Eat These Five Meals On Repeat For The Best Sources Of Iron In Pregnancy

“I just want my energy back.”

Morgan was tired. It affected her work. It affected her time with her toddler. Tired to the bones was not how she imagined spending this pregnancy. But it was her current reality.

Morgan had talked with her doctor about her concerns. Her tiredness was confirmed an iron deficiency by a blood test the doctor had run. Together, they came up with a strategy for how to improve her iron levels. One aspect of that plan was eating more iron in the form of iron rich foods. But what meals actually have iron in them? Morgan was learning so much and just wanted a list of what to eat every day for the next couple weeks. Which meals are the best sources of iron in pregnancy?

Hi, I am Suzzie Vehrs, a doula and childbirth educator. It was really fun to help Morgan find a handful of meals she could eat of repeat the next couple weeks to address her iron deficiency. I wanted to share those recipes with you too.

If you think you may have an iron deficiency and have not confirmed it yet, make sure to check out the rest of our articles on iron:

• 5 Surprising Signs Of Iron Deficiency In Pregnancy
• Iron Supplementation In Pregnancy – Everything You Need To Know
• 5 Best Iron-Rich Snacks For Pregnancy
• What If It Isn’t Postpartum Depression?
• Restless Legs Syndrome During Pregnancy

And don’t forget, you can also work with a clinical nutritionist who can help you run labs at Nourish. This service is covered by most insurance companies and usually (not always) free or low cost. I hope this article helps you create a couple simple, nourishing, fun meals (many that are quite easy to meal prep) which just happen to be some of the best sources of iron in pregnancy.

The Best (Meal) Sources Of Iron In Pregnancy

Taking a list of high iron foods and turning it into a complete meal plan is not always easy, especially when your resources are already drained. In total, most pregnant mothers need about 27 mg of iron per day. This is nearly double the amount required by adults who are not pregnant. If you are trying to correct for a deficiency, you may temporarily need more. Exactly how much? You will need to work with your provide rto figure that out. The body uses this iron to help you increase your blood volume and supply oxygen to your muscles, organs and tissues and those of your baby.

Here are a few ideas to fill breakfast, lunch and dinner with the best food sources of iron. Let’s see how close we can get to a full days requirement of iron through diet alone with some of the best sources of iron for pregnancy.

Best Source Of Iron For Pregnancy Breakfast #1: Coconut Pomegranate Chia Seed Pudding

This Coconut Pomegranate Chia Seed Pudding pudding is easy to throw together. You can make 4 days worth in a matter of minutes. Chia seeds can help you start the day off strong with a meaningful contribution to your iron intake.

This recipe has a few sources of iron:

• 1 T Chia seeds: provides 1.1 mg iron which is about 4% of your daily needs
• 3.5 ounces of coconut milk: which provieds about 3 mg of iron
• 1/4 cup granola: provides about 3 mg iron

Total this recipe provides 7 mg iron, which is approximately 25% of your iron needs in one meal! Plus its so quick and easy. You prep it once and have four days of breakfasts ready to go!

Best Source Of Iron For Pregnancy Breakfast #2: Baked Creamed Spinach With Egg

This is another meal that comes together quickly and is full of iron. You will want to make sure you don’t leave the egg yolks too runny. When I make this, I usually prep all the ingredients for 4 days in a mason jar, minus the eggs. In the morning, I pour the mason jar into the cooking plate, crack the eggs on top and pop it into the oven or airfryer.

How much iron would you get starting the day off with this recipe?

• 2 eggs: provide about 1.5 mg of iron
• 1 cup packed spinach: adds 1 mg iron
• 2 T cheese: contributes a measly .15 mg iron

Total this recipe provides 2.65 mg of iron, which is about 10% of the daily recommended intake during pregnancy. Of course, it does contribute, but not as much as the chia seed pudding.

Best Source Of Iron For Pregnancy Lunch #3: Spicy Honey Glazed Salmon Bowls + Nori

This is another meal that is easy to prep and can be made in advance. I like to double the recipe and then store in the fridge for lunch for 2 or 3 days. The salmon is delicious warm or cold and I simply story the salmon and chopped veggies separately until I’m ready to throw it together. One change I would make if working towards Iron would be to crumble a couple sheets of Nori (seaweed) into the rice before adding the toppings to the bowl.

Let’s see if this lunch can make an impact on Iron requirements:

• 4 oz (113 g) cooked salmon: provides 0.7 mg iron
• ¼ cup of cooked edamame (about 40–45 g) contains roughly 1 mg of iron.
• ½ of a medium avocado contains only 0.3 mg of iron.
• 2 sheets Nori (seaweed): adds another 0.4 mg iron

Total this recipe provides about 2.5 mg iron, bringing you to about 9% of your daily needs. You can add almost 1 more mg of iron by swapping out the salmon for tuna.

Best Source Of Iron For Pregnancy Snack #4: Midnight Macadamia Date Trail Mix

Nuts and seeds are such great sources of iron, as is dark chocolate. That is why this hearty snack can be such a great addition to your pregnancy diet when you are trying to find the best food sources of iron. To find the iron in this recipe, I calculated it a bit different, as there are so many ingredients. First I found the iron for the whole recipe, and then broke it down per serving.

How much iron can a 1/2 cup serving of this trail mix provide?

• Macadamia nuts: 4.0 Almonds: 1.3 Walnuts: 0.9 Coconut: 0.6
• Dates: 1.3
• Chocolate: 4.5
• = ~12.6 mg iron in the entire recipe, which makes about 4 servings.

Total, having one serving of this trail mix is just over 3 mg of iron, or 11% of your daily pregnancy needs, making it an impactful little snack.

Best Source Of Iron For Pregnancy Dinner #5: Hearty Pumpkin Chili (Option: With Hidden Liver)

Chili is a hearty and delicious meal, plus it has some of the best sources of iron for pregnancy: ground beef and beans. I would also recommend adding in hidden organ meat, as the rich flavor of the chili will cover up any unfamiliar taste of beef liver. I’m going calculate this as a recipe that makes six servings.

How much iron does a hearty bowl of chili provide?

• 1/6 ln ground beef provides almost 1 full mg iron
• 1/6 can pinto beans adds another 1.5 mg iron, as does the 1/6 can kindey beans (total 3g from the beans).
• Together the pumpkin and tomatoes add another .5 mg, while also providing vitamin C which helps with iron absorption.

By the time we add avocado, this recipe is approaching 5 mg of iron in one regular to small bowl. Meaning one serving is about 20% of the daily needs. If you ate like I ate in pregnancy, you’re probably having more than one bowl, which means you could get 40% of you iron from a deliciously large meal of chili.

You could easily increase this by adding chopped liver to the pot as you cook the ground beef. 3 ounces of liver provides about 5 mg liver on it’s own. so if you added 3 ounces to the recipe this would go up to 22% of your iron needs in one bowl!

Because chili is a forgiving meal, if you need more iron, you could push yourself to 1 ounces of liver per bowl, or 6 ounces total to the recipe. However, please do not do this regularly, as too much liver over time can give a harmful amount of Vitamin A.

But Is It Enough Iron Total?

You can see it is tricky to get enough iron. Even when you are focusing on foods that have a lot of iron, it is hard to get enough to make up for a deficiency. That is why we suggest working directly with a dietician any time there is a real deficiency. You can see you would have to eat a lot of chili, and chia seed pudding to just get the total amount you need a day, let alone fix a deficit.

Supplementation can also be an option. Make sure to talk with your provider about how much, how often and how long you should supplement if you need to build your iron stores.

Real Food Prepped Quicker

If you value real food but don’t have time (or more likely energy) to cook, it may be time to try out a meal delivery service like Cook Unity. Cook Unity provides Chef Crafted, ready to eat meals. I order these for my family when I have periods of time when I know I simply cannot be in the kitchen. Lately, I’ve been ordering more regularly so I can eat healthy and food prep less.

As a member, Cook Unity has allowed me to share a custom link with you that will give you 50% off your first week, and an additional 20% off the next three weeks of meals. Simply shop through my link here, and the discount will automatically be applied. My favorite meal so far has been the seared salmon with the berry glaze!

Thank You For Joining Me

Thank you for joining me today to break down some of my favorite recipes and see what it takes to get enough iron in your diet while you are pregnant. You can see it takes a bit of work and thoughtfulness! While these may be some of the best sources of iron, I would love to hear any recipes you’d like me to add to this list.