I'm struggling to put on weight and yet I feel like I'm constantly eating. So I'm looking for some suggestions for dense calories.

On a typical day I'll eat:
oats, milk, yoghurt, tuna, chicken breasts, apples, bananas, meal replacement shake, protein shake, brown rice, whole eggs, egg whites, peanuts
This all adds up to around 3300 cals.

What I really need is something that's easy to prepare and very quick to eat, as I'm already doing 6 meals a day and will have to add it to one of my smaller meals (also I need to increase variety).

I used to eat a lot of cottage cheese, but the price became extremely prohibitive, and I can no longer afford it in addition to everything else :)

How about adding some low-fat cheese to a "snack" meal? I was going to suggest nuts, but then saw you already list that. I guess you could try a derivation of nuts - peanut butter. Not sure where that would fit in, though.

How about adding some low-fat cheese to a "snack" meal?

Why low fat? If you are looking for calories, eat the real stuff.

Why low fat? If you are looking for calories, eat the real stuff.

Well, I guess it depends upon what macros you're shooting for. Most cheese is well over 50% fat. So if you already have a lot of fat in your diet, then you may want to go for low-fat cheese. Still fairly calorically dense and easy to eat. If fat's not an issue, then definitely go for regular cheese. You could even start a new hobby with cheese tasting (I love havarti but I haven't had it in forever).

I use MAXIMUS when bulking up. Nothing more effective IMHO. It has everything you need in a high calorie meal and tastes AWESOME!!! The chocolate is like brownie batter! Its an AtLarge Nutrition product so you KNOW it works.

How much does cottage cheese cost? I've always considered it to be quite a good value for its nutritional and energy makeup.

calorically dense - granola, raw oats (especially steel cut) olives/olive oil,
jerky, raisins and other dried fruits, avocado, honey, nuts and nut butters, flax seeds, hemp seeds

cheap - beans, tofu, egg whites

Which of these you choose depends somewhat on your nutritional targets.

What is the meal replacement shake? If you're worried about cost, that might be something you want to get rid of and replace with something more reasonable.

Well, I guess it depends upon what macros you're shooting for. Most cheese is well over 50% fat. So if you already have a lot of fat in your diet, then you may want to go for low-fat cheese. Still fairly calorically dense and easy to eat. If fat's not an issue, then definitely go for regular cheese. You could even start a new hobby with cheese tasting (I love havarti but I haven't had it in forever).

But if he's having trouble with food volume, fat's a good thing as it's the most dense macro. He probably doesn't need more bulky carbs to help that situation.

Add 10ml of olive to each meal and you have 540 extra calories. Easy.

i was just about to say olive oil but you beat me to it:tu: i guess you are going for a clean bulk so wolfing down cheesburgers is probly out of the option... pasta has allot of callories

Thanks for the responses. I worked out my macros last night and I'm currently sitting on 17% fat, 43% carbs and 40% protein adding up to 3330 cals. I guess I can stand to add some more fat. I reckon what I'll do is remove some of the peanuts, add peanut butter as a replacement and add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil. Hopefully when my raise comes in next month I'll be able to add cottage cheese back into my diet (that's another 200cals) to accompany the peanut butter before bed.

Ironically on a per cal basis the protein & meal replacement shakes actually work out cheaper than some of the whole foods (tuna, chicken and cottage cheese are 3).

Ironically on a per cal basis the protein & meal replacement shakes actually work out cheaper than some of the whole foods (tuna, chicken and cottage cheese are 3).

I've pointed this out several times when people complained that protein powder was too expensive after the increases last year. $/g protein still leaves whey/casein cheaper than most things. I actually enjoy casein shakes more than cottage cheese most of the time, so I started buying a casein powder because it also let me control the carb content a bit better.

(Although I still like CC, just not all the time)

I use MAXIMUS when bulking up. Nothing more effective IMHO. It has everything you need in a high calorie meal and tastes AWESOME!!! The chocolate is like brownie batter! Its an AtLarge Nutrition product so you KNOW it works.

Wow! Thanks a lot Atlas!

Ok, I HAVE to chime in here! This stuff drives me a bit batty.

The foods you are consuming will NEVER get you big. If you feel like you are constantly eating and you cannot gain weight it is because you are not consuming sufficient calories! If you are a young man with a high metabolism the ONLY reasonable way to resolve this problem is to consume foods which are high in protein and FAT. You need not worry about eating "clean" foods, you need CALORIES!!!

So, go eat a BURGER! Go eat some ICE CREAM. Eat a STEAK. Load you mashed potatoes with BUTTER. Drink whole milk!

I see young men struggling to gain weight every day and they think that eating like what they think a bodybuilder eats (chicken, rice etc.) is what will get them big. WRONG! Read what I wrote above again!

Trust me on this one. Do as I say and you will reap the benefits! Focus on calorie dense foods and consume AT LEAST 25 calories per lb of body weight.

Ok, I HAVE to chime in here! This stuff drives me a bit batty.

The foods you are consuming will NEVER get you big. If you feel like you are constantly eating and you cannot gain weight it is because you are not consuming sufficient calories! If you are a young man with a high metabolism the ONLY reasonable way to resolve this problem is to consume foods which are high in protein and FAT. You need not worry about eating "clean" foods, you need CALORIES!!!

So, go eat a BURGER! Go eat some ICE CREAM. Eat a STEAK. Load you mashed potatoes with BUTTER. Drink whole milk!

I see young men struggling to gain weight every day and they think that eating like what they think a bodybuilder eats (chicken, rice etc.) is what will get them big. WRONG! Read what I wrote above again!

Trust me on this one. Do as I say and you will reap the benefits! Focus on calorie dense foods and consume AT LEAST 25 calories per lb of body weight.
Well, between the olive oil, the extra peanut butter (both fat) and the cottage cheese I'm adding back in that adds up to about 400 cals extra. I only ever wanted to bulk pretty slowly (1-1.5kg/month) to keep fat gains to a minimum. The main motive being is those nice shiny leathers I wear when riding my bike (as seen in my avatar); well they're way too expensive to replace and I can't afford to have my waist grow so much as I can't fit into them anymore (size 34). Last time I bulked (~3kg/month) I ended up size 36, which I realised was just mostly fat anyways, since I weigh a whole lot less now and lift much heavier. That was mostly before I decided to start educating myself.

I also stay away from the junk as it costs a lot and I've never really had any cravings for such things. Either way I'll add things in slowly and see what works.