6 Calorie-dense Meals
In my previous blog post I mentioned some easy to apply tips to increase your calorie intake. The next 6 calorie-dense meals are going to help you get in as many calories in one simple meal as possible. Most of these meals are easy and quick to prepare. Each meal contains over 600 kcal and is relatively small in size which is why these can be considered calorie-dense meals. Let’s get straight into it.
Note: Obviously you can expand these meals to get even more calories. Simply multiply the calories in certain foods you add extra. An extra egg can easily deliver 80-95 extra calories to the meal depending on its size.
Meal one: Calorie-Egg-Bombelet
I recently purchased the book ‘Save with Jamie’ by Jamie Oliver and he has some great recipes in there showing the calories in the meals too. I have been inspired by a couple of his meals of which the next one is a good example. What you need are:
3 whole eggs (277 kcal)
30 grams of cheese (100 kcal)
Optional 20 ml of milk (8 kcal)
100 grams of frozen peas (106 kcal)
15 ml of oil (132 kcal)
½ union, any kind you like (10 kcal)
15 grams of sesame seeds (85 kcal)
Total 657 kcal
How to make it
Stir fry the peas and union in the olive oil and once you feel they are ready (takes about 5 minutes) you can prepare the eggs. Put them in a bowl, mix them with the milk and put in some salt and pepper if you like (easy on the salt though). Once the peas and union are to your liking you can throw in the eggs and make it into a nice omelet. When it’s almost done on one side put the cheese and sesame seeds on the side on top. The cheese tastes great with it, although the sesame seeds won’t be tasted that much. They are there for added calories and some great nutrients. Turn the omelet and let it bake a little while longer until you’re satisfied with the result. It’ll take you about 20 minutes to make.
Meal 2 Spicy Wrap
Another meal inspired by one of Jamie’s cookbook. The main inspiration that came from him was to combine a tortilla wrap with rice. Both of these carbohydrate-rich foods are also nutrient dense and contain lots of calories considering they are both eaten in bulk. Ingredients:
120 grams of tortilla wrap (2 big ones or 3 small ones) (450 kcal)
50 grams of rice (180 kcal)
1 Union (20 kcal)
1 Red pepper (10 kcal)
Hot Chili Sauce (25 kcal)
Spinach or any other vegetable, be creative (75 kcal at most)
1 carrot (20 kcal)
Garlic
Lean ground beef, chicken or other lean meat you have (150-180 kcal)
15 ml of oil (132 kcal)
Around 900 – 1100 kcal
Cook your rice. In the time you do this you can prepare the rest so you’ll have a meal within 15 minutes or so. Cut the union, pepper and carrot in small pieces. The carrots taste best grated. Bake the meat in the oil and put in the garlic. You can get fresh garlic or the grounded one. After it’s baked properly you can throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir fry it for a while until you feel it’s done. Your rice should be done by now. Throw it in and add some more garlic and hot chili sauce to your liking. Heat the packaged wholegrain wraps. Get a decent brand without any transfats in them. You should be able to find a decent quality prepared wrap. Of course you can also make it yourself, but that takes more time and who has time these days?
Meal 3 Insane Shake
Don’t you feel like eating in the morning and do you lack the time to prepare a decent meal? Why would you cook if you have a blender? Get your blender out, put in the following ingredients, drink and done. 800 kcal in just 5 minutes time!
30 grams of peanut butter (200 kcal)
600 ml of semi-skimmed milk (276 kcal)
2 bananas (172 kcal)
40 grams of oatmeal (150 kcal)
Total 798 kcal
Meal 4 Delicious Tuna Sandwich
The third and final meal that was inspired by Jamie Oliver’s book. In fact this is kind of his recipe to be honest. He should get all the credit for this one.
Ingredients:
120 grams wholegrain self-rising flour (410 kcal)
250 ml water
100 gram canned tuna (114 kcal)
Some white vinegar (less than 1 kcal)
15 ml olive oil (132 kcal)
½ apple (34 kcal)
20-40 grams of cheese (76 – 152 kcal)
½ (preferably red) union (10 kcal)
Mustard, 2 teaspoons (15 kcal)
Total 766-880 kcal
A more tricky recipe this one, or should I say: sticky. The thing that takes most time is making the bread/sandwich. Get 100 gram of wholegrain self-rising flour and put it in a bowl. Mix it with 250 ml of water and knead the dough. The extra 20 grams of flour can be used to improve the dough. I’m not an expert with this so you probably know better how to make bread than I do. Tip: make sure you only knead the dough with one hand or you won’t be able to pick up anything and have to ask your mom to help you out. Basically it comes down to make it into a ball of dough which you can flatten into a kind of thick pancake (which is round) shape in the pan. Put the olive oil in the pan first though and then put in the ball of dough. Push it flat and let it bake until it is golden brown and baked in the inside. Once it’s in the pan though you can go on to the next step which is making the filling.
After you’ve managed to finish this incredibly annoying task you can cut the union and apple in small pieces. Put it in a bowl and add a little bit of white vinegar to avoid the red union from tasting too strong. Grate the cheese and put it in the bowl as well. Then add the can of tuna, but first let the water leak out of the can or you’ll get a filling that’s all mushy. Add one or two teaspoons of mustard, whichever you fancy and mix it all together. Taste and you’ll know why this is such a nice recipe and worth the trouble with the annoying dough.
Last step! Once the dough has become a decent bread that’s baked in the inside too, get it out of the pan and cut it in half. Try to leave the sides intact so you can actually just put the stuffing in without having to worry that everything will fall out. In other words, make a kind of pocket in which you can put the stuffing. Adding the stuffing is the last step. Your meal is done and you have a high calorie meal right here. Despite the description this meal is quite easy to make and only takes you about 25-30 minutes at most.
Meal 5 Spicy Rice With Chickpeas and Eggs
By the (lack of) complexity of this meal you can easily see that this meal wasn’t inspired by Jamie’s book. Instead I thought of this easy recipe years ago myself. It’s great if you’re too lazy to cook, has a lot of calories and tastes pretty good if I may say so myself. Here’s what you’ll need:
Two boiled eggs (185 kcal)
100 grams of rice (361 kcal)
Canned chickpeas 150 grams (180 kcal)
Spice up the rice with some curry powder and sambal (or other spicy stuff)
Total 726 kcal
Cook the rice and boil the eggs. About 2 minutes before these two are done (which should be at about the same time), wash the chickpeas and put them in a microwave resistance bowl or bin/tray. Warm up the chickpeas in the microwave. Then sieve the rice, get the eggs out of the pan (obviously not directly and AFTER letting the water out) and put the curry powder and sambal in the pan of rice. Mix it and you’ll have a nice tasting, spicy rice that looks way more appetizing when it’s yellow from the curry than when you eat it bland. Put everything together and you’ll have a complete, easy to eat meal within 15 minutes.
Meal 6 Everyone’s favorite
This meal requires no cooking skills whatsoever and is by far the easiest one to prepare. Grab 4 to 5 slices of whole grain bread; spread it with a good quality peanut butter. Eat! Easy to bring with you on a trip’ or to take with you when you have to go to work or school. Besides that it’s very cheap.
4 – 5 slices of wholegrain bread (295 – 369 kcal)
15 – 20 grams of peanut butter per slice (400 – 500 kcal)
Total 695 – 869 kcal
There you have it, 6 great meals that are easy to make and can be considered calorie-dense meals. Ideal for those who struggle gaining weight or who simply need a lot of calories to support their athletic performances! Read more about easy ways to increase your calorie intake in my previous blog post.