High Iron, Low Calorie, and Tasty Recipes - Do they exist?

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  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    I bake kale chips, they're amazing. My kids love them too! ETA: Olive oil and crystal salt :)

    What's your recipe for that? I saw them at the supermarket, they were $4.99 for a small container!

    Sorry, I'm really bad at checking back! I use this simple recipe from allrecipes.com

    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-kale-chips/

    The only thing I do differently is that I use more olive oil. I have a spray olive oil bottle and I find it covers better and Im' sure I'm using more :p
  • melindanew
    melindanew Posts: 150 Member
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    Thank you all! I do meat, but I can't stand beans (except for chick peas in hummus form). Meat's a little expensive on a student income though, so I've been trying to find meatless sources of iron. I think I'm going to have to start buying a little more meat though.
    Are you using MFP to track your iron? The database is really poor when it comes to those other nutrients like iron etc, so don't rely on that as a basis.

    I'm using MFP for the iron and I've been looking at the % iron on the nutrition labels on my food. I barely make 50% most days.

    Try larb gai - leave the toasted rice out. It's ground meat so less expensive.

    Larb gai
    500g ground (chicken or beef or pork or veal)
    Coriander to taste - fresh is better, dried ok
    Basil to taste - fresh is better, dried ok
    1 stalk of lemongrass, if you can get some
    1 lemon
    1 onion - red is pretty but all onions ok
    1 red or green capsicum (bell pepper)
    Chili flakes
    Head of lettuce
    1 tbs fish sauce
    2 tbs peanut oil (or whatever oil you have)

    In a bowl, zest the lemon and then juice it and add the fish sauce. Then finely chop (I use a mandolin, thinner is better) the onion and add so the acid softens it. Add coriander (cilantro), basil and capsicum (bell pepper) and add that.

    Finely chop the white part of the lemongrass. If using jarred lemongrass, use about a tablespoon.

    In a wok (or a frying pan if there is no wok to be had) add the peanut oil and use high heat until it almost smokes, add the lemongrass and cook for about 30 seconds. Add mince and cook until done, making sure it doesn't clump up.

    Add this to the bowl with the other things, stir/toss. Wait for it to cool just a bit (warm larb gai is better than hot larb gai and cold larb gai isn't good!)

    Either serve over lettuce or wrap in lettuce. Also good with ground peanuts as a garnish.

    That should be plenty high iron.
  • tiffanyisk
    tiffanyisk Posts: 7
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    Eat a bowl of multigrain cheerio's in the morning, 3/4 cups has most of your daily Iron intake! I have low iron and I always go over my iron intake goals since I started eating them. I also feel less lethargic in the mornings
  • stongjos
    stongjos Posts: 63 Member
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    I have the same problem. I realized that when I eat Our Compliments Balance Maple and brown sugar flavor Oatmeal, I get a lot more iron (I know the portion is a little bigger than the others, though...). The other thing is Kellogg's frosted mini-wheats (original flavour has less sugar). With this one, I get 90% of the daily recommended dose!!! :bigsmile:
  • cluthab
    cluthab Posts: 48 Member
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    It dawned on me when I add only calories if I can't get the food info, all the other readings are zero.

    I know it sounds obvious, but it took a few days to realise how much info was on mfp tables.

    My iron is still low but I sense a lot of saag curries looming!
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    there are tons of lentil, chick pea, black bean, split pea, and so on veggie burgers, 'meat balls' and more.
    they often really awesome even if you don't like beans normally. i made lentil 'meatballs' and they really
    tasted similar to turkey and my kids loved them. even better when they have BBQ, marinara or maple syrup on them :)

    also eggs have iron. nothing wrong with having omelets or egg burritos for dinner sometimes.
  • mrsvalgal
    mrsvalgal Posts: 39
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    I noticed the same thing for me with iron and found the best sources (as in the highest amounts) came from bread products because they'd been enriched/fortified. Cereal makes for an easy source.. I found Total or a fortified shredded wheat gives me the "most bang for my buck" so to speak. I had been eating a wheat crunch cereal but hated that it took so many of my calories. Total cereal cut down on the calories and I get the 100% iron (as well as other vitamins and minerals). I would like to get it from more natural sources too, and agree with the kale and spinach suggestions. Butternut squash is another great source. My midwife said venison is a really good source of iron.

    Good luck!

    val
  • RemDogzMa
    RemDogzMa Posts: 71 Member
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    Since you are looking for high iron, low calorie and affordable iron sources, I'd like to suggest kale. Kale contains more iron per calorie than beef and even the top shelf organic version from Whole Foods costs only $2.49 for a big bunch! It only clocks in at about 34 calories a cup.

    Here are some tasty recipes: http://www.thedailymeal.com/kale-recipes-0
  • ScottishMrs
    ScottishMrs Posts: 254 Member
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    I noticed the same thing for me with iron and found the best sources (as in the highest amounts) came from bread products because they'd been enriched/fortified. Cereal makes for an easy source.. I found Total or a fortified shredded wheat gives me the "most bang for my buck" so to speak. I had been eating a wheat crunch cereal but hated that it took so many of my calories. Total cereal cut down on the calories and I get the 100% iron (as well as other vitamins and minerals). I would like to get it from more natural sources too, and agree with the kale and spinach suggestions. Butternut squash is another great source. My midwife said venison is a really good source of iron.

    Good luck!

    val

    Thank you! I'll have to see about finding "100% iron fortified" cereals and I didn't know that kale was high in iron.
    Since you are looking for high iron, low calorie and affordable iron sources, I'd like to suggest kale. Kale contains more iron per calorie than beef and even the top shelf organic version from Whole Foods costs only $2.49 for a big bunch! It only clocks in at about 34 calories a cup.

    Here are some tasty recipes: http://www.thedailymeal.com/kale-recipes-0

    Great to know! Thanks for the link!

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