[Jaystar]

Does anyone know of any healthy cereals (other than Shredded Wheat) that does not have any iron added to it?

Every single cereal that I've checked the ingredients on has had iron artificially added to it, and it's driving me nuts.

[stud u like]

I doubt porridge has iron added to it.

[Jaystar]

Originally Posted by stud u like

I doubt porridge has iron added to it.

You're right (I just checked) but I can't see myself cooking that every day (especially not in the middle of summer).

I was hoping for a "pour and eat" solution

[diablo]

Originally Posted by Jaystar

You're right (I just checked) but I can't see myself cooking that every day (especially not in the middle of summer).

I was hoping for a "pour and eat" solution

There's no need to cook oats before eating them - they are usually the main ingredient in muesli after all.

[stud u like]

Originally Posted by Jaystar

You're right (I just checked) but I can't see myself cooking that every day (especially not in the middle of summer).

I was hoping for a "pour and eat" solution

You don't need to cook porridge. My mother mixes it with cold milk and adds a banana to it.

[Jaystar]

Originally Posted by diablo

There's no need to cook oats before eating them - they are usually the main ingredient in muesli after all.

I never even thought about that.

Originally Posted by stud u like

You don't need to cook porridge. My mother mixes it with cold milk and adds a banana to it.

Now that sounds promising. I'll give it a try


I'm still annoyed that I can't find one single bran based cereal that is not riddled with insane levels of iron. I have no idea what these manufacturers are playing at.

[zenith52]

Originally Posted by Jaystar

I never even thought about that.



Now that sounds promising. I'll give it a try


I'm still annoyed that I can't find one single bran based cereal that is not riddled with insane levels of iron. I have no idea what these manufacturers are playing at.

Pour cold milk on before you go to bed, leave it in the fridge and eat in the morning.. It will have softened up nicely!

p.s. You can just buy bran (sort of brown dust) in a bag and add it to your oats.. Jamie Oliver's Puckola recipe is pretty good and nothing in it that you don't add yourself.. If you know what I mean.

[diablo]

Originally Posted by zenith52

Pour cold milk on before you go to bed, leave it in the fridge and eat in the morning.. It will have softened up nicely!

p.s. You can just buy bran (sort of brown dust) in a bag and add it to your oats.. Jamie Oliver's Puckola recipe is pretty good and nothing in it that you don't add yourself.. If you know what I mean.

I had to look that up - seemingly it's called pukola - the name puts me off a bit, but here's what I found -

Make a whole load of dry mix from:
mostly porridge oats
a fair bit of bran (I found soya bran in health food shop)
your favourite dried fruits
favourite nuts

The night before you want to eat it:
put enough mix (you can do a few days worth) in a bowl
add a grated apple or 2
cover with milk
mix, cover the bowl and leave in the fridge.

In the morning get out your portion:
add any fresh fruit you want
more milk to loosen up the mix

Not sure I like the sound of it myself, soggy muesli, but maybe the OP will.

[Inkblot]

Muesli doesn't usually have any added substances, just oats, fruit, nuts etc.

The other way to get cereals that don't have added vitamins, iron etc would be to look at organic ones. Don't know about the big brands but for example Whole Earth don't appear to add anything to their products. "Organic" does mean the ingredients are certified as organic and although "non-organic" salt is permitted there shouldn't be any additives.

[sirpipe]

Don't most foods have iron in them anyway?

[Jaystar]

Thanks for the helpful replies

Originally Posted by zenith52

leave it in the fridge and eat in the morning.

If only I were anything like that organised! I tried out oats with cold milk (as suggested above) and it's fairly palatable, so I imagine that with some fruit added it would be better still.

Originally Posted by zenith52

p.s. You can just buy bran (sort of brown dust) in a bag and add it to your oats.

This was a very useful tip because I had only been searching for ready-made bran-based cereals up till now. Admittedly my online searches did not show up much in the way of suppliers for bags of bran, but it did lead me to this which, looking through the ingredients, seemed perfect (and should also be easily available seeing as it's a big name brand). However, a little more searching revealed this which was simply infuriating (not to mention totally inaccurate in terms of current thinking on Iron RDA).

Originally Posted by Inkblot

The other way to get cereals that don't have added vitamins, iron etc would be to look at organic ones.

I don't mind if vitamins are added (because they're generally good for you). It's just iron that I have a problem with, especially when such insane amounts are added. I took your advice and added "organic" as an additional element to my search for bags of bran, and I managed to find this, but I'm going to email them about any iron content before ordering (seeing as I've been caught out once already).

[Jaystar]

Originally Posted by sirpipe

Don't most foods have iron in them anyway?

Yes, which is exactly why you don't need bucket loads of it artificially added to foods (particularly those that claim to be natural and healthy).

Given the numerous research papers showing the detrimental and toxic effects of iron (not to mention the serious and potentially fatal effects on people with Haemochromatosis) I'm surprised that manufacturers persist with it when it's so unnecessary.