Gaining

I was just taking a look at different ways to boost calories other than cream to mix things up a bit, and I noticed there are some supplements usually used for building mass at the gym that have around 1,200 calories per serving. Has anyone tried them before? Wondering if it's worth a go or not.

Aside from the very high cost of calories for the dollar, I don't recommend it. I also tried Serious Mass, but the others are likely the same story.

The powder doesn't seem to mix well. Maybe it mixes better with water or skim milk, as is suggested with many of them.

But that's no way to pack on pounds. I tried to mix Serious Mass with half & half (not even any heavy cream) and it's SO thick it's almost undrinkable. It's difficult to suck it through a straw. I will not be buying it again. So, save your money.

But here's a better idea of what to use - nutritional shakes. Even Ensure Plus and Boot VHC, as expensive as they are, are a better value than those gainer powders.

But you know, both Kroger (Fortify Plus) and Wal-Mart (Equate Plus) have a store brand equivalent with such as many calories and equivalent portions of the vitamins. I haven't tried proper Ensure Plus, but the Equate Plus is very good, at least the chocolate flavor is.

The consistency seems to be about as thick as chocolate milk, except it tastes even sweeter. At 350 calories per 8 fl. oz., it even beats half & half on calorie density, though not on price. I prefer to use it as a flavoring agent for cream, which is quite thick and isn't always the best taste on it's own.

If you mix one bottle of this stuff (8 fl. oz.) with an equal part of heavy cream, you get something that tastes like a melted milkshake but has considerably more calories. 1,150 yummy, delicious calories in only a pint of volume.

It's nice for drinking while playing video games, where you will hopefully lose all track until you realize the cup is empty and it's time for another serving.

I have noticed the OP is in the UK, so I'm not sure what options there will be regarding nutritional shakes, or the pricing. But it's something to look at, the next time you go shopping for food. In the U.S. at least, this stuff is usually located near the pharmacy and in the case of Wal-Mart, it's even in the same aisle as the gainer powders.

This is a really detailed explanation and it's really helpful! I'm 100% sure I can find equivalents to the things you've mentioned in the UK so I'll take a look around.
I have no idea how much/how fast extra weight is packed on by adding this kind of thing to a diet, as just counting calories is never completely accurate anyway, but it's definitely the kind of thing I want to try a lot more of!