tl;dr: My diet is currently Soylent + free food and I love it.

I’ve adopted a new diet recently and it’s awesome so I wanted to share. It’s quite simple: I eat Soylent and free food. Only.

Why? I spend a total of 2 minutes of prep and ~$10 a day on personal food. (see social events below for some exceptions). The Soylent is good for me and the free food breaks the monotony. It’s great.

While strictly not true Freeganism, I think Soylent Freegans should unite and proliferate, especially in the startup and/or starving artist communities.

Soylent? Freegan? But Why?

Schwarzenegger was the original Soylent Freegan.

Food can be a surprisingly pervasive barrier to staying focused and getting stuff done. It takes a long time to prepare, can make me feel crappy if I eat the wrong kinds, costs money, and is all in all very distracting from the relationships and personal goals I have. So Soylent helps me get reliable, inexpensive, quick nutrition. Free food adds variety, takes no preparation on my part, and usually comes during social events. Hence Soylent Freegan.

If I were rich I suppose I could use Doordash, Postmates, or other delivery services to bring great food to me any time I wanted it. But there’s still a lot of distraction and cognitive overhead in choosing food and I think I might still choose this diet if I were a billionaire. Like wearing the same thing every day, it’s a strategy for keeping focused on what matters.

So that’s the basics of the diet. Here are a few FAQs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Does it Taste?

A large portion of Soylent is derived from rice.* It’s got a smooth, creamy, mildly savory taste. I like it, especially for breakfast. In fact I think I’d probably choose Soyent as my breakfast most mornings, regardless of this silly diet.

*Update: This was written about Solylent 1.3. Soylent 1.4 replaced much of the rice content with oats, making it creamier and more like a smooth oatmeal milkshake. It’s different and I think I like it better. It’s a tad sweeter because oats are sweeter.

Soylent in Airplane Mode

How do you Travel?

Soylent is amazing for travel. In Airplane mode, Soylent becomes a cheap and reliable source of a full day’s nutrition in a sea of overpriced airport junkfood. It’s simple to bring one bag of soylent for each day of your trip. Just add water and you’re set for food.

The biggest annoyance is that Soylent tastes best cold and it can be hard to make things cold while travelling. Finding a free refills soda fountain is my favorite way to get a cup of ice to pour Soylent over and works well in airports as well as out and about in the city.

Update: I’ve found that double-walled stainless steel Thermos water bottles are best for non-travel. People are used to others drinking from water bottles and the the vacuum insulation keeps cold Soylent cold for 12 hours or more. I use this one to drink out of and a larger one to keep extra soylent around if needed.

Where do you get free food? (hint: not dumpsters)

My brand of Freeganism does not involve dumpster diving and so technically is not ‘real’ freeganism. I’m OK with that.

Events are my primary source of free food! Most of the free food isn’t all that great, but sometimes it’s amazing. It’s a grab bag that makes life interesting. Plus it’s good inventive to get my introverted butt out and meet cool people.

For the purposes of the diet, paid events that include food such as conferences and seminars count as free. But I definitely don’t go to frivolous events for the food- that would be counterproductive and conference food usually isn’t the best anyways. Sometimes I bring Soylent along anyways and have it instead.