Alternatives for Ensure: The Same Nutrition for Less Money

by Reader Contributors

You may need the extra nutrition that drinks like Ensure and Boost provide, but not the extra cost. Here are some homemade alternatives to Ensure and other supplemental nutrition shakes that can save you money while still providing the nutrition you need.

While nutritional shakes such as Ensure or Boost might be good for your health, whether you’re in need of additional calories or a meal replacement shake, the cost of those shakes might not be so good for your food budget.

Why not consider making homemade Ensure or Boost alternatives so both your body and your budget can benefit?

We figured who better to ask for frugal recipes for Ensure alternatives than our frugal readers.

Editor’s note: If your doctor has recommended Ensure, consult them prior to switching to an alternative.

Frugal Homemade Alternatives for Ensure or Boost

We reached out to our readers to get their favorite recipes for homemade nutritional shakes, and quite a few of them had a tasty, nutritious, low-cost recipe or two to share. You will surely find one that can help meet your nutritional needs while keeping your taste buds and wallet happy.

A Dietitian’s Ensure Substitute Recommendation

I am a dietitian who worked in a hospital for many years. Ensure is really good if you need something that is non-milk-based. If the person can tolerate milk, I usually recommend Carnation Instant Breakfast powder, Slim Fast powder, or another such equivalent mixed with 2% milk (or whole if extra calories are needed).

These provide vitamins, protein, and carbohydrates, and are much cheaper. You can also make them into milkshakes with ice cream and add some variety.
Melissa P. of Kelso, WA

An ‘Old Time’ Favorite

I am unsure if this is the equivalent of anything, but a dietician suggested mixing one cup of whole milk with one-half cup of dry powdered skim milk and one-half cup of decaffeinated Ovaltine.

This and daily vitamins helped my son through a very tough time. You may want to ask a dietician or your family physician if the caloric and other numbers are similar.
Patricia R.

Two Homemade Ensure Recipes

I don’t know how close of the substitution this is in comparison to the vitamins and minerals and other nutritive factors on the label; what I do know is that it is cheaper and healthier without additives and artificial this and that. I have two recipes.

Breakfast Shake
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup fruit, fresh or frozen (strawberries, bananas, peaches, etc)
2-3 tablespoons quick oats (I’ve even used regular oats; use not more than 2 tbsp. or soak them in a bit of milk for your specific consistency)
4 ice cubes
2-3 tablespoons sugar or honey (I prefer honey because it is a natural, non-processed item; you can get a less processed sugar, but it can be expensive unless you know how to shop for it)
2-3 tablespoons wheat germ

Place milk and oats in a blender and let sit for five minutes. Blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend again. Add more sugar if needed. More fruit may be added to your tastes. Increase sugar if the fruit is tart.

Protein Fruit Drink
1 mango, peeled and diced
6 strawberries
1 cup water or milk
5 ice cubes
sugar to taste (start with 2 tablespoons)
1/4 cup cooked (and cooled) beans (garbanzo, pinto, navy)

Puree and enjoy with a squeeze of lime if desired. You can vary the fruit used, such as banana, pineapple, or other berries. 
Sharon S.

Related: Produce Purchasing Tricks From a Produce Manager

Is It Really Necessary?

I’d first check with the doctor to see if the Ensure is necessary. Some of the manufacturers have been marketing these products to the general public, and they are completely unnecessary.

If you have a serious medical condition and need a dietary supplement, though, you may still have options. Many of these products are milkshakes mixed with vitamins, so a recommendation on a different vitamin or protein supplement may be possible. Protein powder, a traditional protein supplement that can be mixed into almost anything, is usually in bulk and inexpensively at a health food grocery.

If you do need Ensure, try checking with a dietician for advice on other foods you can safely eat that may be less expensive. Then you can cut down on your use.
Annie L.

Ask Your Doctor

I work in a doctor’s office. Many times a month, an Ensure representative comes into our office with free samples, usually 2-3 cases of cans each time. These are for the doctors to distribute as they wish. At my office, we set these back for people who are on a fixed income and use Ensure.

Call your physician’s office and ask if they can give you some Ensure samples. Many people ask for these samples. We receive so much that sometimes it expires before being used. Such a waste.
Tish B.

Related: Homemade Meal Replacement Shakes on the Cheap

Ignore the Marketing

Those ads depicting healthy older adults drinking Ensure to seemingly “enhance their lifestyle” or “be young again” are totally ridiculous.

Ensure was originally meant to help those with serious illnesses who have trouble eating and keeping on weight. It is high in protein and calories —things that most Americans get way too much of. It is also fortified with vitamins and minerals, much like your typical breakfast cereal. Ensure is used quite extensively in hospitals and nursing homes for tube feedings. In my opinion, it tastes terrible.

Why are you drinking Ensure? If you are of normal weight and don’t have any appetite problems, take a vitamin (even 1/2 a vitamin is usually sufficient). If you are too busy to eat, reevaluate your lifestyle or try to eat things that are easy and portable, such as sandwiches. If you need to gain some weight, drink milkshakes.
Annette W.

A Tasty Alternative for Boost Plus

My dad, who lives with me and has Alzheimer’s, was drinking Boost Plus (4 cans daily) chocolate. Since he takes a geriatric multivitamin, he no longer needs the Boost. My dad does, however, “miss the taste” of Boost Plus, and I was able to “devise” my own version, which he drinks now without incident.

First, to make a one-gallon pitcher, reuse a one-gallon plastic milk jug (with the screw on the lid). Then follow these steps:

1. Add 3 cans of sweetened, condensed milk at ROOM temperature to the jug.
2. If you like chocolate, add 1 cup of Ovaltine. If you prefer vanilla, add the same amount of Carnation’s malted milk, 2 tbsp. vanilla and 1 tbsp. of clean oil (safflower, canola or sunflower).
3. Close the cap on the milk jug. Shake ingredients to mix WELL. This should shake all of the powder from the Ovaltine into the condensed milk.
4. Finally, fill the jug with the type of milk you normally drink, either powdered skim, 2% or whole
5. Put the cap back on the milk jug and shake very well again.

To add more nutrition, you might add powdered Slim Fast in addition or in lieu of Ovaltine/Malted milk.

I make milkshakes like this for my dad frequently, and in the summer, I add Blue Bell ice cream to these mixtures to make his “milkshakes,” which he also thoroughly enjoys. Though I am not a professional, and everyone is different, you might experience recipes to suit your own taste, as I do for my dad.

If you need extra fat calories, you may add them by using pure liquid whipping cream (in the carton, not the can), but add about three cartons to the mixture instead of your milk. I do this for my dad, as his illness has caused more weight loss than he should have.

Alternately, if you are like me and do not need extra fat, I would make myself one with skim milk, Slim Fast, Ovaltine, etc., and continue on my multiple vitamins. Since Dad’s Boost Plus has so many vitamins in it, and he takes so many every day, at his age of 82, the combination could be toxic, which is another reason he does not take both now. My dad does not seem to know the difference and looks forward to the “new tastes” we create in the blender.
Cathy

A “Dessert” Ensure Alternative

I wrote down this recipe I once found online. I wish I could remember from where, but the contributor said it was approved for her mother, who disliked Ensure. It is for Strawberry Cheesecake Shakes. It calls for half & half, cream cheese, frozen strawberries, vanilla whey protein, a little sugar, and a squirt of lemon juice.

Pureed soups are also an easy way to add calories and nutrition. You can add a little olive or avocado oil for additional calories.
A

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• 10 Low Cost Healthy Foods for the Thrifty Budget

Reviewed January 2024