Mealsquares are not fine dining, but they are a far more traditionally appetizing meal alternative than #Soylent. I ordered a sample pack of ten for $29 plus $6 shipping, but only received eight, which makes the cakes fairly pricey at over $4 each, $3.50 if I had received the full ten, or $3 apiece if you order 30 at a time. The manufacturer recommends immediate refrigeration, or else freezing to store up to six months. The squares are small and dense, akin to gingerbread with chocolate chips. There are some chunky bits, perhaps sunflower seeds. While Soylent aims for inoffensive blandness to promote long-term tolerance, Mealsquares taste pretty good. I was looking forward to a second one in the late morning after having my first one for breakfast yesterday. The nutrition profile (slightly different from the info in my package) is intended to provide a balanced diet based on five squares a day. I get a large lunch salad three or four times a week for $6-7 which I would prefer over two three-dollar cakes, so the squares would be a way to banish occasional hunger pangs without snacking on sugary breakfast bars or cereal. I would probably get tired of them if I had more than one a day for an extended time, but they are far tastier than the Clif Bars I sometimes rely on and appear to have a healthier nutrition profile. Warmed in the microwave and served with a hot drink (and perhaps some butter) a square makes a fine snack.
I was going to send you an email about these today, having noticed them on SSC. I had forgotten reading this, I guess. $3 per is still considerably more than a Clif Bar, unfortunately, but I think a Clif is ~250 calories whereas one of these is presumably 450+ if I'm expected to live on five of them. I read through the website for evidence that they might get cheaper over time and was not reassured. Too many sentences about things like phytic acid.
After posting my comment while eating a square, I went to a meeting to which someone brought doughnuts. I'll normally grab a doughnut, but a mealsquare sits heavy in the belly and I had no interest in another snack. That afternoon, another meeting caused me to miss my lunch, so I went downstairs and paid $1.50 for a bag of sugar—I mean a Big Texas. I love those things, because they are optimized for my dopamine receptors rather than for nutritional balance. That's when I ordered a box of 30 mealsquares. So the question is what you will do if you don't pay $3 for an optimized gingerbread loaf. If you're regularly eating oatmeal for breakfast and a sandwich or some other real food for lunch, you might want to pass or wait for a cheaper knockoff. I often bring a box of cereal or a can of Pringles from the corner pharmacy to my office, so by paying a little more I think I am significantly improving my snacking performance. These days I am saving $7 a day by biking to work, so it's easy to rationalize an overpriced cake and a fancy coffee from Reiter's.
This accurately describes me, unfortunately. I'd love to support mealsquares. At Aldi I regularly buy a six-pack of fiber bars for $1.79, to eat while I'm on long bike rides. 30 cents for, I think, 175 calories. Pretty healthy ones, too. I just can't justify going square at the moment. Damn cheap alternatives!So the question is what you will do if you don't pay $3 for an optimized gingerbread loaf. If you're regularly eating oatmeal for breakfast and a sandwich or some other real food for lunch, you might want to pass or wait for a cheaper knockoff.