off in a few weeks and make sure to restock the powder form: I&#8217;ve already seen some of the ingredients <a href=\"http:\/\/purebulk.com\/choline-bitartrate-powder.html#.U31IMChCCT4\">much<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/purebulk.com\/potassium-citrate-powder.html#.U31ITShCCT4\">cheaper<\/a> at purebulk.com (even when US shipping almost doubles the cost).<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been mixing things up 3 days at a time (one ziploc holds one day of food). Right now I&#8217;m only eating 1-2 meals a day of People Chow to see how it goes &#8211; usually every breakfast and the occasional dinner. All I&#8217;m using is a scale that can measure down to 1 gram (my largest measurement is 345 grams, and the smallest is 2 grams), a small measuring cup, a small tupperware container (and the 3 ziploc bags):<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_02_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_02_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_02_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"931\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_02_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_821fb18302ed31f96ef85bc94392118f\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_02_800x600.jpg-nggid03931-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_02_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_02_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s 345 grams of the Masa flour: I measure it on the scale into a tupperware that&#8217;s a bit longer than wide&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_03_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_03_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_03_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"932\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_03_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_73a2d7d80bd06acc6de2d1850bafb814\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_03_800x600.jpg-nggid03932-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_03_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_03_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;so I can fit it in the ziplock to dump it out.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/1_People_Chow_04_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/1_People_Chow_04_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_1_People_Chow_04_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"1656\"\n             data-title=\"1_People_Chow_04_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_a44acc21e3b8606b330cd36052d29467\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/1_People_Chow_04_800x600.jpg-nggid041656-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"1_People_Chow_04_800x600\"\n             title=\"1_People_Chow_04_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Next by bulk is the whey powder. I move the ziplocs from left to right as I fill them with each ingredient, in case I have to stop, so I don&#8217;t come back and forget what I&#8217;ve already done.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_05_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_05_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_05_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"934\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_05_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_924257e9f7b13d61ac86b17bccd7a21e\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_05_800x600.jpg-nggid03934-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_05_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_05_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is after I&#8217;ve worked my way through all 7 ingredients (leaving the soyabean oil to be mixed when I add the water). I&#8217;ve prepared enough powder for 3 days worth of meals and I&#8217;ve dirtied one scoop, one tupperware container, and 3 ziplocs (which I wash and reuse):<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_06_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_06_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_06_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"935\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_06_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_bc6f71105396f04d182b07ffb430c615\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_06_800x600.jpg-nggid03935-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_06_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_06_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You can mix some powder+water each meal (dump them in a water bottle and shake) or give everything a good mixing in advance. I&#8217;ve been blending one bag (3 meals) up at a time with the soyabean oil&#8230; then pouring everything into 3 1L containers that I can leave in the fridge. I borrow my sisters thermonuclear blender and it makes short work of it:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_07_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_07_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_07_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"936\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_07_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_a5aa73b56ccc091f4c8fb8b4e0d86c89\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_07_800x600.jpg-nggid03936-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_07_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_07_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is what I leave in the fridge. The ingredients don&#8217;t mix 100%: it&#8217;s more of a suspension of the corn flour: so I still give it shake before I drink it. The taste is very slightly sweet, and like drinking a bowl of tortilla chips. It&#8217;s also a bit silty, especially when you&#8217;re getting to the bottom of the bottle. There are lots of ways to flavor it (my mix has a bit of vanilla, but others add cocoa powder, or cinnamon, or brown sugar) but I&#8217;m going to stick with the original recipe for now:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_08_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_08_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_08_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"937\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_08_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_52d2a246761d61ea348a05081bc005d1\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_08_800x600.jpg-nggid03937-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_08_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_08_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s 4 days of People Chow in the corner of the cupboard. One large ziploc can hold 3 days of food easily (in case you wanted to travel with it or something) but I&#8217;m leaving it as one-day-per-bag so I can dump it in the blender and not have to measure anything.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center>            \n\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-singlepic-image \" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\n\t\t\t    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_09_800x600.jpg\"\n\t\t     title=\"\"\n             data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/People_Chow_09_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/thumbs\/thumbs_People_Chow_09_800x600.jpg\"\n             data-image-id=\"938\"\n             data-title=\"People_Chow_09_800x600\"\n             data-description=\"\"\n             target='_self'\n             class=\"shutterset_f2508c4e0921a423ad75f7c27827a1fb\">\n            <img class=\"ngg-singlepic\"\n             src=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/gallery\/random-photos\/cache\/People_Chow_09_800x600.jpg-nggid03938-ngg0dyn-0x256x100-00f0w010c010r110f110r010t010.jpg\"\n             alt=\"People_Chow_09_800x600\"\n             title=\"People_Chow_09_800x600\"\n              width=\"341\"               \/>\n    \t<\/a>\n\t\t      <\/div>\n        <\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I still plan to try the commercial Soylent blend (which I&#8217;m sure will also change over time) &#8211; but until it&#8217;s available I&#8217;m going to try a few DIY recipes. Maybe none of them are 100% perfect and the community will tweak the mixtures over time as we learn more about what&#8217;s &#8220;healthy&#8221; &#8211; but I believe in all cases I&#8217;ll be eating better than I have been the last 15+ years. I&#8217;m going to get a blood panel done after a month to make sure I&#8217;m not pushing any vitamin\/mineral way out of whack: but until then I&#8217;ll stick to 1-2 meals per day of DIY Soylent. So far it looks like a no-brainer for breakfasts, and I plan to take it to the RC tracks with me on weekends so I have an easy alternative to the fast food I normally eat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year I started to see articles about Soylent on the websites I frequent: and as an overweight guy who eats all the wrong foods &#8211; it caught my eye. The idea of &#8216;meal replacement&#8217; foods isn&#8217;t new&#8230; but they&#8217;re <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/soylent-in-canada-people-chow-3-0-1\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Soylent in Canada &#8211; People Chow 3.0.1<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ptY4v-jz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2595,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/2595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mikekirk.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}