Bulking up fast and cheap

[jsmoke]

I've always been pretty thin and recently have been doing a small amount of weights. Not much. So i was wondering how I could bulk up maybe a stone maybe more on the cheap. Protein powders are a bit pricey afaics. Any cheaper methods?

Also are all foods the same with regard to calorie, for example if a can of soup was 200 cals is that the same as a pie at 200 cals, in other words you just count the cals on the food packaging?

 

[jsmoke]

Thanks. From a bit of research I see that simple toast, butter and jam/marmalde can have up to 150 cal. So could I just snack on this or does it need to be specific foods like beef, chicken, nuts, veg etc?