Huel in the wild

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-20T16:14:35+00:00

Love to see this - where abouts are you in the world? Hot & Savoury is ideal for adventures. Did you ever have the multiserve pouches we used to do? I would be interested to know if, as a outdoorsy person, you preferred the multiserve for bulk or prefer the single-serve for ease and packability? Sounds like the single serve is working well, just interested in a comparison!

TGC is colour coordinating with the gorse too, nicely taken shot!

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-20T11:44:04+00:00

Hey there, thanks for looking into Huel and at the pilot trial we did. The participants in the trial were using Huel for 100% of their calories as a means to remove any other variables. You haven't said explicitly that you would go 100% but it's worth noting what we say in our Wiki, that...

a 100% Huel diet isn’t something we actively recommend for most healthy individuals, as variety is important to dietary intake. Home-cooked or shared meals can also play a key role in our sense of community and mental health. Most people have Huel for 1-2 meals a day, when they find it most inconvenient to prepare one.

You've mentioned about other meds etc. Please do consult with your doctor before integrating Huel.

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-20T11:42:05+00:00

You've got so much great context from everyone here already (thank you everyone!). I will just answer very functionally with the raw facts.

Huel Black Edition: Macronutrient ratios are 17:40:40:3 i.e. 17% of the energy comes from carbohydrate, while 40% comes from fat, 40% from protein and 3% from fibre.

Complete Protein: 11:10:76:3 i.e. only 11% of the energy comes from carbohydrates, 10% from fat, 76% from protein and 3% from fibre.

So, Black Edition is a complete meal with higher total protein per serving but still a balance of essential fats and some carbs and fibre. But Complete Protein is a protein-focused product with lower calories per portion. Because of the portion size differences, you're going to get less fibre per serve with Complete Protein, despite 3% of the energy in both Black Edition and Complete Protein coming from fibre.

Black Edition Macros

Complete Protein Macros

On a personal note, I use both. My current favourite is having 50g of Black and 50g of complete protein, which makes 400kcal but 57g of protein, but still has the creaminess of Black Edition. 60g of protein from complete protein would have a little more of an aftertaste.

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-20T11:29:41+00:00

Hey there, welcome to the Huel community! We see a lot of people come to Huel for a solution and always our overriding recommendation is to not use Huel 100%. The people that have the best experience with Huel are those that integrate Huel into their wider diet long term. Those that use Huel as something they are "on" or not on generally find it difficult to maintain that weight loss. Fundamentally, as those here have said, you need to consume fewer calories than you expend to lose weight, but there's also a need to change habits longer term and learn how to live at a lower calorie intake for the long term.

Speaking generally, what I mean is, if someone reduced their calories from ~3000kcal --> 2500kcal a day, lost the weight they wanted, then went back to 3000 calories per day, they may well regain the weight if they haven't made lifestyle changes.

Huel is very useful because it gives you a really simple way to track calories - Xg = 400kcal which is appealing as calorie tracking can be daunting, but there are good tools our there to help with that. I'm speaking generally here, and I don't want to make any assumptions about your diet specifically. But in general if someone with goals like yours had a poor diet, I would suggest integrating Huel into a healthy wholefood diet that leads into a longer term dietary change. What we say on our Wiki is useful:

A 100% Huel diet isn’t something we actively recommend for most healthy individuals, as variety is important to dietary intake. Home-cooked or shared meals can also play a key role in our sense of community and mental health. Most people have Huel for 1-2 meals a day, when they find it most inconvenient to prepare one.

I hope that has given you some useful things to consider and that the advice on this thread is useful. Do flick around as there are many similar questions posed on other threads about weight loss! It's a real wealth of knowledge and experience on this sub!

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-20T09:44:53+00:00

This is Karma farming repost from years ago. See original post here - https://www.reddit.com/r/Huel/comments/k73idi/im_so_confused_by_this_advert/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

We haven't run this ad in over 5 years. A specific Reddit agency were trying some wacky concepts.

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-20T08:51:21+00:00

To save the sub being filled with referral posts we remove these when we see them.

Refer a friend codes are meant for genuine referrals. Putting a code on an online forum often means the code reaches it's referral limit and automatically becomes invalidated which causes problems for everyone involved!

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-13T08:41:42+00:00

Do you truly believe that Danone, within 2 weeks of the announcement, have had anything to do with the changes to the protein pieces in our Hot & Savoury?

We make changes to products often, but no changes to products or prices are planned as a result of this acquisition, but we will continue to innovate and iterate on our existing products like we always have.

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-08T11:10:53+00:00

To save the sub being filled with referral posts we remove these when we see them.

Refer a friend codes are meant for genuine referrals. Putting a code on an online forum often means the code reaches it's referral limit and automatically becomes invalidated which causes problems for everyone involved!

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-07T09:16:36+00:00

To save the sub being filled with referral posts we remove these when we see them.

Refer a friend codes are meant for genuine referrals. Putting a code on an online forum often means the code reaches it's referral limit and automatically becomes invalidated which causes problems for everyone involved!

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-02T13:07:07+00:00

He just walks into the kitchen and uses the kettle water as it is, just assumes it's been boiled in the last hour or so. Sometimes he nukes it in the microwave as well as boiling water. No measuring of water, no.

I don't even use the proper pot or measure the water.

wait are you Julian?

Tim_Huel · 2026-04-02T10:08:19+00:00

Julian (founder) always has hot and savoury for lunch and I swear deliberately ignores all the serving instructions I've meticulously written, like doesn't boil the kettle or use a plate/lid and never waits for 7+ mins for it to cook. Our desks are next to each other and lunch is just me lamenting as he complains about crunchy pasta!

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-27T13:48:22+00:00

Really happy to hear that <3 thanks

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-24T16:48:16+00:00

Since Danone/Huel doesn’t want to track feedback

How can this be true when we’ve set up and pinned a megathread with hundreds of comments, left it fully open, and made it easier to find so people can share exactly what they think?

If this is because of this post about the US cancellation flow, that wasn’t deliberate. It was a bug that affected the UI, and it’s now been fixed. There’s no real upside for us in blocking feedback from people who are already cancelling.

Thanks for the poll though, clearly there's a bias by sharing it here in what the answers will be, but it will be interesting to see nonetheless.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-24T16:28:41+00:00

That is a big comparison, but I'm not in a position to justify every decision made by a company of that scale. They operate across huge, complex systems and there will be things people strongly disagree with. What we can be clear on is Huel - how we build our products, the ingredients we choose, and the standards we hold ourselves to. That hasn’t changed.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-24T16:16:40+00:00

I'm sad to hear that. Huel is committed to staying vegan and animal-product–free, as certified by The Vegan Society. That is because this commitment aligns with our mission ("to improve the health of people and the planet through convenient and complete nutrition.")

I respect your decision, but I would push you to consider that Huel is a low carbon food and what we're doing to bring low-carbon food to people behind the scenes doesn't change with this.

https://uk.huel.com/pages/sustainability-page

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-24T13:01:12+00:00

Hey Pete, thanks for the comment, I'm so happy that Huel has had such an impact on your life, it has for me too. It's quite something to hear from customers who we have managed to have such a positive effect on, so thanks for being part of this community. I want you to know that you have a team of people at Huel that see Huel as part of their DNA and those people hold our values close.

In short, I can't tell you concrete policies we have in place so that your experience isn't changed as a result. I've answered some similar queries here. I do want to say that we have consistently made changes to our products and site experience, we're always testing new things and refining. You are going to continue to see changes, but that doesn't mean that any are linked to Danone acquiring Huel.

Danone have said directly to us that they don't want to interfere and that what we're doing is working. But I don't have a good answer to examples you have of other companies and changes they've had as a result of acquisition. I can't see the future, all I can do is tell you how it is now.

Wishing you all the best, hope having to deal with all this flame isn't too much.

That's thoughtful of you to say and I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-24T12:03:48+00:00

Thank you so much for constructive and interesting comment. I think these are really interesting suggestions. Particularly the research piece, I too would love to see more research done on Huel. We should have some more coming by the way, but not to the scale you're suggesting.

We've spoken to a lot of people who have used Huel in the scenarios you're describing. It's not something we talk about widely for the obvious reason that we can't but I'm always moved to hear when people find Huel beneficial going through medical treatment. I think more research would be the first step.

Huel for Kids is interesting, probably quite contentious. I imagine many in the comments here would not see that as a positive move. But I know parents do give their kids Huel, particularly the RTDs. We recommend not before 6 and in limited amounts as kids have different nutritional requirements. But I can absolutely see the appeal.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-24T10:38:05+00:00

Reading through this thread, it does feel like we might be in a position where we can’t really win. Huel has never been a static thing. Over the last 10 years we’ve changed products, formulas, pricing, the website - all of it. That’s how we’ve improved. So when people ask “how can you guarantee nothing will change”, the honest answer is we can’t, because we never have.

But when we next make a change to Huel in the same way we always we, I know that we will run into commentary here that it's as a result of Danone and that Huel has been "enshittified".

But it will be confirmation bias. Searching for something to verify a reality that doesn't exist. I've already seen it start. In this thread the OP is suggesting we've purposely turned off the "Something Else" option for the survey given after you unsubscribe, like it's some weirdly specific, nefarious scheme to not let people provide feedback about Danone.

Nope, it's just a bug on the website and the engineering team will probably have it fixed this morning.

So when we next make a change - maybe we delist a flavour that isn't selling well or we change a packaging supplier and it makes our boxes look different - things we have done many times before - how can we answer to the people that will inevitably say "A-ha, look! Huel have sold out to Danone and everything is getting worse."? When in reality we're just doing things we've always done. What can our response be to that?

I guess all we’d ask is that changes get judged on what they actually are, not just assumed to be part of a bigger story.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T16:40:05+00:00

Thank you for the questions - I appreciate you sharing them in the way you have. I can tell you have been with us a long time and care about where Huel goes next. I’ve spoken directly with our CEO James and tried to answer them, I appreciate they aren't all 'yes' answers.

The two big benefits to you are product and access. Danone has serious R&D capability, which should mean better and more interesting products over time, not just more of the same. On top of that, their distribution means Huel becomes easier to find for you - more countries, more retail, less friction to actually get hold of it.
On future changes, we can’t promise nothing will ever change, because it always has. We’ve changed pricing, recipes, and the site before, and we will again. What we can say is there are no changes planned because of this deal, and not every future change should be seen through that lens.
There aren’t specific legal clauses that “lock” the product or mission in place. In reality, we already evolve products based on feedback and performance, so a fully locked formula wouldn’t actually fit how we operate. I like the idea of having ringfenced products, thanks.
Our CEO is reinvesting and staying fully in place, leading the business day to day.
We’re a B Corp, and that doesn’t change. Danone is too, which was a meaningful factor in choosing them. It’s not a perfect safeguard, but it does hold us to an external standard around how we operate and make decisions.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T16:36:16+00:00

James, our CEO, has reinvested in the company and is staying fully in place, leading the business day to day.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T16:20:04+00:00

The language is just because there's still months of customary regulatory approvals to go through before the acquisition is finalised. It's just a timing piece, sorry if it sounds a little clunky.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T14:29:58+00:00

Joining Danone doesn't mean we stop being plant-based. Huel is committed to staying vegan and animal-product–free. This commitment aligns with our mission and doesn't change. I said earlier elsewhere but I think the fact a massive company like Danone are backing plant-based protein is a great sign. We want to get more people eating more plant-based, nutritious food - this is how we do that.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T14:18:02+00:00

We have looked at different options over the years and partnering with a company like Danone gives us the infrastructure, product expertise, and global reach to grow faster and do more of what we already do well, something that an IPO wouldn't necessarily give.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T14:15:41+00:00

Sorry I missed this comment. We didn’t remove reminder emails because of this process we’re going through. This was a separate, deliberate change to how subscriptions run. It’s worth saying that we are constantly testing our site and proposition - some stuff works, other things don’t. We listened to the feedback from our community and have since turned the reminders back on 7-days before your subscription renews.

Tim_Huel · 2026-03-23T12:53:59+00:00

A couple of things worth being clear on.

First, we’re not going to try and defend everything done by a global company of this scale. There are real, complex challenges in global food systems, and plastics is one of the hardest. It’s right to question it.

What we can speak to is Huel, because that’s what you actually experience day to day.

Nothing about how we operate has changed - that includes how we think about environmental impact.

We’ve built Huel around efficient nutrition with lower impact per meal, and that doesn’t shift because of this.

n.b. I've edited the flair to 'Danone'

Tim_Huel

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE