The Best Weight Gain Foods to Buy: A Practical Shopping List
The best foods to buy for gaining weight are calorie-dense foods that also bring real nutrition, things like nuts and nut butters, full-fat dairy, oats, oily fish, dried fruit, oils and calorie-rich snacks, rather than cakes, crisps and sugary drinks that pile on calories with little else. This page is a practical shopping list: what to actually put in your trolley, organised by category, so you can stock up once and have everything you need to eat more without living on junk. It pairs with our wider how to gain weight guide, which covers the how and why behind the food.
I am James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. I built Phoenix Bars after around 150 conversations with endurance athletes and people who struggle to eat enough, so working out which foods make eating more genuinely easier, whether for building muscle, everyday weight gain, or eating enough when appetite is low, is something I have spent a lot of time on.
The one rule before you shop: calories that carry nutrition
It is tempting to gain weight on chocolate, biscuits and fizzy drinks because they are calorie-dense and easy, but the widely agreed advice, including from the NHS, is not to rely on sugary, low-nutrient food to put on weight. The reason is simple: you want the weight you gain to come with protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, so your body has what it needs alongside the extra energy. That does not mean everything has to be worthy and dull, it means choosing foods that are both high in calories and genuinely nourishing, and using treats as a small part of the mix rather than the foundation.
The practical filter when shopping is to favour foods high in healthy fats and protein (which are naturally calorie-dense), choose full-fat over low-fat versions, and pick things you will actually eat often. The best weight gain food is the one you enjoy enough to buy again. What follows is organised the way you would shop.
Nuts, seeds and nut butters (the highest-value aisle)
If you buy nothing else, buy these. Nuts and nut butters are among the most calorie-dense foods in any supermarket, and they bring protein, healthy fats and micronutrients with the calories. A small handful of nuts can add well over 150 calories, and a spoon of nut butter around 100, and both are effortless to add to almost anything.
Worth buying: mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts), peanut and almond butter (choose 100% nut versions without added sugar or palm oil where you can), pumpkin, sunflower, chia and ground flax seeds, and tahini. These stir into porridge, yoghurt and shakes, spread on toast, and work as a grab-anywhere snack. Nut butter in particular is the single most efficient thing in your trolley for adding calories invisibly.
Full-fat dairy and alternatives
Dairy is an easy, everyday source of calories and protein, and the full-fat versions do a lot of quiet work. Swapping skimmed milk and low-fat yoghurt for whole milk and full-fat Greek yoghurt raises the calories of everything you use them in without you having to eat more.
Worth buying: whole milk, full-fat Greek yoghurt, cheese (a genuinely calorie-dense protein you can add to almost any savoury meal), cream or crème fraîche for stirring into soups, sauces and porridge, and butter. For dairy-free shopping, tinned full-fat coconut milk and the higher-calorie oat and soya milks (check the label, as they vary widely) do a similar job. Skimmed milk powder is a cheap, useful buy too, since a spoon stirred into milk, soups or sauces adds calories and protein without adding volume.
Phoenix Bars: Up to 557 Calories Per Bar
Highly compact, low-volume, calorie-dense bars. Soft, easy to eat whole or as a warm porridge. Vegan, gluten-free and contain up to 66g of carbohydrates, 19g of protein & 8 vitamins & minerals.
Calorie-dense staples for meals
These form the base of your meals and keep your overall intake up. The aim is to choose the more calorie-dense staples and to serve generous portions.
Worth buying: oats (endlessly useful for high-calorie porridge, overnight oats and shakes), rice and pasta (cheap, calorie-dense, easy to batch), potatoes and sweet potatoes, wholegrain bread, olive and rapeseed oil (drizzling oil over cooked food is one of the easiest ways to add calories without volume), avocados, and eggs. Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines deserve a special mention, since they are calorie-dense, rich in protein and healthy omega-3 fats, and the tinned and frozen versions are cheap and convenient. Red meat and chicken thighs (rather than lean breast) round out the protein side.
Snacks and grab-and-go foods
Snacking between meals is one of the most effective ways to raise your intake, especially if your appetite fills up fast, so it is worth keeping easy, calorie-dense snacks in the house and in your bag. For more ideas here, our high-calorie snacks guide goes further.
Worth buying: trail mix (dried fruit and nuts, a classic calorie-dense snack), dried fruit like dates, apricots and raisins, flapjacks and cereal bars, cheese and oatcakes, full-fat yoghurt pots, tinned rice pudding and custard, dark chocolate (70%+ for antioxidants alongside the calories), hummus and other dips, and protein or high-calorie bars for the days when you need substantial calories without sitting down to a meal. Phoenix Bars fit in this category: each is a soft, 120g bar providing 557 calories and 19g of protein, which is a lot of energy and protein in a small format you can eat anywhere, useful between meals or before training when eating a full meal is not practical. They are vegan and gluten-free, and you can see all six flavours on our high calorie bars page.
Drinks and things to blend
Drinking some of your calories is one of the best tactics for gaining weight, because liquids do not fill you up the way solid food does, so they slip past a quick-to-fill appetite. It is worth buying the ingredients to make calorie-dense drinks at home rather than relying on sugary shop-bought ones.
Worth buying: whole milk as a base, bananas, oats, nut butter, full-fat yoghurt and honey for building shakes, and cocoa or a flavouring you like. Our homemade weight gainer shakes and high-calorie drinks guides have recipes. A homemade shake between meals is an easy few hundred calories that you barely notice, which is exactly what you want when eating more solid food is a struggle.
A quick shopping list to copy
If you want the short version to take to the shop: mixed nuts, peanut butter, seeds, whole milk, full-fat Greek yoghurt, cheese, cream, oats, rice, pasta, potatoes, wholegrain bread, olive oil, avocados, eggs, tinned oily fish, dried fruit, dark chocolate, flapjacks or high-calorie bars, and bananas for shakes. Stock those and you can eat well above your normal intake without resorting to junk, and you can adapt the balance depending on whether you are building muscle, gaining weight generally, or simply trying to eat enough on a low appetite. For the calorie-density principle behind all of these choices, see our calorie-dense foods guide.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best foods to buy for gaining weight? Calorie-dense foods that also bring nutrition: nuts and nut butters, full-fat dairy, oats, oily fish, eggs, avocados, dried fruit, oils, and calorie-rich snacks. These pack a lot of energy into a manageable amount of food and come with protein, healthy fats and micronutrients, rather than the empty calories of sweets and fizzy drinks.
What is the best snack for weight gain? Nuts, nut butter, trail mix and dried fruit are among the best, because they are calorie-dense and nutritious and need no preparation. For a more substantial grab-and-go option, a high-calorie or protein bar delivers a lot of calories and protein in a small format, which suits busy days and a quick-to-fill appetite. Keeping easy snacks in the house and in your bag is one of the most effective ways to raise your intake.
Should I avoid junk food when trying to gain weight? You do not have to avoid it entirely, but it is best not to rely on it. The NHS advises against gaining weight mainly on chocolate, cakes and sugary drinks, because you want the weight you gain to come with protein, healthy fats and nutrients. Build your intake around calorie-dense, nourishing foods and treat sugary items as a small part of the mix.
What are the cheapest weight gain foods to buy? Oats, rice, pasta, potatoes, whole milk, eggs, peanut butter, tinned oily fish, bananas and skimmed milk powder are all cheap and calorie-dense. Batch-cooking rice and pasta and buying nuts and oats in larger bags keeps the cost down while giving you a reliable base of calorie-dense staples.
What should I buy to gain weight if I have a low appetite? Focus on foods that add calories without much volume, since a large plate is the main obstacle when appetite is low. Nut butter, cream, cheese, oils and skimmed milk powder can be added to food you are already eating, and calorie-dense drinks and soft foods are easier to get through than big meals. Our guides to soft high-calorie foods and high-calorie drinks cover this in more detail.
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