Method

*Note: These instructions should be the same for all my bars.

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Mix powdered ingredients (such as flour, spices and/or oatmeal).
• Chop up nuts and dates (if you opt for air dried fruits instead of freeze dried, chop them at this point but realize your bars will not be as fluffy. No need to chop freeze dried fruits at all. If using air dried, mix with flour mixture to keep from sticking.)
• Mix eggs and syrup in separate bowl.
• Mix liquid and dry ingredients. (I do this in a kitchen aid stand mixer. I put the wet ingredients in first to prevent sticking and then the dry ingredients on top. I then mix for as little time as possible to get the dry ingredients coated in the mixture)
• Put mixture into baking dish (line with parchment for easy clean up) about a granola bar thickness.
• Bake for 22 min or till tops of bars slightly golden. (this may need a longer cooking time if the dish you use is smaller than mine)

Reasons and Goals

I believe that Soylent made with purified pills is no more complete than a rainbow made with only Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. You would get the idea but would be missing most of the spectrum including aqua, indigo and chartreuse.

In order to create a full spectrum Soylent I am opting for all natural ingredients. My assumption is that, unlike pills, natural ingredients cover more than just the nutrients you track. Natural ingredients far are more likely to fill in the gaps in the nutrients that aren't tested for by the USDA as well as the gaps in our scientific knowledge.

I also presume that foods from similar categories (ie nuts, fruits, seeds, legumes) have similar nutrient profiles. While strawberries and raspberries are both nutritious they cover a similar spectrum. The same for almonds and walnuts. However if you put raspberries and almonds together they cover different parts of the spectrum and will better fill each others gaps. I am working towards recipes that have as many food categories as possible.

While cost is not an object I would like to keep the daily under $15.

Notes on Nutrients and Calculations

I have created my own nutrient profile based on the US DRI. Below are some of my reasonings.

Macros

The actual US National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommendations are for a minimum of 130g of carbs, and 56g of protein. They give no recommendations for fats. This differs from what is seen on other nutrient profiles but I went back to the source materials.

They also say 38g for fiber. I have seen this lower elsewhere so I thought it worth mentioning.

Untracked nutrients

While the NIH gives recommendations for our intake of certain micro-nutrients, the USDA chooses not to test foods for all of them. For example the NIH gives a recommendation for chloride of 2.3 grams. The USDA does not test for chloride.

So there you are adding pounds of seaweed to your Soylent because you know seaweed is high in chloride but the chloride in your Soylent is still showing nada. Obviously this is not right. This happens because this site uses a zero for any untested nutrients. They don't have much choice.

This is problematic because you added all that seaweed but got nowhere. So you supplement with a pill. But even though the recipe says you are below the upper intake level you are not because the seaweed really did have chloride after all.

My solution is to ignore those nutrients that the USDA ignores. I hope that because my Soylent attempts to be 'Full Spectrum' by using all natural ingredients from a variety of food categories, that it will cover the missing nutrients.

The USDA does not test for Biotin, Chloride, Chromium, Iodine, Molybdenum, or Sulfur. They also don't test for particular types of fiber.

Potassium

The original recommendation for potassium was 3.5g. This was already hard to reach. Now it has jumped to 4.7g. Both of these are based on the high sodium diets consumed by many Americans. Since we are consuming Soylent for out diet we don't have as much sodium and therefore don't need as much potassium. That is why I am leaving this at 3.5g.

Vitamin D

I zero this one out since you can make it in the sun and there is really no way to get it through natural food.

I don't get enough sun so this is one I actually use a pill for. Well a dropper anyway. I add a dropperfull to all my soylent recipes.

Freeze Dried Ingredients

Freeze drying remarkably preserves the nutrients in food. It simply reduces the moisture and as a result the weight.

When I add a freeze dried item to my Soylent I use the USDA values and modify them to match the appropriate calorie per weight ratio. I do this because the nutrient facts put out by the company doing the freeze drying is basic and does not contain all the nutrients. I ignore any negligible nutrient losses.

For example, 100g of blackberries have 43 calories before freeze drying. After freeze drying (according to the label) they weigh 30g per 104 calories. So thats a ratio of 0.288g/cal. That means that to keep all the original values the same just multiply that by the 43 calories. We get 12.4g. This would be our new serving size.

ToDo List

1. Measure water (currently using a splash. Possibly a 1/4 cup. Maybe less.)

Ongoing Notes

3/3/17: moved away from dried fruits to freeze dried. The added bulk adds fluffyness to bars.