I’ve been on Soylent for breakfast for a few months now. My roommate has been drinking Soylent for breakfast and lunch. It seems to be good for both of us. No problems for my roommate either, who has been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Sig, at four aren’t you having conversations about what other kids eat? I’m surprised the peer pressure isn’t getting to him. No interest at all in solid food? I’ve seen you mention this a couple places, but I hadn’t realized he was quite that old. Are his teeth ok?
I get stubborn kids, and at least he isn’t doing what one of my friend’s kids did and only eating cheez-its, parm cheese, and vanilla yogurt for two years. And if he’s healthy, there is no reason to go all SS on him. But yeah, I can’t imagine the food bill, I hope you’ve moved on to generic brands at least. Costco saved me a fortune on formula.
Use peer pressure mercilessly. It may be your enemy when he reaches adolescence, but right now it is your friend.
I once told some kids that the roast beef they were looking at funny was wildebeest “just like Simba eats”. They had to think about it for a little while, but they definitely wanted some.
If he’s eating the soylent, add a drop or two of food coloring in each day, of a color he won’t eat. Yellow=corn, green=peas, purple=grandma, red-carrots, etc. As the color gradually changes, you will have another victory that he doesn’t even realize happened.
Or you can add a little flavor each day. Such as add a single slice of banana each day until the flavor is very obvious. It won’t take long for him to recognize the flavor in other things (like a banana left on the table).
You’ve probably already tried reverse psychology. It doesn’t work right with kids, unless they are so innocent and guileless to tempt an angel into a practical joke (and most likely, it’s just an act anyway).
Siglet Primus responded immediately to my suggestion that other kids would make fun of him. He now declines to eat except at home or at the grandparents’ house. He’d rather be hungry. Secundus simply does not care.
I remember when I thought that it would get easier once they could talk and then we could reason with them. Ah, I was young and foolish. Primus is quite certain that he’ll eat “real food” some day when he’s older, but not now. Secundus intends to drink his bottle until death apparently.
His teeth are okay. I’m concerned that he may have problems later, since he chews basically nothing. (Primus likes sugarless gum.) He had avocado once when he was very little (1 1/2?) and got stopped up dreadfully; that was his literal only experience with solid food. His gag reflex is fantastic.
He’s hunger striking again, btw, since we’re back to the alternate nipple on the bottle. He did have some of the Soylent-infused formula before that with no apparent negative effect.
With some of the vegetable and fruit purees we add to the bottle, I’m amazed that he’ll drink it, bearing as it does only a vague resemblance to the “pure” stuff. I don’t think colors will be a big issue for him. Presentation in terms of which bottle/nipple are terribly important. He won’t drink chocolate milk from the wrong type of cup, won’t drink formula from anything except a bottle with the right type of nipple, etc. He will drink juice from a sippy cup that is the same shape as the “wrong” nipple. He just gets it into his head that there is one way to do things, and that’s what we need to do every time. Change only comes on his terms.
Well, he’s not the only stubborn one. =)
This is why—and I mean this in the most positive ways—I am not a parent. I would be in jail for murder. I am literally not-joking in awe of your patience and fortitude.
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We had a long conversation about bottles and nipples and sippy cups and the fact that it’s the SAME DAMNED SUBSTANCE regardless of the shape of the rubber nozzle. He tried to make himself try the bottle with the “wrong” nipple, but he’s so convinced himself that it’s wrong that he started to gag before he even got it to his mouth; I thought he was going to hurl all over the couch.
He did ask for some water, which is telling because he normally doesn’t care for it, and after he drank a bit I relented and gave him some (watered down) apple juice. I’m more worried about dehydration than anything else, so I wanted to encourage the water drinking.
They’re infuriating, but they’re mine. Frustration is mixed with fierce love and a perverse pride in having created two of the cutest, most willful, and outright stubborn assholes I have ever encountered.
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My 11 year old daughter just announced to the world that she has renounced meat from her diet. She just loves animals too much to go on and consume them. My 14 year old son on the other hand recently discovered the pleasure of consuming a good steak.
I once felt the same way. Except for the fact that we couldn’t have children, which was killing my wife inside. I kept my feelings about children to myself and I was secretly relieved we couldn’ have them. Then, ten years into or marriage it happened and our lives changed forever. I did a complete 180 and now nearly 15 years later I can’t imagine a life without them. I’m probably a better parent now than I would’ve been as a younger adult so it was a blessing that it took so long.
That being said, I do sometimes envy those couples without kids. 
Went through this with both my older girls, too cute to eat. Didn’t last very long with either, because bacon. And steak, and BBQ chicken, and rice gets old. I didn’t create totally separate meals for them, we added enough non-meat that they could eat only that and be satisfied, but tacos and casseroles and burgers were just too much for them. We went through a non-gluten fad with the oldest, which I tried to stomp on because it’s stupid, but it took care of itself too.
With the youngest she and I would go through the grocery store and name the animals and she would make the sounds for beef, bacon, and chicken. She caught her brother in law slaughtering a bunny for dinner and not only watched, but licked her lips in anticipation. So I may have gone too far the other direction.
Sig, I’m sure oyu guys have tried everything reasonable and some things that aren’t on this. Good luck, and I’m sure at some point they’ll grow out of it. Somewhere along the line two liquid meals a day just won’t be able to supply the calories they need I would think.
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I envy those who can have kids. OTOH, I think any pretense of a writing career would go right out the window, along with any hope of a sex life (although recently that seems to have gotten delayed in traffic).
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I’m with Lee. I would be in jail for murder. I really should write a thank you letter to my urologist for helping me never become a parent. 
I have mixed feelings about this.
There are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon and really it is stupid as you say. If you have allergic reactions to gluten or (worse) are celiac then you have to be gluten free. If you are not allergic then going gluten free is just pointless, stupid and expensive.
On the other hand, because of all the idiots bandwagon jumping there is a much much better range of gluten free goods for people like my wife - who actually is gluten intolerant (though luckily not celiac).
I saw meme the other day, image of the gluten free aisle at the store, and the caption was something thanking hipsters or idiots for making it so sick people could eat again.
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One one aisle?
Yes it is getting rather retarded. Especially when they slap the “gluten-free” on just about anything. Since when did tea, coffee, fruit juice, rice, etc., have gluten in it?
Okay, maybe coffee at Starbucks had gluten…
It’s like Marshmallows and Gummi Bears being labelled fat free.
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BTW, a dash of irish cream works wonders for the Soylent. Same deal for Kahlua.
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I like using various Torani’s syrups. Chocolate Torani’s is something I wouldn’t drink normally, but it’s good in Soylent. So is caramel, marron, s’mores, and cinnamon. One tablespoon per glassful, and if you use the sugar free, it doesn’t add any calories.
I can’t wait to hear the drink names people come up with, for drinks using soylent.
I saw an article a while ago about a waiter’s experience with a group of customers in a restaurant.
The group spent ages going through every single item on the menu to determine whether or not is was gluten-free because they were all gluten intolerant and couldn’t possibly eat anything made from wheat. After the poor waiter had finally taken their order, the group ordered two jugs of locally brewed wheat beer.