Quick & simple high-iron meals

[Everything0Everywhere]

I need to increase my iron intake and I'm looking for quick and simple meals with high iron. We have limited time in the evenings (and children who like simple food!) so looking for meals that we can easily incorporate into our lives.

We currently eat a lot of chicken and we don't eat fish. We use the airfryer a lot but also have an oven, hob & microwave.
Ideally, I'd like to only cook one meal for adults & children but happy to adapt (ie. same main ingredients but remove sauces/spices for kids)

Please give me your suggestions!

Calves' liver cooks in < 5 mins, or cheaper lambs' a few minutes more.

Leafy greens with every meal. Spinach is ideal. Agree with lamb's liver and lean red meat

Red lentil and apricot tagine with spinach
Tofu and pepper stirfry
Lentil bolognaise

Beef fajitas, stirfries and curries.

Stirfry lamb with soy and ginger, serve on rice with edamame beans mixed through.

Slow cook oxtail with onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and thyme. Add hot sauce for adults, as it is for those who can't deal with heat. Tin of kidney beans as well - you could also do this with mince, venison and if you add courgette, maybe aubergine and pretty much everything that goes into a bag of frozen ratatouille mix, you've got one stew and one really good topping for jacket potatoes (add cheese on top for a bit of calcium, too).

Quickly fry chicken livers, allow to cool slightly and blend with cold butter and seasonings for sandwiches/french stick with baby spinach, tomatoes and other salad.

Switch to chicken thighs rather than breast (same for Turkey). Tin of chickpeas added to a stew/curry/casserole/whatever you call it.

Spinach and a touch of chutney go really well in a spiced - not not necessarily spicy - sauce that'll work with pretty much any meat - could add cooked sweet potato, carrot, peppers and again, some chickpeas.

Just to add to the recipe suggestions, you can increase your iron absorption by having vitamin C-rich foods alongside iron-rich ones. And I have also heard that cooking in cast iron pans increases the iron in your food.

Cheese or anything with calcium will block iron absorption so avoid like the plague. Also turmeric, not good for iron absorption.

What you absolutely should NOT have if you want to absorb iron is spinach:

Spinach is a poor source of absorbable iron. While it contains significant total iron, it is also packed with oxalic acid (oxalates). These compounds bind to the iron, preventing the body from absorbing more than 5% to 9% of it.

Always add a tomato or two for vitamin c,

I do flatbread/iranian bread folded in two with mince beef, cherry tomatoes and ketchup.

Iron tablets with orange juice 1 hour before breakfast.
Steak, beef etc red meat e.g. venison.

Foods high in tannins stop absorption of iron whereas Vit C rich foods help absorption. Never have your iron supplements with tea/coffee and reduce/stop red wine, grapes, nuts, seeds and multiple veg. Just google because there are too many to list.

Peppers, kale, broccoli have more Vit C than oranges, so try more meals with them. Vit C is depleted by heating though, so take Vit c supplements with your iron pills and try more salads and things where its not cooked. Steak/beef contains 2-3x the iron of chicken, and lamb about 2x, so it might be a matter of cooking the same veg for everyone, but they have chicken and you have steak/lamb.

-Strips of steak with peppers/onion to make fajitas/tacos https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sizzling_steak_fajitas_04117
-Beef salad https://www.recipetineats.com/thai-beef-salad-2/
-Liver, onion, bacon, mash, veg. The kids might not like it though
-Shepherds pie
-https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_beef_stir-fry_84749

Spinach, eggs and potatoes with a drink of fresh orange juice.

Frozen spinach - I add it to most things!!

Thanks all, some great ideas here. I'll definitely be trying a few.
I didn't realise cheese blocked iron absorption so that's good to know.
Not sure i could stomach liver...one to build up to maybe!

I always have a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer and I add a few lumps to anything that has a sauce - curry/ bolognese / fish pie - whatever I can get it into , in it goes

Beetroot juice is also very high as is prune juice, I think beetroot juice also lowers high BP and prune juice helps with bowels

Sunflower seeds for snacking

If you cant face liver try making chicken liver pate - delicious

I have bought an ‘iron fish’ which is simply a piece of iron that you can throw in when cooking rice etc. Or I simply boil it in water and then use the iron-water for cooking everything. Reminds me of the iron drink Spatone which is a convenient version of the same (I guess)

I already posted up thread but I have no idea why people keep recommending spinach? I believe the original idea that its incredibly high in iron was the wrong positioning of a decimal point by the chemist who was studying the nutritional value of it. Yes, its higher than some other veg, but no where near as absorbable for the body as haem (meat) sources.

Majority or any iron isn't actually absorbed due to the oxalates as someone else already said. Soy beans (edamame), basil, kidney beans, chard, lentils all have more iron than spinach. Black pudding 9-16g iron.

Dark chocolate is also a source of iron.

Interesting point about spinach.
Off to google iron fish now!

Regardless of its total content, spinach is still a green leafy veg so has iron, and its so inoffensive its a great veg for veg dodgers

I personally get very little iron because I dont eat fortified cereals, very little bread so for me adding the spinach helps

I also eat very little red meat , zero chocolate , and Id rather starve then eat a lot of iron rich foods

So offer up all foods and let the OP work out a diet that suits them?

Please tell me that it’s a joke that people boil pieces of iron in their soups…

I tend to run low on iron. I take a spatone sachet every morning, two a day when I'm on my period. I know if I've not been taking these.

I try to have red meat several times a week, and two eggs for breakfast every day. Venison is a favourite meat, it's lean, goes well in a variety of dishes (spaghetti Bolognese and stir-fries are a regular choice) and you can often get it for less than beef.

No. It's a very real thing that has saved lives in places where it is impossible for people to access sufficient iron rich foods - studies have shown that it can provide around three quarters of the daily iron requirement for everybody in a family.

Smash burgers! With 5% mince. Quick and easy to cook, delicious and lean red meat

DD1 suffers from iron deficiency. I give her two largish slices of black pudding with scrambled eggs, etc at breakfast two days a week and iirc, that’s almost a day’s iron?

I do her prepackaged mussels for lunch one day a week - they seem to be high in iron. I make her a low fat fruit cake every week, which contains dried apricots. I use 75% mince and 25% lentils in recipes like spaghetti Bol, shepherds pie.

You can put all your requirements such as enough iron for a woman of such and such age into ChatGPT and it can produce a weekly meal plan for you.

(DD1 is on a special high protein low fat diet, so I do record her meals on My Fitness Pal)

Good old baked beans are high in iron, my Dr told me to eat them when I was anaemic.

Broccoli, savoy cabbage, red meat, liver and onions,

Wow!
You live and learn…