Healthyish food for teens who need to put weight on.

[Wbeezer]

Looking for snack and treat ideas for my young adult DS's who have low BMIs for various reasons (naturally slim build plus appetite suppressing meds).
Anyone have good ideas that don't include too much refined sugar, saturated fats, etc. (or should I not worry about that if they are skinny?)
Protein and healthy fat would be good but can't afford too much expensive meat.
Willing to bake.
Don't want all the of them cooking different meals in the kitchen but they could manage the odd shake or smoothy without getting in my way.
One of them won't eat cheese, two won't eat butter and none will touch avocado.
Suggestions for bought snacks / drinks also helpful.

DD3 has always had a very low BMI.

She'll eat homemade flapjacks.... I shove dried cranberries and apricots in as well as some sunflower seeds. Or dried coconut.
Home made smoothies using frozen fruit mix and protein powder.
Greek yogurt (full fat) with berries and drizzled melted chocolate.
She also loves doing home made ice cream.... we got one of those bowls you leave in the freezer for 24 hours, and make using full fat greek yogurt and lots of fruit.

Her current favourite tea is pasta with a large tray of roasted veg..... we use peppers, onions, mushrooms, aubergine, plum tomatoes courgettes all drizzled in olive oil and lots of garlic/herbs . And Feta crumbled over the top.

Toast, scones, flapjack, fruit cake, fruit salad with cream.
Insisting on breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon tea, evening meal and bedtime snack every day really helps. Are they school age? Convincing a child to get up early enough in the holidays to get their first two meals in is a challenge I’m not looking forward to. Good luck OP.

Stewed fruit with honey eg rhubarb or gooseberries, made into fruit fool with double cream or custard or half & half.

Frittata (with cheese) or Spanish omelette (without cheese) with potatoes and vegetables. Serve hot as a meal or eat slices cold as a snack.

Porridge with cream for breakfast.

Good olive oil as a dressing on salads.

Nuts and nut butters. Snack on them and add them to dishes, salads, stir fries, porridge, etc
Any veg or salads serve with calorific dressings. Serve crudités with hummus (if you make your own you can add extra olive oil). I know you said no butter but would they eat buttered veg or mash?
Add Greek yoghurt to smoothies.
Read labels! The difference in calories between brands is noticeable. If making egg dishes (fritata, quiche, omelettes, scrambled egg etc,) add extra yolks.
For those that eat cheese add it wherever possible. Would the non cheese eater eat haloumi or mozzarella sticks?

Thanks, homemade frozen yoghurt is a good idea I hadn't thought of and i could I probably get them to make flapjacks themselves.
I wish DS2 would eat cheese, he never has!
I'm normally quite happy to come up with food ideas but I'm a bit jaded after lockdown.

I'm working on putting on weight atm and have been told to have ice cream, so one of my evening routines is to walk to a little cafe and buy a cone.

One of them won't eat peanut butter but i could probably get away with it in baking.
The butter haters won't eat mayo or hummus either but the cheese hater will eat mozzarella on pizza. This is making them sound fussy but they only have a short list of hates!

Keeping ice cream in is probably the easiest thing, just hard to go against all the healthy eating training.

If you make baked potatoes rub the skin with olive oil before cooking and serve with sour cream.
Will they eat granola? That can pack a punch.
Milk shakes?
Can you give an example of typical daily intake?

Ice cream isn't that unhealthy though - there are far worse things

One of the problems is the meds they are on suppress appetite and its difficult to get them to eat enough breakfast and lunch, if I'm not there DS1 in particular will just eat a few biscuits until tea time.
DS1 reckons he needs to take in 3000 to put weight on.

Make your own potato wedges and freeze so the6 can get a few when they fancy a snack. Ten mins in oven.

Complan puts weight on, it’s not ideal because it’s processed BUT if you have a small appetite a drinks less daunting.

Some of the meal replacement shakes have 2 calories per ml, it doesn’t sound much but it’s quite high. Fortisp or Ensure are on amazon.

Tinned mackerel in sauce (50p) in Lidl on a couple of slices of toast.
Bowl of low sugar baked beans is perfectly reasonable as a snack/breakfast for a young adult.
Buy nuts from the baking aisle not the snacks one, usually cheaper.

Thanks.

Milkshakes made with full fat milk. Ditto hot chocolate.
Nuts are very calorific yet full of healthy fats - a big handful of cashews or pistachios or Brazil nuts or almonds.
Add cream to mashed potato.

But butters

Nut!!!

Homemade carrot cake

This recipe has been a hit with teen grandchildren.

www.heynutritionlady.com/no-sugar-banana-bran-muffins/

When I'm trying to put weight on I eat chocolate, it's the most calorie dense thing I can find that I can also eat lots of (I think nuts have more calories per gram but not so easy to get through the same amount of them). The sugars not ideal but 🤷🏼‍♀️ so yeah, I'd say nuts or chocolate.

Having said that is there any need to increase their weight? I'd only do it if you've been advised to by their Dr. Plenty of kids are very skinny teenagers but start putting weight on once they reach their 20s/30s.

Would they drink shakes? DB is currently gaining weight nicely on three shakes a day that have: Aldi’s brooklea high protein yoghurts (not technically yoghurt but soft cheese; taste amazing; low in sugar, 25g protein per pot), fruit, milk (he uses soy due to allergies; but you could use semi-skimmed for a similar protein profile), 25g walnuts, 25g peanut butter, 1 tbsp nutella. You can add more as needed

Hummus with pitta and crudités, hummus is great at adding weight the dietitian told me to give it to my underweight toddler. Full fat milk too

Beef mince - batch cook and can be made into lots of things

Shepherds pie, nachos (add avocado), pasta bolognaise.

Can vary by using turkey mince.

Lentil bolognaise for vegetarians.

Apple crumble for afters.

During the days go for light food - banana, wraps, sushi, dips.

Apart from a low BMI, are they actually unhealthy? Do they get tired or struggle to concentrate?