Saving money At The Supermarket

Love bargains and saving money? Me too! Find out how to do this AND achieve your weight goals on How to Gain Healthy Weight on a Budget.

Food shopping is a major expense for most people so let’s see what we can do to save some money.

Now, eating well on a budget is a pretty big topic, so we’ll be coming back to saving money in different ways, just because there are lots of ways not to break the bank when eating big.

Today’s post focuses on gaining healthy weight on a budget when shopping at the supermarket.

It’s not hard to eat good quality food for weight gain even on a budget. With some planning and imagination, you’ve got this.

                                     Guide to Affordable Supermarket Shopping

1. Check what you already have at home

So it actually all starts right at home.   

Before you head over to the supermarket, check what food you’ve already got and can use at home. 

Have you got some kitchen staples that you can use like oats, wholemeal pasta, beans, rice, frozen vegetables etc?

Next, go through the supermarket specials on catalogues (online, in the local paper or delivered to your mailbox) to see what’s discounted, and get ideas of what to cook with these specials.

1. Make a meal plan and shopping list

How to gain healthy weight on a budget means planning.

Once you know what you’ve got at home and what you need to get, the next thing is make a meal plan for the week ahead.

Don’t forget to include food for snacks.

Because I like to drink my calories in between meals, this means fruit, yogurt and milk are must-haves in my meal plan.

Of course, batch cooking meals to eat over several days will also save you time and money.

To clarify, it doesn’t mean you have to eat the same rice meal for the next 5 days (unless you want to).

So first, write your meal plan down- whether on a post it, fancy shopping list notepaper, or on your phone. Wherever. Just make sure you have a list.

Second, on the same piece of paper/ post, make another list. This is your shopping list and what you’ll go armed into the supermarket with to save $$.

2. Shop at a discount supermarket

In Australia on every Wednesday and Saturday morning, a queue snakes its way outside the local Aldi stores well before 8am.

Part of the reason is for its advertised Special Buys on those days (homewares, clothing etc.). But it is also due to its everyday cheaper food prices.

Discount grocery stores have lower prices on lots (not all) of food compared to the more established and better known grocery shops, and can save you quite a bit of cash.

On the whole, I like Aldi for the lower prices, but also because the organic food range there is much more affordable than the regular supermarkets.

Be warned though if you’re going to Aldi, to avoid the centre aisles which are filled with tempting nice-to-have-but-don’t need items.

And of course stick to the lists you’ve made.

3. Buy seasonal

How to gain healthy weight on a budget also means buying food in season. This is great for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it is easily available, abundant, with lots of variety, which means it is cheaper.

It will also be fresher and taste a lot better. Also you’re supporting local farmers and the community.

And remember, lots of supermarkets have online and in-store pamphlets with budget recipe ideas for foods in season.

While there may be something exotic about eating Californian cherries during the Aussie winter, it’s going to cost you. 

And all those food miles are also not great for the environment. (You know that fruit will have come from a long way off and have who-knows-what preservatives in it to keep it looking pretty.)

4. Swap and sub

So here I’m talking about two things: substituting name brand for supermarket brand items.          

Also, swapping more expensive ingredients for cheaper ones e.g. protein.

Generally for staple foods or single food  common items like baked beans, dry pasta, tinned vegetables like corn, chickpeas, beetroot etc, one brand tastes much like the other.

The supermarket brand is usually cheaper with a similar quality to a name brand.

In short, save your money and pick the supermarket brand.

I doubt you’ll notice the difference most of the time and it will help you achieve the goal of gaining healthy weight on a budget.

Also when it comes to making food swaps, you can save money by making simple swaps as well. For example:

• Choose frozen vegetables over fresh vegetables that aren’t in season.
• Pick cheaper cuts of meat/poultry e.g. chicken legs are tasty, filling and cheaper than chicken breast.
• Swap a recipe ingredient like lamb mince with canned tuna for a pasta bake.

5. Bulk Buy

This is a great way to save money BUT it needs to make sense.

We’re not talking hoarding (think Australia and toilet paper at the start of covid) or stashing food in an underground bunker as “just in case” doomsday prepping.

There isn’t any point bulk buying something because it is on special if you won’t eat it all before it expires.

Another thing to keep in mind is having the storage space to store the bulk items at home.

Only bulk buy long lasting and food items that you need and know that you will USE, and try get them on special as much as possible.

Here is where those supermarket weekly or monthly specials guides come in handy.

This is also a good way to start stocking up on some healthy staple foods on standby for weight gain.

6. Buy milk

Milk is a great source of protein, calories as well as a number of nutrients. As such, it is excellent for building muscle.

Milk is also easy on the wallet (I’m referring to full cream cow’s milk.) Other types of milk such as plant milks can be quite pricey.

A large cup of milk contains about 150 calories.

You can have it as a hot beverage (like hot chocolate), cold beverage (milkshake), add to healthy desserts, eggs, cereals, porridge, soups, and my favourite, smoothies.

While it is refreshing drunk on its own, the magic happens with what you can add to it.

A spoonful of peanut butter, honey, yogurt, banana and suddenly you have a healthy drink with over 500 calories.

Milk is a simple but effective strategy in how to gain healthy weight on a budget.

I’ve also personally found that drinking your calories is much easier that eating them for healthy weight gain. What I will stress though, is to add it to your daily food plan, not replace a meal with the liquid calories.

This is one food item that you’re going to want to have in your shopping list every week to help with gaining healthy weight on a budget.

7. The frozen section

Now I just want to be clear that I’m not talking about buying frozen microwave meals and foods like pizzas, ice creams, waffles and so on. That stuff won’t do your body any favours.

To clarify, frozen fruit, vegetables, unprocessed seafood, meats and poultry is what we’re looking for. These tend to be much cheaper than their fresh equivalent especially when out of season.

The benefit of raw or unprocessed frozen foods is they are easy to prepare, affordable and are packed with nutrients.

Frozen fruits and vegetables for example, are picked at their peak and frozen when they are most nutrient dense.

In fact, this study  is one of several that found there wasn’t much difference in nutritional value between fresh and frozen foods.

Some studies suggest frozen foods have better nutritional value to some fresh food, as the latter has a shorter shelf life, can quickly spoil and lose nutrients as it goes off.

So, can you find frozen foods that will help with healthy weight gain? Of course you can. 

Some examples include fish, poultry (chicken, turkey, duck), meat (beef, lamb, venison, goat, veal etc.) maize (corn), cassava, sweet potato, yams, taro, tofu, mango etc.

Pass by the fresh fruit and vegetable section on your way to the frozen food section to check and compare the prices. Some frozen food may be more expensive e.g. fresh mangos in season will likely be cheaper than frozen mango pieces. 

8. Buy versatile foods

Don’t forget to include food ingredients that are affordable and versatile. Non-perishable foods are especially good value as you don’t have to worry about food spoilage within a short time.

In other words, the coconut flour is out. It’s not a priority! It’s expensive and has limited use.

Coconut milk on the other hand (canned, boxed or powdered) is a great buy. This is something I get all the time because it is cheap, multipurpose and packs good calories.

For instance, I use coconut milk in curries, breakfast cereals, smoothies, desserts etc, all within the same weekly meal plan which means I use it all up with no waste.

Another good buy at the supermarket that I personally love is a full roast/rotisserie chicken.

It’s cheap, already cooked and finger licking ready to tear up.

This is also a great source of calories and can be used in so many ways. You’re limited only by your imagination.

How about with mashed potatoes, hot or cold chicken salads, sandwiches, pastas, frittatas or quiches, omelettes, fried rice, quesadillas, soup (using the bones) etc.

Mind you, buying a whole uncooked chicken will also save you money at the supermarket.

A few other cheap and versatile ingredients include eggs, oats, bananas, milk legumes, and canned tuna.

9. Shop once a week and don’t shop when hungry.

How many can relate to dropping into the supermarket “just for some toilet paper” and coming out with 9 other items including chips, ice cream and a 6 pack of some drink?  

That’s what happens when we:

• Randomly go to the supermarket several times a week.
• Shop without a plan and without a list
• And shop when we’re hungry.

It can end up costing you a small fortune.

And this is another simple but practical tip for how to gain healthy weight on a budget.

Let’s be honest. Stopping off the supermarket for “one-off items” and sticking to that requires a will- power most of us just don’t have.

I used to head to the shops after work and the gym to pick up some milk. Worst idea ever!

I was hungry after a workout and would come out of the shop munching on the biggest bag of oversalted chips. 

Or come out with fish ‘n’ chips from the fish and chip shop next door (which wasn’t what we were going to have for dinner until 10 minutes ago).

So stick to shopping once a week and only with your trusty shopping list to keep you on track with your budget.

This year we’re all going through tough times with covid.

But difficult as these times may be depending on where in the world you are and the current covid restrictions in place, the limits on movement (in our case to the supermarket) can actually help you save money.

Finally

To summarise, saving money on food shopping doesn’t mean tasteless food or unhealthy choices. Also, that extra $$ you save can go to other goals in your life.

And remember feel free to start off with one tip, or a few, and ease your way into gaining healthy weight on a budget at the supermarket.

This week I thought we’d look at making easy desserts for healthy weight gain.

I know, people are busy and would like to have some simple go-to calorific desserts with that don’t need tons of ingredients or take lots of time to prepare.

Although we enjoy watching those reality cooking contests where people are tempering chocolate from scratch, we wouldn’t necessarily want that hassles ourselves.

We’d rather eat the chocolate than temper it, right?

In reality, I think many of us are all about tasty, easy to prepare desserts in a short amount of time.

I mean have you ever watched Chopped re-runs? I really wouldn’t want to be in the contestants’ place.

For those who don’t know, Chopped is a show where they have 4 chefs competing for $10,000 with limited time to make meals out of basket ingredients that are bizarre.

Just think: having to make a delicious dessert out of fried chicken, blueberries and pureed baby food.

Naturally, we just want simple, tasty, fruity desserts with easy to find ingredients that pack healthy calories.

And of course prep time is kept to a bare minimum.

To illustrate one of these “recipes” is simply putting 3 or 4 ingredients in a bowl. Really, you wouldn’t even call that “prep” time!

You may want to take a look at this article for ideas on easily increasing your daily intake.

And now, let’s get started.

Healthy Weight Gain Desserts

1. Baked bananas with nuts

Did you know baking bananas in the oven for a short time brings out this natural gooey caramel-like sweetness?

For the most basic recipe, all you need is 2 small bananas and a few nuts.

* I like cashews, macadamias and brazil nuts. Just 4 brazil nuts or 5 macadamias give over 100 calories.

How To:

Peel and slice the bananas lengthwise and place on some baking paper on a baking tray.

Bake bananas in the oven for 10-12 minutes on 200 degrees C.

Meanwhile, place nuts in a resealable zip lock bag and go over them with a rolling pin until they are broken up into little bits.

Remove the bananas from the oven, place on a plate then sprinkle with nuts.

There are lots of variations to this, and you can increase the calories by adding other healthy toppings.

For instance, perhaps sprinkle desiccated or toasted coconut flakes, grated dark chocolate, and/or spices like cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg on top.  

                2. Fruit, chocolate and fondue

Fruit and chocolate is an incredible combination.

It looks fancy, adds a lil’ somethin’, somethin’ to plain fruit, tastes amazing and is easy breezy to put together.

Simply melt some good quality dark chocolate on a double boiler on the stove or even in a microwave for a couple of minutes.  

Dip your fruit pieces in it and leave to cool on some baking paper, then into the fridge for 35-40 minutes to set.

*Certainly, make sure the fruit pieces are dry and not wet from just being rinsed.

Roll in some chopped up nuts after dipping in chocolate for more texture and flavour (and calories!) Leave to set on some baking paper.

Finally, why not consider a fondue.

If you have family around or friends over and have time to savour your dessert, fondues are awesome. Try either a chocolate fondue or cheese fondue.

Seriously, who knew fruit could go so naturally with melted cheese? Try pears, grapes, apples and figs for starters. Yum!

3. Whipped ricotta cheese with berries

This simple “recipe” takes just a few minutes to whip up.

All you need is 125gms of full-fat ricotta cheese and 2-3 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey. Beat till smooth using a hand mixer, processor or stick blender.

Let this set in the fridge for 1hr-1.5 hours. Enjoy on its own or stir in any berries you like. Grate or melt some chocolate over it and/or sprinkle finely ground nuts for a decadent feel.

Naturally, if you’d like some more for later, you could double the cheese amount.

4. Coconut cream berry popsicles

Who’s up for healthy creamy ice-cream popsicles?

This frozen dessert is delicious, nutritious and above all, easy to prepare.

All you need to make these is a can of full cream coconut cream (or milk), 200gms of frozen berries (whatever floats your boat and is in season) and 1.5 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup.

*On the whole strawberries have a blander flavour so double the amount if using them for this recipe.

Just add all ingredients to a blender and blend to a really smooth consistency. Remember, some berries have seeds on the outside.

Taste and add more honey/maple syrup as required. This makes 8-10 popsicles.

Pour or spoon into popsicle molds and with sticks in the centre and place in the freezer for 6-8 hours.

After, simply take out, run some hot water on the popsicle mould for a few seconds, and pull out your healthy tasty treat.

Trust me one won’t be enough.

There is no end to the amazing flavours you can create with different fruit.

5. Yogurt and fruit:

This literally involves just putting fruit in a bowl, adding plain or Greek yogurt on top and finishing off with a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup. You can top it with nuts if you like for more flavour and calories.

Use the fruit you like including chopped bananas, peaches, apples, papaya, berries etc.

Be generous with your servings for your weight gain goals. Depending on your serve, it could contain upwards of 350 calories just for this dessert.

How good is that!

Overall, one thing that I found really helped with my weight gain was enjoying a smoothie mid-morning, followed by a healthy dessert after lunch or dinner.

See this article for more tips.

I hope you enjoy making these 5 easy desserts to help with your healthy weight gain journey.

Exercise helps with weight gain? Well, yes actually.

While exercise is usually seen as a tool for weight loss, it does play an important role in weight gain. More than that, it’s highly recommended to gain healthy weight while building lean muscle through exercise.

Building lean muscle is not just a goal for athletes, body builders or those wanting bigger biceps or abs. Or at least it shouldn’t it be.

When looking to gain weight, gaining just fat isn’t ideal. You may be hurting your health which can lead to chronic conditions like high blood pressure, stroke or Type 2 diabetes. And yes, that can happen even if you’re slim.

What kind of exercise helps with weight gain?

So, does any ol’ exercise help with weight gain? Actually, the best ones for healthy weight gain are body weight exercises and weight training.

I remember I kind of recoiled when I was first encouraged to lift weights many years ago. I thought “Great. I’m going to end up looking like I can enter a Schwarzenegger look-a-like competition.”

A lot of people, especially women think that starting with weights means you’ll get really ripped and masculine looking, but that’s not the case.

Women generally lack the testosterone levels to get really muscular. So don’t worry too much about that.

Of course if you want, you can get really ripped and muscled if that’s your goal, but that requires discipline, many sessions of committed heavy weight training, and a heck of a whole of muscle fueling food.

We’ll cover weight training and body weight exercises in a little bit, but first, let’s talk about cardio exercises.

Now you’ve probably heard of cardio. Cardio exercises are those that get your heart rate up. They are very effective when the end goal is weight loss.

With cardio, you burn quite a number of calories depending on the exercise. Some examples of cardio include running, cycling, soccer, skipping, rowing and group classes like zumba, body attack or step classes among many others.

Cardio is important for everyone and has benefits such as strengthening the heart, reducing the risk of heart disease and lowering blood pressure.

However if you’re trying to gain weight, cardio exercises are best kept to a minimum because the idea is not to torch calories, which is what it does.

Why do we need strong muscles?

So why is muscle important in the body anyway?

Well very simply, the body is made up of over 600 muscles. They allow us to breathe, move, walk, talk, blink, and pick up Leo the cat, in addition to lots of other daily functions.

And don’t forget, the heart which is the organ that keeps us alive is also a muscle, pumping blood all over the body.

Strengthening our muscles empowers our body in many ways which leads to better health. Read more on healthy muscles here. Body weight exercises and weight training both add and strengthen muscle.

Body weight exercises:

These use your body’s own weight as resistance to build strength through movements such as pushing, lunging or pulling. Think of push ups, planks, yoga or sit ups.

These exercises are great for people just starting out with building more muscle as you often don’t need any equipment to do them. You can do them alone in your bedroom or living area.

That’s right. No excuses not to, when you’re not at home.

They are limited in terms of how much muscle you can gain because you are only using the resistance from your own body weight, no more and no less. But they are great for improving strength, endurance and balance.

Weight training exercises:

This type of training uses weights for resistance. Weights here include free weights such as dumbbells and barbells or weight machines. Lifting weights creates a stress to the muscles which gets them bigger and stronger.

You could go for either light weights, heavy weights or a mixture of both. Heavier weights will obviously build more muscle and faster than using light weights.

Weight or resistance training also increases stamina and builds endurance. As your body gets stronger, you’re able to challenge yourself to do even more, and these positive effects spill over to your mental health as well.

Word to the wise here. Incorrect use of weights can result in injuries, so if you are new to weight training, start with an experienced trainer, or join a weights class like body pump to see how it’s done properly and get direction from an instructor.

Other benefits of resistance exercises

Other than overall weight increase, toning up and building muscle, these types of exercises have a number of benefits. Let’s have a look at some of them.

1.Working up a good appetite.

Have you ever felt ravenous after doing some exercise? That’s because it can increase appetite as your body realises you’re burning energy and therefore need more fuel (food) as a result.

Bring on the hunger cues. See here for more tips on how to easily increase your daily calorie intake.

When building muscle, your muscle tissue is tearing and repairing itself. This also helps stimulate your appetite for muscle strength and recovery.  You may have seen articles on what to eat straight after a workout for recovery, that’s what they are talking about. 

Read more here on why it’s important to fuel your body for exercise.

It goes without saying that an increase in appetite works in favour of your weight gain goals

2. Keeps bones strong and healthy.

The stress applied to muscles during resistance training can build strong bones and increase bone density. Bone is living tissue and like muscle, it can get denser and stronger with resistance training.

As we age, we lose bone density which can lead to conditions such as osteoporosis.  This Harvard article explains why weight training is also good for bones.

3. Helps with coordination, balance and posture.

Resistance exercises work your muscles, making you stronger and fitter in carrying out daily activities. Some of these daily activities include walking, lifting, running, climbing stairs etc. 

Think about it, quite a large part of coordination and balance depends on the strength of the muscles in your legs, arms, core and back. Good balance and coordination will help with reducing falls, injuries and even ease pain.

Building muscle strength can also help with maintaining good posture, keeping your spine and body properly aligned.

4. Can help with better sleep and better mood.

Exercise is great for the body and the mind.

It helps reduce worry by releasing endorphins during your work out, making you feel more relaxed and less stressed. Also, using up energy while exercising makes you feel tired. The combined lowered stress and tiredness can help you sleep better.

5. A more toned appearance and improved body confidence

Resistance training can help you achieve a more toned and sculpted look which can be transformative for the body and mind. After all this is one reason why people would try to gain weight.

This is important for a lot of people who are trying to gain weight, and will improve self-esteem and confidence. Alongside that your body just becomes physically stronger and healthier.

What exercises do I do?

Everyone’s goals are slightly different and they will have (or discover) their own favourite techniques or what works for them.

Personally what works for me has been a mixture of body weight exercises, light weights and a little cardio.

I do lunges and toning workouts, yoga, push ups and use resistance bands. I also like body pump classes.

Body pump uses light weights with many repetitions (between 800-1000 reps in a class). This is different to heavier weights which need few repetitions, but which will build you much more bulk.

Other than that, I walk lots, and also like some group cardio classes. These classes do burn lots of calories however I don’t do them often, and increase my liquid calorie intake when I do go. See How to gain weight by drinking calories for more on this.

Happily I can also report to not looking like a gladiator, which was never my goal.

So go ahead and use exercise as a tool for healthy weight gain. You won’t be sorry and you might just get addicted.

Keeping some healthy staple weight gain foods in your kitchen is really important .

For instance, having basic items available in your fridge, pantry, freezer, fruit bowl etc. can help avoid any of these situations:

• I’ll start with weight gain foods on the weekend because I haven’t done any shopping this week.
• There’s nothing to eat and a KFC boxed meal will give me over 1000 calories in one hit. “Just this one time.” (You know and I know it’s not going to be a one-off).
• I’m so tired / I can’t be bothered/ I’m not in the mood to spend 30 minutes + to cook something.

So this is a loose list of what weight gain foods to keep at home. This will depend of course on personal choice.

I’ve also offered some alternative options for people who have intolerances, are vegetarian or vegan etc

The Kitchen Staples

1.Milk

This is one of the basic items to have in a kitchen. It is generally cheap and easily available. For our weight gain purposes, we’re talking full cream milk.

Milk contains calcium, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. It is also a complete source of protein.

Fact: Complete proteins are foods containing sufficient amounts of the 9 nine essential amino acids. Quite a few animal products are complete proteins.

Milk is delicious and so versatile. 

Nothing beats a cold glass of milk on a hot day, or warm milk with honey before bed on a cold night. You can use milk in porridge, beverages, main meals, soups, desserts, smoothies etc.

I love cow’s milk but there are so many varieties out there now, it kind of blows the mind.

I’ve seen soy, almond, goat, coconut, macadamia nut, oat, camel and rice milks. There are probably more out there.

Some of the plant based ones would be suitable for folks avoiding animal products or those intolerant to cow’s milk. But do some research on nutritional values and calories. Almond milk for instance is quite low in protein.

2.Eggs

Eggs are a nutritious powerhouse food staple.

Again they are easily available, affordable and can be enjoyed in a number of ways including as a meal, snack, in desserts etc. 

Both the white and yolk contain nutrients including vitamins & minerals, omega 3 fats, protein, antioxidants and iron among others.

Simple ways with eggs include the usual boiled, fried, scrambled, omelettes and so on. But also enjoy them in frittatas, quesadillas, salads, casseroles, mashed potatoes, soups, tortillas etc.

And that by the way, is just the savoury stuff. You know how crazy you can get using eggs in making healthy desserts.

3.Nuts

Nuts are high in fat, however is this mostly unsaturated fats (omega 3 and 6 fatty acids). They also contain fibre, vitamins, minerals and protein. Studies suggest that nuts are good protection for heart health.

Some types of nuts can be expensive or not easy to find depending on where you live. Peanuts tend to be the cheapest, so don’t feel you need to go out looking for macadamias, almonds or cashews, which cost more.

The other option is to buy nut butter like peanut butter. The trick is to find one with a minimum of ingredients, e.g. just peanuts (and maybe salt).

You can spread nut butters on bread, added to smoothies, in porridge, on fruits (bananas, pears, apples etc.), on chicken (Hello Satay), on popcorn, and other options.

4.Avocados

Avocados are a brilliant weight gain food. They are delicious fruits with a creamy texture and high in fats. But these are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats which are good fats. Fats are necessary for energy, cell growth and absorption.

Avocados also have vitamins, fibre and antioxidants. An average sized avocado has about 250-300 calories though it can be higher, depending on its size.

Avocados can be enjoyed in savoury or sweet recipes.

Try spreading avocado with some salt and pepper on bread/toast as a substitute to your usual breakfast spread, or as a snack. It’s also a great fruit to use for drinking your calories.

Just be aware that depending on the season and where you live, avocados can sometimes be expensive.

5.Yoghurt

Yoghurt is fermented milk with impressive health benefits, and is useful in healthy weight gain.

As a dairy product, it packs calcium, protein, healthy fats, some vitamins and minerals. But, yoghurt is also rich in probiotics which may help digestion, improve the immune system and keep good levels of gut bacteria.

Plain or Greek yoghurt are the best types to have in your fridge. Flavoured yoghurts can contain very high levels of sugar and other additives.

Check to make sure the yoghurt ingredients include yoghurt cultures such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus, or Lactobacillus acidophilus.

You can enjoy yoghurt on its own, as a snack with fruits, honey or maple syrup, as a dessert, marinade, in smoothies, dips etc.

There are now quite a few plant based yoghurts in the market for those who don’t consume dairy such as coconut yoghurt.

6.Bread

Bread is a staple food in many parts of the world.

It often gets a bad rap as unhealthy and this can be the case when buying poor quality, highly refined white processed breads (which are often very cheap).

There are breads that are healthy such as those made of whole grains and seeds. In fact, some studies suggest whole grains can be effective in fighting cancer.

Also, wholemeal bread is a great source of dietary fibre, some vitamins and minerals, resistant starch, and it adds bulk to meals.  For our purposes, it is a good source of calories.

As a kitchen staple for healthy weight gain, bread can be paired up with a few of the mentioned staples including nut butters, avocado and eggs.

7.Cheese

This is another delicious source of dairy. Cheese is a good source of calcium, protein, fat, vitamin A and B12, and some minerals.  Remember though, there are natural cheeses and processed ones.

Natural cheeses are made of few, simple ingredients like milk, salts and enzymes. They also tend not to last as long as processed cheese, which is full of preservatives.

Also different cheeses have varying amounts of calories and salt.

As with any food, moderation is the key. Too much cheese can affect your health like blood pressure due to the high sodium found in many types.

This article discusses the better options of cheeses.

Healthier choices include cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, goat’s cheese (for probiotics), and Swiss cheese among others.

Like with bread, avoid the highly processed types such as supermarket variety packaged cheese slices, soft cheeses like the Laughing Cow brand, camembert and brie

You can enjoy cheese on bread, in salads, or over vegetables among other ways.

There are non-dairy cheeses now made from ingredients like soy and nuts which is good news for vegans and those with dairy intolerance. But these don’t tend to come cheap, well at least not in Australia.

Other Kitchen Staple Alternatives:

For those folks who can’t eat nuts, eggs or dairy products, other low cost, easy-to-find healthy staples include oats, legumes (beans, chickpeas, lentils etc.) and dried fruit. An added benefit is they are long lasting staples and will keep for a while if stored well.

If avocados are costly where you live, bananas can be used instead for sweet options, such as in smoothies, shakes or with yoghurt.

I like to mix and match these kitchen staples for variety, different flavours, and also to enjoy them in moderation. Keeping these foods at home has saved me many times from ordering junk food or procrastinating on my weight gain goals.

Have fun experimenting with these easy, weight gain foods for meals or snacks in next to no time. These 7 kitchen staples can really help with your journey to healthy weight gain.