Budget-Friendly Weight Gainer Recipe: Delicious & Effective

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You know those flowers, where you keep picking one part at a time and say “I love you”, “I hate you”, etc.

Well, I couldn’t describe my relationship with weight gain shakes over the years better than that.

When I first started my fitness journey, on the 17th of January 2016, I was a very skinny teen (63kg at 187cm height) and didn’t have any muscle at all.

In the first months, my progress was very limited, because I didn’t like food, and most definitely I didn’t like eating a lot of it.

However, about three months into my journey I learned about weight gainers, ah yes those huge containers, with a scoop size so big it looked like I was filling the bowl of my dog.

The taste disgusted me most of the time, but if I threw up, I would just drink another one. I wanted to gain weight, and so I did.

Can those huge containers of weight gainers help you gain weight, and build muscle? Absolutely.

Are they your tastiest, cheapest, and healthiest option? Absolutely not.

Over the years I’ve perfected building my weight gain shake, which beats any of those huge containers of supplement companies.

The only thing you’ll be missing out on is that giant scoop.

Allow me to show you how to make a cheap weight gainer that tastes great, so you’re one step closer to crushing your goals.

Four reasons I love making a weight gainer

1. A weight gainer is convenient. You can just throw a bunch of stuff together, blend it in a mixer, and boom you’ve got a ready-to-go meal.
2. A weight gainer is perfect if you’ve got a busy day. It’s also a lot easier to consume, and time-efficient. In my opinion, it beats meal-prepping.
3. A weight gainer perfectly fits your daily macros and calorie goals. Simply adjust the ingredients and the amounts you put in the shake. There are no cheap fillers like in a pre-packed weight gainer container.
4. This weight gainer tastes great for everybody at any time. You can completely customize the weight gainer to your taste, by simply choosing a different flavor of protein, or adding extra sweetener.

Ingredients in a cheap weight gainer that tastes great

• 200 grams of low-fat cottage cheese (I use this)
  You can use Greek yogurt or higher fat options.
• 100 grams of oats
• 200 grams of Any type of fruit
  I like frozen (summer fruit) berries.
• 10 grams of cacao powder
  Super tasty superfood
• 40 grams of peanut butter
  Substitute for any other natural nut butter
• 5 grams of chia seeds
  Absolute superfood
• 10 grams of pumpkin seeds
  Another superfood
• 40 grams of protein powder
  You can use whey protein, vegan protein, isolate protein, etc.
• 300 ml of whole milk, semi-skimmed is fine too (or chocolate milk)
  You can also use plant-based kinds of milk, such as almond/cashew/peanut (I use these)
• As many artificial sweeteners as you like (I like a lot)
  Use stevia, aspartame, sucralose, etc.

Other things you can add:

• All types of nuts
• Other seeds (flax, sunflower, etc)
• Pure (80%+) chocolate
• Peanut butter powder
• Go crazy and add ice cream/candy bars/whipped cream/etc.

Use the last ones as a last resort (I’m not a saint in the health department, but try to not add these last ones every time).

Calculate the calories of your tasty weight gainer

As described above the weight gainer is 1289 calories, with 90 grams of protein, 107 grams of carbohydrates (30 grams of fiber), and 48 grams of fat.

You can drink it in two servings if you like.

If you wish to calculate the exact amount of calories in your custom weight gainer, but you don’t know how, well I’ve you covered.

I’ve written an in-depth article that explains how you can easily track the calories of all your foods using an app called MyFitnessPal. You can read it here.

Change the calories of your weight gainer

You can completely customize this weight gainer to your own goals, taste, and amount of calories you need.

Of course, you can change the quantity of any of these ingredients, but these are the things I change to switch up the calories, without really changing the weight gainer:

• Add or remove some peanut butter.
• Add or remove some oats.
• Increase the milk or substitute for a low-calorie alternative (plant-based, e.g. almond milk).
• Higher calorie fruits or skip the fruit altogether.

These will have a big impact on the calories of the shake.

Increase proteins of your weight gainer

The building block of everything good in this world, or at the very least your muscles, which is the same thing.

This weight gainer already contains a lot of protein, but if you want to bump it up even higher, this is how to do it:

• Add cottage cheese or Greek yogurt
• Add whey protein powder
• Add vegan protein powder
• Add isolate protein powder
• Add any other protein powder

How to make a cheap weight gainer that tastes great

The beauty is in the convenience.

All you need is a good mixer that makes smooth shakes and does it fast.

I start with the fruit, add some milk, then add the cottage cheese and all other ingredients.

It doesn’t matter in what order you decide to put in the ingredients, so you’re all set on getting that weight gainer going.

How I take a weight gainer to the next level

I eat popcorn with everything, and it might simply be my life’s mission to convince people why it’s the absolute best fitness food ever.

If you liked to be one of those people, that I can convince, then you’re more than welcome to read this other article here.

Final words

By writing this article, I hope my love-hate relationship with pre-packaged weight gainers was all worth it.

I hope you’re now armed with the knowledge of how to make a weight gainer that tastes good, fits any of your caloric needs, and helps you achieve your dream physique.

If you’ve been creative, and want to share what you’ve done with the recipe, feel free to contact me! I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you guys. Enjoy!

Do you have experience with weight gain shakes?