Ask Lemmy

Eat more and move less. Weight gain/loss isn't exactly simple thermodynamics, but it's close. Do whatever you can to increase the amount of calories you're getting per dollar. Unfortunately that's probably gonna mean cheap, processed, very fatty stuff. With such little diversity in your diet I'd be eager to beg, borrow, and steal for multivitamins since you are likely deficient in one or multiple important micronutrients.

Why not other cheap foods like beans, vegetable oils, sugar? Sugar isn't that healthy but it's probably better than being borderline anorexic. There are even more possibilities if you add flour, which is cheaper than bread. Cake, pancake. Fried potatoes. Potato gratin or noodle gratin.

An easy calorie dense meal I used to eat in college was milk powder, honey, oats protein mixed and put into a tray and cut into slices. Each slice is tasty and high in calories.

ARFID?

Add oil into the mix. Also cheap. Who doesn’t like fried stuff? Fry everything and gain weight short term, then taper off and watch cholesterol long term.

Try making potato tacos next!

Quesadillas

You mentioned vegetables, thank goodness, but also have a piece of fruit whenever you can afford it. Good for vitamin C to help you get the iron out of those eggs, a calorie boost from the sugar, and an assortment of other nutrients especially if you vary the fruits. Also a little fiber for your heart and to help move those other foods along in your gut.

If there's a farmers market in your area, go before closing and ask if they have some seconds they can sell you for half price. This goes for vegetables too.

Eat some right before bed.

Try these steps:

1. Cannabis

Humans measure our food in dietary calories, and our caloric food can be broken down into four groups. In order of ascending caloric density:

• Carbohydrates,, like potatoes and other plants.
• Protein - beans, meat
• Fats (oil,.butter, etc)
• Alcohol

Those of us in affluent countries tend to have too much caloric intake, so strive to limit using fad diets like dropping the bottom or the top while keeping vitamins and those proteins human bodies can't generate.

If you have the opposite problem and limited funds, you need to think in a budget of "calories in vs money spent." Bread and potatoes are relatively low-calorie, so may not be enough to have an effect.

Two actual suggestions:

1. If you're buying store-bought bread, investigate if you can bake your own. I can make a loaf of covid-era sourdough for almost just the cost of flour, and since the flour was milled it keeps a long time and I can stretch dollars buy buying in bulk.

2: if you do have a kitchen anyway, consider beans. Good bean recipes can be very cheap if you start with dried instead of canned, are relatively calorically dense, and respond very well to long cooking. Especially if you need something easy to chew.

Potatoes are very versatile. You should cook the potatoes with skin intact as that's where most of the micronutrients are at. Roasted smashed potatoes are fantastic with skins intact. I made a potato cabbage gratin dauphinois the other day with all plant based ingredients and it was superb. You can also shred them to make a breakfast hash. You can boil them and make mashed potatoes. You can mix in a bit a flour and make gnocchi. There are so many great options with potatoes. If you have access to a Costco or similar bulk store, buy them from there, it's usually much cheaper to grab a 10lb bag from a bulk store than a smaller bag from somewhere else, assuming you can go through it all. Maybe you have some friends you can split the purchases with to further save money?

Have you considered dried beans, they are very cheap and shelf stable. You soak them over night, rinse, then boil for an hour. Alternatively you could quick soak by boiling for 5 minutes, then letting them rest for an hour, then rinsing, and cooking for about an hour.

Rice is cheaper than bread, will do a better job of managing hunger pains, and help you gain weight more so than plan white bread.

Have you considered a food bank to bolster your nutrition?

I'm surprised you're eating eggs and cheese with how expensive they are. I would recommend replacing with nuts as they are much healthier and they have a higher caloric density, if that's possible for you.

Bread pudding? S-tier desert in flavor and easy to make

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