It’s best to start with one meal a day at first and work up to two or three meals after a few days. As far as taste goes, you can’t compare it to your favorite shake or smoothie. It’s pleasant food, but not dessert, and our brains are trained to think that junk food is real food. Try it first when you’re hungry, after it’s chilled overnight and you haven’t eaten for hours. When I first started with soylent, it was weird, but we kept going, and my wife and I found that it takes about two weeks to fully adjust to any soylent...your brain learns it is solid, good food and so the taste is now good, but it sometimes takes two weeks. So be patient. If you want to buy a “2 days” sample to try, that’s eight 500 calorie meals...you could eat one of those a day for 8 days when you’re hungry, and wait to judge then. Most people don’t have trouble, but if you have problems, you can double the sugar, add chocolate and then after two weeks you can start slowly reducing them. That was actually my process in experimenting toward the current oats-rice recipe: started out with 2x the sugar and 4x the chocolate, and found I could gradually reduce them as I came to like the taste and texture, and it started tasting too sweet.
Here are some quotes from user Spike002 in the comments/review, for my oat/rice recipe:
Day 1. “There is definitely something off about the taste....”
Day 7: “Actually I seem to have simply gotten used to the taste”
Day 21: “Good overall taste...tastes pretty damn close to official Soylent”
2000 calories is more than many people need in a day, so adjust your portions. A thermos works well for keeping it cool at work or on a bike or car ride.
One day’s powder is 2 ¾ cups.
Mix one day's powder with about 4 cups (1 liter) water and 1/3 cup (70g or 80 ml) canola oil. Then add water to make 2 quarts (2 liters), but it you want it thicker, experiment with less water. Scale this down if you won't use the full 2 quarts (2000 cal) in about 3 days.
I usually mix it by shaking...I don’t care about small lumps. Add the powder and oil to the pitcher then fill about ⅔ full (it has to have air space to slosh around to mix), with tap water and shake until it looks smooth. Add water (this water can be cold or with ice) to make 2 quarts (2 liters) and shake again.
If you want to make sure you get all the lumps out you can use a blender at medium speed…use more water if it doesn’t mix quickly. Blending time is 10-20 seconds. Add water and or ice to make 2 quarts (2 liters).
You will want a clear 2 quart (same as 2 liter) airtight pitcher (e.g. Takeya Airtight Pitcher) to shake it up after it's been in the fridge. It should be clear so you can see you’ve shaken it to be uniform. A plastic milk jug also works fine if you have a good sized funnel or skills to get the mix in. The recipes are thick enough so it doesn't settle while you're drinking it, but it will settle overnight.
Tastes good as mixed or chilled overnight. It thickens overnight. It has a richer flavor without chilling, and with less xanthan.
The drink will keep fine for more than 4 days in the fridge (mine is at 42 deg F).
The powder mix does fine at room temperature. It stores fine as a powder for at least two years if it’s at normal temperature and humidity. In a hot dry garage, one year or more.
The large bags can be sealed after opening by putting a garbage bag over them and securing with one or more bungee elastic cords closer to the bottom.