<p>I am looking for ideas for high calorie relatively healthy snacks that I can send to my freshman son who is hungry, and quite thin. Cost is also important. I’ve sent him cliff bars in bulk and am looking for other ideas. He is eating in a coop so there are not as many snacks as in regular dining halls and he has always got a good proportion of his calories through snacks. He can buy snacks in town and on campus but they seem to be expensive.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If allergies are not an issue, Costco has snack packs of nuts (cashews,peanuts and almonds) that are healthy and high calorie. Also,they have snack packs of dried fruit and nuts. You can go on line and have the food shipped directly to your son. We just shipped out 160K cups of coffee (mid-terms) to sophmore son using Costco. Very convenient!</p>
<p>Sunflower kernels might be a good choice. They are lightweight for shipping too. A 1/4 cup serving has 7 grams of protein, a surprising amount of vitamins (especially E) and 180 calories. Some brands are roasted with trans fats so be sure to check the label.</p>
<p>Maybe you can look into store brand granola bars which may cost less. Does he like peanut butter? You can send him jars of peanut butter and jam or jelly and perhaps he can buy breads in town to make PBJ sandwiches? Beef jerky is also a high calorie high protein food. If he has access to a microwave then popcorn, Chef Boyardee microwavable bowls such mac and cheese, ravioli, lasagna, etc might be good snacks to have around. There is also Velveeta mac and cheese bowl which is lightweight for shipping.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestions. Yes nuts and seeds are healthy and high calorie. My son doesn’t seem to like to eat more than a very small portion though, but perhaps he could graze on them… No beef jerky- he doesn’t eat meat other than chicken.</p>
<p>I have thought about peanut butter and will see if I can send some in a car that’s going to his school. I will look into costco - I don’t really know how it works-- can you just send something online?</p>
<p>Paying to ship peanut butter doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why can’t he just pick up a jar at a grocery store or even a Walgreen’s / CVS? Even if those jars are priced more than Costco, I can’t imagine it’s worth it to buy / ship.</p>
<p>What about fruit? Maybe getting a box sent from Florida. If you want to spend more for a special occasion, there are fruit, floral arrangements, strawberries dipped in chocolate, those two named online seller that sends mixed fruit and nut arrangements. Nothing tastes better than fresh ground almond butter - get it in a plastic container to cut down weight. A gift certificate to a health store near him.</p>
<p>Whenever I send a food gift, I double it and send one just for the roomie.</p>
<p>Would he eat cheese? Probably too hard to ship, but if he likes spreads or spreadable cheeses, there always seem to be tasty looking options in the grocery store. The question is getting it to him. Harry & David’s? A nice cheese ball with some crackers?</p>
<p>Yes, I buy high calorie snacks at Costco all time…for myself, I am not thin at all, but I love them. Nuts are about half price in comparison and much fresher and they have no salt options, then there are dried fruits and energy bars - taste very good, huge round container (NOT individually wrapped) is about $6 as far as I rmember. I love Costco, everything is very good quality and not very expansivbe.</p>
<p>Milk enhancers? like instant breakfast?</p>
<p>If he likes the Clif bars, I’d say look at other bars but make sure they’re the high protein ones. The regular Clif bars are under 10 grams of protein, but they make a line called “Builders” that contains up to 20 grams.</p>
<p>Do you think the town snacks will still be more expensive once you build in shipping costs?</p>
<p>Hickory Farms cheese gift packs are a good idea with cheese in mind. But again, it would seem it would just be better to send some $$$ and if there is any type of grocery store in town (not just a convenience store) then let him buy his own cheese, crackers and fruit. Or even buy a rotisserie chicken and pair that up with some fruit for a snack. A $5-6 chicken as a snack will last awhile…</p>
<p>Nutella and dried fruit… nutella is sorta healthy… right? :)</p>
<p>I was also going to say dried fruit, such as dried apricots or cranberries. I’ve also sent my kids some of the tuna in the foil packs. I’ve also sent the individual size containers of caramel dip (my sons love it with apples and/or bananas), and a large tupperware with their favorite snack mix (chex or cheerios, raisins, cranberries, cashews, pretzels, raisinnettes and m&ms–maybe this one isn’t so healthy)</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your ideas.</p>
<p>parafilm: Nutella- maybe not healthy but delicious and high calorie. I will definitely put that on my list.</p>
<p>boysx3: Dried fruit - like nuts- my son will only eat a little of. (though I could eat a lot!)</p>
<p>abasket: yes shipping can add up- it depends what and who is doing the shipping. Cliff bars by bulk via Amazon were $19 for 24 energy bars including shipping. They often sell for close to $1.50 each in a health food store.</p>
<p>Classof2015: he’d eat cheese on a pizza or in a tortilla but not sure about cheese balls or sliced cheese </p>
<p>He’s kind of a finnicky eater-- that’s probably one of the reasons he’s thin 5’11 120-125lb </p>
<p>He will be visiting in a couple of weeks so I will discuss these ideas with him and hopefully he will be able to figure out options at school as well.</p>
<p>does he like smoothies? He can make great, healthy smoothies with vanilla soy powder added to bananas, frozen berries, + fruit flavored yogurt all mixed together in a blender. That with peanut butter on a bagel or toast makes a healthy breakfast, or snack.</p>
<p>would he eat string cheese? my son (6’2. 150 lbs) loves string cheese dipped in honey mustard</p>
<p>Beef jerky? No way, that’s actually low cal - a dieter’s secret! It’s hard to find anything so satisfying, with so few calories.</p>
<p>Of course, that’s not helping the OP…</p>
<p>We buy Gnu fiber bars online – they are tasty and quite filling.</p>