Any ideas for high calorie but reasonably healthy snacks for underweight ds?

[carrotsandcelery]

My ds has to have several extra snacks during the school day as he can't maintain his weight and struggles to control his emotions when he is hungry.

I am running short of ideas of things to make for him. He has to have roughly 4 extra snacks a day.

They all need to go in a tub or similar to be taken to school.

He can't eat a lot in one go so they can't be too big but need to contain as many calories as possible but also to be relatively healthy.

Currently I give him a selection of the following:

flapjacks

oatmeal and banana muffins
(both of them low sugar recipes)
cheese and crackers
bananas
breadsticks and various dips
carrot sticks and various dips
half a sandwich
cheesestrings
brioche
pancakes
soreen loaf
shop bought dairylea dippers

It has also been suggested that I give:

crumpets and peanut butter
carrotsticks and nut butter eg almond butter
cheese scones
frittatta,chilled
oatcakes and mashed avocado
avocado, and tomato sarny
homemade sugar free muffins
smoothies with ground almonds/full fat dairy/ground seeds added
nut milks
pitta or english muffin mini pizzas
cheese straws
savoury muffin

I should also point out that he is a vegetarian and won't eat meat or fish.

I would very much appreciate any other ideas inventive mumsnetters have.

Nigellas lunch box treats might be nice, they're in Express, along with a banana/peanut butter/Horlicks smoothie.

Hummous, perhaps with some mini pitas? Or maybe some vegetarian sausage rolls?

Some foods are recommended like nuts and seeds, peanut butter, dark chocolate. Eat limited animal fats, vegetable oils and cheese. Avoid salad dressings, junk food, fried food.

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isabel de los rios review

Savoury muffins? Pesto or red pesto and feta are nice. Make a batch of 12 then freeze most of them.

Or falafels made with sweet potato - Leon does these and they are delicious. I imagine the recipe is in one of their books.

Cheese, butter, milk (full fat), eggs and full fat yoghurt I'd say are your best bet for weight gain. Not that your son is a body builder (!!!) but take a leaf out of their book, if they're trying to gain weight then those foods above are what they'll be going for... not grapes and various types of bread IYSWIM.

And your brain is made up of pretty much water, protein and fat so if you make sure his diet is rich in these then this may help his mental health too. Have you heard of ketogenic diets being used to treat epilepsy? It's quite interesting.

And I wouldn't shy away from chocolate, try smashing up some good quality dark chocolate and mixing with a variety of dried fruit. Have fun dipping some fresh fruit in melted chocolate. A hot chocolate will full fat milk before bed.

Increase the amount of fat in your overall diet. High fat nut roasts, roasted potatoes in lots of olive oil, roasted veg. Eggs - brilliant, a complete meal. And butter is a great source of fat soluble vitamins, put it on everything.

Olives, my DC love them [fraeks]

Mayo is massively high in calories as it is mostly oil. You could make some coleslaw? Not hugely healthy though...

Focaccia is full of olive oil so very calorific.

Ooh, Waldorf salad. It has walnuts and mayo etc in it and also celery and apple.

Egg mayonnaise sandwiches.

Millionaire's shortbread.

Shortbread, full stop.

Bake a potato, cut a lid in the top, scoop out the insides, mash with butter and cheese, put back in. Delicious hot or cold.

Proper cream cheese sandwiches. Not Philadelphia type, proper cream cheese. Waitrose might still sell it maybe?

I second a slight 'wtf' at sugar-free muffins. Make them with a bit of honey, perhaps (not all honey, the taste would be overwhelming) if it makes you feel better? Mary Berry has a great muffin recipe with lots of yogurt and chocolate which makes them last a bit longer than some others.

Smoothie - there's 2 I have tried one hot and one cold

Hot - banana, spoon of horlicks, cup of v hot milk, dash honey, spoon porridge oats and sprinkle cinnamon. Blend

Cold - milk, banana, spoon smooth peanut butter. Tastes better with frozen banana, lump of vanilla ice cream and a dash of cream

For more calories could you use a protein powder? My protein does cheapest ones

I've thought about this a little bit over the last few days and actually feel slightly worried. I have to say my reaction if a child is underweight and forbidden from eating nuts would be to say that he can't remain vegetarian until his weight is within normal limits. However, I am not vegetarian now myself, so I would suggest talking to a paediatric dietitian who is expert in vegetarian diets. I think not having nuts available as an option severely limits the calorie and protein resources your son has. Hope I'm not overreacting and worrying you.

My children are vegetarian and quite big fans of various tivall products. The tivall vegetarian frankfurters are popular here and can be sliced and mixed with pasta for quite a carby snack. I can't personally eat them as they remind me of meat - fine for the kids as they've never tasted meat.

Home-made milkshakes? Make it with full fat milk and banana. You can add a handfull of oats to smoothies before you blend to.

Will he eat cream? Strawberries and double cream. Scones and clotted cream. Bananas and cream....

Not being allowed nuts at school is a pain but you could offer him nuts as his after school snack, and add them to his breakfast in the morning. Would he eat porridge made with full fat milk and mashed banana, topped with some nuts and seeds? This is DS' favourite breaky.

I think, avocados and bananas are the highest calorie foods. I used to mash up half an avocado with a banana. Nuts and seeds are packed with vitamins, minerals, and heart healthy fats and fibers, nuts and seeds are a great snack food.
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healthy diet meal plans