Inexpensive, high calorie, easy to grab foods

[ValiantJoy07]

Dh isn't eating enough. And when he doesn't eat enough he starts to smell, mostly his breath, it is a very distinct odor that only happens when he's not consuming enough food. He works from home and when he gets in work mode he doesn't like to eat.

On one hand I'm feeding 4 kids and nursing an infant and feeding myself, all with a lot of dietary restrictions. He's an adult and he should be taking care of himself.

On the other hand I can see how stressed he is (huge dead line coming up), and the less he eats the less hungry he is and it becomes this vicious cycle.

So what can I feed him? He needs to remain gluten free and dairy free mostly because otherwise he gets painful cystic acne. No other restrictions and some gluten and dairy would be ok on occasion and I wouldn't mind suggestions I haven't eaten gluten in 5/years and it is so outside my box.

It needs to be quick and some thing he could eat while he works. I need to get more food in him.

[2sunshines]

Avocado? My kids love guac and chips. I make the guac very heavy on the avocado

---------- Post added at 06:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ----------

How about smoothies? You can add so much to smoothies! Even adding oils directly to up the calories

[ValiantJoy07]

Smoothies yes!!!!! Good idea! I've been doing them for the kids but not for hub. I could get more good fats in him that way too.

[mommylove]

Since he works from home, the best scenario IMO, is making extra dinner each night & the leftovers are his lunch -- pre-portioned & ready to heat up. A smoothie snack at 3 pm is a great plan, too.

Do you need help with breakfast, too, or does he eat that already?

[mamacat]

I would go with smoothie too and you can slip in cocnut oil and all kids of things.Can he have peanut or nut butters? An afternoon snack of apple wedges with peanut butter would be another idea

[ValiantJoy07]

I could use breakfast ideas he's so tired of food, anything new outside the norm would be good. He is tired of peanut butter. I've been buying big containers of cashews at aldi but he can only eat a little at a time or he gets stomach issues.

[The Tickle Momster]

Breakfast - Sausage & sweet potatoes
cook up ground sausage. Add shredded raw sweet potates. Stir/simmer/steam until cooked. wrap in a tortilla for easy eating

If you don't want to cook, what about Figgy Pops? They are like date balls and I find them at Costco.

[mommylove]

quiche is a good make ahead food he can eat for breakfast or reheat for a quick snack. Surely a GF crust would be easy enough to find.

What about overnight breakfast casseroles or put breakfast in the slow cooker? If you're interested, say so & I'll help dig up some recipes that fit his criteria.

[mamacat]

Not to encourage non GF but when my teen son started to go into some intense acne it cleared totally with the addition of coconut oil and barley grass powder in his diet

[bananacake]

Originally Posted by ValiantJoy07

Smoothies yes!!!!! Good idea! I've been doing them for the kids but not for hub. I could get more good fats in him that way too.

Add PB or coconut oil.

[knitlove]

Date balls with lots of nuts and coconut.

[ViolaMum]

I occasionally make a stash of homemade Lara bars to keep in the freezer. I can't find my recipe right now, but they're essentially a base of equal parts dates and figs (or prunes, which are cheaper) and then some type of nut or seed. Run that through the food processor until it's a paste. Then you add some type of dried fruit as flavoring, such as dried cherries. I play around with the ingredients a lot. It's easiest to just roll bits of the mixture into balls. If you are so inclined, you can roll the balls in cocoa or coconut.

What about chia pudding?

I sometimes doctor leftover mashed potatoes and turn them into muffins by adding an egg and baking in muffin tins. You could add all sorts of things like sausage or bacon to up the calorie count and they can be eaten easily out of hand.

[Aerynne]

Smoothies are a great idea. Also I have a recipe for "hiking cookies" that are substantial and yummy (though they have sugar) and are df and could be made gf.

2 c. oats
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour (or use gf)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. applesauce (or more if the dough is too stiff)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter (I've done almond butter instead, too)
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 c. craisins (optional)

I make these in huge batches (4 batches at a time) and freeze them in balls so they can be grabbed and baked or even microwaved. He could do that or you could do that and bring them to him. Everyone loves them! I have about 100 of them in my freezer right now.

When you go to bake them, you can just bake them from frozen at 350 until they start to brown.

ETA: Whoa- totally forgot the sugar! Oops. Going to add that now. I hope no one made them in the mean time!

[ECingMama]

Originally Posted by Aerynne

Smoothies are a great idea. Also I have a recipe for "hiking cookies" that are substantial and yummy (though they have sugar) and are df and could be made gf.

2 c. oats
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour (or use gf)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. applesauce (or more if the dough is too stiff)
1/2 c. peanut butter (I've done almond butter instead, too)
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 c. craisins (optional)

I make these in huge batches (4 batches at a time) and freeze them in balls so they can be grabbed and baked or even microwaved. He could do that or you could do that and bring them to him. Everyone loves them! I have about 100 of them in my freezer right now.

When you go to bake them, you can just bake them from frozen at 350 until they start to brown.

do you think these would be good lactation cookies too?

[ValiantJoy07]

Thank you so much!! I struggle to bake them stuff with nuts because I am allergic and I can't taste test to be sure it's ok. But having some recommended recipes makes it easier.