Iron filled lunches/dinners on a budget

[lizzywig]

Just that really. I am incredibly unwell and have been for 6 weeks, it would seem that from having DD my iron levels are very low and I've been given iron supplements.

I eat what I thought was a good level of iron and probably is but not enough to compensate for what I have lost through pregnancy it would seem. So any wonderful iron rich recipes out there which don't cost the earth, i.e. not lots of steak/meat. I know green leafy veg and will eat double of that but anything else a bit more interesting?

Part of issue with iron is absorption. Have you tried squeezing lemon juice on greens/food or drinking orange juice.

Also dried fruit (in cereal, or cooked up with yoghurt/fromage frais) and nuts are good . Also beans and lentil so stuff like houmous.

I found floradix tonic good as easier to tolerate than cattle tablets you get at drs.

Just to say that apparently having Vit C helps the body to use Iron, and fizzy drinks deplete it... If you like spinach, frozen spinach heated with a tiny bit of butter an cheese is very filling and is iron rich.

From what i remember quite a lot of snacky things are goodyou could add to your lunchbox and snack on- dried apricots and raisins are very good as are pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The dried fruit might also help counteract any possible constipation from the iron supplements.

Probably not the answer you want to hear, but i didn't make much headway in trying to get my levels up with my diet.

In the end i started getting spatone supplements (can buy on amazon and often on 3 for 2 in boots) this is basically just very expensive water from some well that is very high in iron and i did feel a bit of a mug buying posh water, but it didn't constipate me the way the iron tablets did and 2 of these a day in a glass of OJ did the trick for me.

Liver - while it is meat, it is very cheap. I like to have some gently grilled (to just done so it is still nice not "grainy"), on some fresh bread as a lunch. DH does it floured, fried and served with onion gravy and mash as a dinner.

Spinach - put it into a colander and pour 1 full kettle of boiling water over it - it is perfectly wilted at that point. I'd often do that as a fast veg to go with whatever else we are having for dinner (like roast chicken - which I'd stretch over 3-4 meals anyway, or lamb chops).

OP how much tea are you drinking? The tanin can reduce your iron absorbtion so I would cut it down for now, and have orange juice in place of tea when you're eating a meal which is deliberately high in iron.

Thank you this is all very helpful. I'm not drinking much caffine at all, mainly herbal teas and no fizzy drinks (never been a fan of the latter). I think though the problem could be my vitamin C consumption based on what you have all said. Over the last couple of months I have taken to buying seasonal fruit, e.g. strawberries, blueberries etc rather than oranges, clementines etc. I guess I wasn't thinking about the much needed vit C in them and just thinking fruit is fruit. I don't drink OJ because of the high levels of sugar so perhaps although I've been having my iron rich foods I've not been eating enough Vit C to absorb them?!

I will send DH out for OJ and citrus fruits and will try more nuts and dried fruits. Not a fan of liver at all, I did have pate yesterday but suspect that doesn't count?

Although I might not make my iron levels up with diet alone it can't hurt right? So that combined with the tablets from the doctors should make a difference and if I do get constipated then I'll probably try the uber expensive posh water as mentioned by CaptainHorratio! I will also try adding lemon juice in with my iron filled foods.

Any more ideas, please keep them coming.

Just remembered the nurse suggested i put dried museli in a sandwich bag and use that as a snack- dried fruit and nuts both very good iron content, and it stopped me eating shit when i needed a pick up because i felt so tired. I seem to remember there is a LOT of sugar in it though and the sugar free one tasted like hamster food!

I usually have porridge for breakfast during the week and understand there is quite a bit or iron in that and then Fri I either have scrambled egg on toast or spinach omelette and I know there's iron in eggs. I do think that my iron intake is ok on the whole, I just don't think it's enough, I know 'some' of the right things to eat but probably not enough to get my stocks back up. I think from what people have said it's the Vit C that could be a problem. Maybe I'll try making my own museli, I've seen a few recipes around and can just use sweetener rather than sugar if it tastes gak.

Kiwifruit is extremely rich in Vitamin C - far higher per 100g than oranges - and it's not expensive either. If you had a kiwifruit chopped onto your muesli (look for NZ ones because Chilean ones are horrible) you'd be off to a great start and it would help your body retain the iron from the supplements.

This is one of my standard dinners which involves shed loads of broccoli with lemon. It's yummy and cheap too (get a teeny amount of good pecorino or parmesan though, it won't work with the pre-grated stuff).
pasta

That recipe sounds yum

BUT

It serves one person and its got 3 1/2 tbsp butter, 2tbsp of oil and cheese in it!

I'd look at it and gain weight.

re the muesli, I actually now preefr the hamster food type as have cut back on sugar, and so all cereal now tastes too sweet. However, to begin with I put a few dried raisons in with the hamster mix, which is very effective at sweetening without pure sugar or sweetener.

I'd cut back on the porridge, as although oats contain iron, they contain compounds that inhibit the absorption of non-haem (non-meat) iron. Perhaps you could switch to a fortified wheat-based cereal or have your eggy-breakfast every day along with some iron-rich beans (followed by kiwi or orange, etc for the vitC). If you are avoiding fortified cereals because of the added sugar/salt, you could try baby wheat bix, which are basically just wheat and added vitamins/minerals.

Another source of iron that is quite easy to add in is blackstrap molasses. This can be used to flavour/sweeten in place of sugar and has high levels of iron as well as other minerals and vitamin B6.

Ah, see I don't cook using specific quantities - I just saute the broccoli in the smallest amount of oil I think they need (or use a mister), a tiny bit of butter in at the end if I remember (and I usually don't) and a scattering of cheese at the end to taste. You don't have to stick to it rigidly!

I ate a lot of spinach soup and biltong when first pregnant. Craved it, I think because iron was low.

Easy spinach soup that's delicious - chop some onion and lightly fry in oil. Add spinach (fresh or frozen) and about the same amount or slightly less of frozen peas. Add stock - if using fresh spinach add hot stock slowly as you want it to just cover veg after the spinach has wilted. Cook until peas are tender - about ten minutes. Then cool slightly and blitz with a hand blender with a squeeze if lemon and done nutmeg. Serve with a dollop if fresh Greek yoghurt in each bowl.

How about a chilli - minced beef (high iron) , kidney beans (high iron), onion, garlic, tomatoes (high in vitamin C to aid absorption of iron), chilli powder and whatever else you want to add eg red pepper or courgette. You can bulk it out by adding black beans and pinto beans, also high in iron.

For snacking, pumpkin and sunflower seeds are high in iron. Apricots too.

Spinach is tricky, because though it is high in iron it also contains a substance that makes it harder for the body to absorb the iron from it.

Apparently canned sardines are high in iron. Not a path I'd choose.

black pudding is quite cheap and high in iron. Thats not a recipe though, I have it with a cooked breakfast. I've seen a recipe for black pudding scotch eggs that looked nice. You could probably crumble it into bolognese.

Spatone (iron rich water) mixed with OJ is good at raising iron levels, you can get it from boots.

I am thrilled at the response on here and shocked about how little I knew!! Tomorrow's lunch will be spinach soup, thanks blingloving!

I will make some proper notes from this tomorrow before it all goes out of my head and then I can put a shopping list together for DH.

This is a good souce of information regarding iron, it is vegan but you may as well get first hand iron :)

www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/iron.html

Cashew nuts are high in iron. The unsalted one's would be a good choice.

Black pudding is high in iron.

Baked beans on wholemeal toast is a fabulous source of iron. Pulses in general are a good source of iron and if you buy them dried, they are super-cheap. I soak and boil beans, chickpeas etc in big batches, then freeze in portions and just use from frozen.

Oh, and don't forget that plain chocolate is a source of iron!