Huel Ready to Drink Review

Huel Ready to Drink Review

We recently tried out Huel’s nutritionally-complete powder with great results so we were keen to try another product from their range.

Enter the Huel Ready to Drink bottle.

Like its powder counterpart, the ready to drink bottle is described as a ‘complete meal’.

At the time of writing,

It comes in the following flavours: berry, chocolate and vanilla.

Including a big part of your daily nutrient intake in a ready to drink bottle does sound too good to be true, especially for those who despise meal prepping and are sick and tired of the lack of healthy alternatives available.

But is it any good?

For the purposes of this review, we put the vanilla flavour through its paces.

Let’s jump in and see how it stacks up.

Huel Ready to Drink Review

Product Overview

In a nutshell:

Huel is a product designed to provide complete nutrition with minimal effort.

This is particularly prevalent when you simply don’t have the time, energy or resources to prepare or purchase a healthy, nutritious meal.

The Huel Ready to Drink (RTD) formula aims to expand Huel’s product list by being a drink to complement your already busy schedule with the same (almost) high-quality nutrition provided by the powder version.

However:

The difference here is that the ready to drink formula can’t completely replace your food like the Huel powder can.

Don’t be fooled though,

It’s still a great nutritional tool to have in your arsenal when you’re away from the kitchen because if you’re on regular Huel (or better yet, food) for most of the day, it simply becomes a convenience.

Nutritional Breakdown

Huel Ready to Drink contains a macronutrient split of 35:42:20:3 between carbohydrates, fat, protein and fibre.

See the full nutritional breakdown below:

According to the Huel website, the ready to drink formula includes higher quantities of healthy fat (namely from rapeseed, flaxseed, sunflower and coconut) in order to ensure it has less volume as well as increase the ease of consumption. 

This makes sense as it comes packed in a 500ml bottle so it’s important to remain satiated on less.

In terms of how it compares to the powder, below is a quick overview of how it stacks up:

You’ll notice that the macronutrient ratio isn’t as well balanced as the powder version (37:30:30:3).

For instance,

The bottle version contains higher contents of fat and lower carbohydrates, protein and fibre.

This isn’t necessarily a game-changer as you’re still consuming 400 calories per bottle, however, it just means that you’ll need to factor in additional foods/supplements in order to hit the rest of your macronutrients for the day.

As mentioned earlier,

The ready to drink formula isn’t designed to replace food completely like its powder counterpart, it’s purely a nutritional tool to ensure all bases are covered.

All-in-all:

Whether you’re looking to gain, lose or maintain your weight, the RTD formula has an optimal amount of calories and macronutrients to suit your needs and goals.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Huel product if it didn’t contain any micronutrients too.

Like the Huel powder, the Huel Ready to Drink has a proprietary blend of essential vitamins and minerals for maximum nutrition.

Check out the full overview below:

On average, the RTD bottle formula provides 32% of your recommended daily reference intake of vitamins and minerals for the day.

Conversely, the powder version provides 37% of your recommended daily reference intake per serving.

This isn’t a huge discrepancy between the two, and the bottle certainly doesn’t skimp on the amount of nutrition it packs in comparison to the powder allowing you to get an excellent return on your money.

Ingredients

Much like the powder, the Huel Ready to Drink concoction is vegan-friendly.

Whilst the powder version has a higher protein content containing both pea and brown rice protein, the RTD version only has pea protein as its main source of protein.

However, it does contain brown rice flour, gluten-free oat powder and flaxseed to provide a complete amino acid profile which combined, provides 40% of the average person’s daily protein requirement per bottle.

Pretty solid.

Not to mention:

Having the ingredients come from vegan sources also means its dairy-free (great news for those who have uncontrollable farts after consuming milk-based products).

Whilst we’re on the subject of ignominious bowel quandaries, the Huel Ready to Drink bottle also contains chicory root as one of its main sources of fibre.

Chicory root is made up of approximately 47% of the fibre inulin, which has been shown to support a healthy gut, improve digestion and relieve digestive issues.

The rest of the ingredients are pretty darn simple, containing oats as the main source of carbohydrates as well as tapioca which is a starch extracted from cassava plants.

Tapioca is best known for its thick and chewy texture and due to its solubility, works well with the other ingredients.

If that wasn’t enough:

The ready to drink bottle also includes rapeseed, sunflower and coconut to make up the rest of the ingredient list.

To get a better understanding of the benefits of these ingredients, be sure to read our Huel powder review.

For what it’s worth,

The only ingredient to be mindful of is sucralose (an artificial sweetener essential for the overall sweetness of the drink) as there are currently mixed studies on it.

Sucralose may increase blood sugar and insulin levels in those who don’t regularly consume artificial sweeteners.

On the flip side, it likely has little to no effect on those who regularly have artificial sweeteners, so always listen to your body.

Taste and Texture

The key to ready to drinks is its consistency and texture.

Huel Ready to Drink is thick and creamy, and has been expertly blended for a smooth finish making drinking it quite pleasant.

This is a complete revelation as the powder version has been known to leave a few lumps here and there when not mixing it up with a blender.

Thus, you’ll pleased to know that you won’t expect any lumpy surprises in the bottle.

Just give it a good shake before guzzling it down and you’ll be good to go.

Taste-wise, it is very similar to the powder version (akin to drinking liquid oatmeal with a mild vanilla taste).

However, I did find it a lot thicker than if you were to prepare it yourself despite water already being added in.

I suspect this is the tapioca starch at work in order to increase the product’s richness.

Nonetheless:

My only gripe would be is that it tastes a bit more processed than the powder.

I would attribute this more to the additional ingredients which aren’t found in the Huel powder to extend its overall shelf life, which, at the time of writing, is available in selected Sainsbury’s supermarkets across the UK.

Now you can simply grab a bottle in-store and have a taste test without having to fork out a lot of money by placing a big order online.

Great result.

Effectiveness

The RTD formula is a great tool to include in your arsenal when you simply get caught out in your normal working day.

Last minute meetings, continually on the go and finding yourself in an area with limited high-quality, healthy options can all lead to making poor nutritional choices.

Thankfully, the convenience of the RTD bottle is perfect for keeping you out of trouble in any situation you find yourself in.

For me:

I prefer to consume it in between meals where the temptation to snack on unhealthy treats are at its highest.

The fact that it also contains 400 calories, 20g of protein, 34g of carbohydrates and 18g of fat means that I’m able to stay satiated until I find the time to consume my next meal.

This is normally enough to keep me going for a good 2 and a half hours before my stomach begins to talk out loud and remind everyone in the room who’s hungry.

The best part is:

I’ll almost never experience that ‘post-meal dip’ in energy when consuming the ready to drink bottle (as I would with most other meals/snacks), as its low glycemic load keeps my insulin levels in check.

This allows me to crack on with the rest of my day, guilt-free and maintain productivity levels.

Perfect for someone like me with a busy schedule.

Value for Money

Where the Huel RTD bottle really shine is the overall price.

1 single-batch purchase of the RTD bottles will set you back £37. You’ll get 12 bottles (all 500ml) with the cost of each bottle at £3.08.

If you consider that these are selling for £3.50 a pop in Sainsbury’s, they do provide great value for money.

This is especially the case as most healthier options might come in above £3 (especially if you live/work in and around central London) and are unlikely to cover all of your nutritional bases such as ready-made salads, wraps and the like.

Ultimately,

The more you buy at once, the cheaper the bottles become.

So:

If you’re looking at saving even more dosh, it’s definitely worth subscribing to a regular delivery option where you’ll get a 10% discount off the final cost.

For example, if you subscribe to a 4 week delivery top-up and order 1 box of RTD bottles, it will drop the total cost down to £33 which translates to £2.77 per bottle.

Compare this to the average cost of a sugary-infested protein snack bar (some of which can cost up to £3.50) and you’re winning.

The best part is:

Like the Huel Powder, if you’re purchasing the Huel Ready to Drink for the first time, Huel will throw in a free t-shirt as well.

Not bad!

Summary

In closing of this review:

Huel Ready to Drink is a fantastic product all round, and although it does taste a bit more processed compared to the powder version, it’s a handy essential to the busy lives many of us lead.

Whilst many may not be a fan of it’s mild taste, for me, its benefits far outweigh any noticeable drawbacks.

Most notably,

The time cut being in the kitchen and getting more bang for your buck compared to the average supermarket convenient food.

You simply can’t go wrong having a few bottles in your backpack or gym bag whilst you’re on the go.

Buy Huel Ready to Drink

You can grab your bottle by visiting your local Sainsbury’s, placing an order on the Huel website or shopping through Amazon.

As already mentioned,

You’ll make greater savings by subscribing to a regular delivery top-up so be sure to select this option when given the chance!

What do you think?

Have you tried Huel Ready to Drink? Are you going to give it a go?

Drop us a comment below, we look forward to hearing from you!

Joseph Gregorio

Joseph is the Founder and Editor in Chief of CheckMeowt. When he is not sat at the computer guzzling down the nearest thing with protein in it, he can be found pulling up the world in the gym. Occasionally, he is best described as socially unreliable and easily distracte.