Thnx to u all 😊 I found a new love for protein shakes. I’ve only tried fairlife (170 calories) and I’m obsessed. I like it as my dessert but what can I add to it that will make it last longer and increase its volume without adding extra calories. How can I thicken it or add to it
by Michelles001
9 Comments
You could maybe freeze and blend it in a ninja creamy to make protein ice cream?
Hey there!
Seeing as the options for adding no calories include water, I’m going to instead take this as meaning no calories above what the whole bottle contains.
With that in mind, I have an idea, a variation on what I do.
So, we’ve got 170 calories to work with. Going with you wanting to make them last longer, let’s start with half a bottle, which leaves 85 calories to work with.
They each contain 14 ounces, so I would add 6 ounces (3/4 cup) of unsweet almond milk, at a calorie count of 30 calories, which leaves 63 calories. For that, I would add half a scoop of Optimum Nutrition’s vanilla ice cream whey protein powder, which would be 60 calories.
As for protein, this would be roughly equal to the amount of a full bottle.
Cost is another factor of course, and as an aside, I’ll be working with US prices.
14 bottles of Core Power looks to be $33, 22 servings of the protein powder is $24, while the almond milk I buy is $3, which looks to be roughly 10 servings in this context. Seeing as my idea doubles the amount in each of the bottles, that gives 28 servings per $33.
Taking all that into consideration, a single bottle is about $2.36 each, a half bottle is $1.18. Per serving of protein powder costs $1.10. As for the almond milk, two half gallon containers would be needed, at a cost of $6 total and $0.30 per serving. That adds up to be $2.58 per serving, a difference of +$0.22 for the mixture I suggested.
This would utimately leave you with some full bottles remaining, by my math, around four.
Another factor is taste. I don’t personally recall how Fairlife tastes, and I haven’t tried their Core Power series, so I can only assume it’s at least equal to what I use as a base, which is Equate’s nutritional shake diabetic care vanilla. From experience, almond milk adds a nice creaminess when combined with that and the protein powder, and doesn’t seem to have much of an apparent flavor.
So I can only assume that the suggested mixture would be as good, or better than, what I make myself.
Another less expensive option would be to take half a bottle, add the six ounces of almond milk, then add a small amount of vanilla extract. I like to buy McCormick’s pure vanilla extract, which you can get as low as $5 for a 1 ounce container, and will last quite a while.
As for thickening it, I can suggest what my dietician has suggested for my own mix: either ground flax seed (around $4), or ice put through a blender (free).
I don’t know how well peanut butter is with vanilla, but that might be something else to consider, though you would need something that can blend it all together. Half a bottle, plus almond milk, vanilla extract, a tablespoon of peanut butter. I would think that would thicken up nicely, and add some nutrition as well.
This is all assuming that you’re fine with using half of a bottle. Unfortunately most any suggestions I can come up with have a calorie count and/or increased cost, aside from blending it with ice.
I don’t know if any of this is at all helpful, but I’m hoping that it can at least give you something to work with.
PS: I just remembered that you can get vanilla-flavored almond milk, so no need for the vanilla extract. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s over double what a cup of unsweet almond milk is, 80 calories versus 30. Vanilla extract itself looks to be around 12 calories per 1 teaspoon, so hardly anything when you’re just putting a small amount into a drink.
It won’t make it last longer or increase volume, but mixing the vanilla with a zero sugar Orange Crush on the go pack and some ice cubes in the blender is delicious.
Making an iced coffee with these has been such a good replacement for the Starbucks vanilla cream cold brew
I mix mine with sugar free pudding mix. It’s so filling I can only eat half of it which takes away from the protein aspect of it I guess haha but I’ll usually eat the other half for breakfast the next day. A whole packet of SF pudding mix is 120 calories, so you could cut that in half if you wanted to. 🙂
Make protein pudding
Mix it with a small can of diet soda and it tastes like a float.
I use mine with a diet Dr Pepper and ice for a float type drink.
i use it with the sugar free chai tea mix (0 calories) from walmart and its AMAZZZINGGG