If you struggle with iron deficiency, and are not a meat eater, I can tell you a quick way to get 50% of your daily iron in one shot. This is how I do it.
For breakfast, prepare one serving of cream of wheat. Add to it 2 ounces of fresh strawberries. Make sure to use organic strawberries, please. Locally grown, if you can get them. Strawberries are my favorite berry, but they’re also one of the EWG’s “Dirty Dozen.” You can watch their video here > http://www.ewg.org/news/videos/ewg-and-pesticides-dirty-dozen, so try to buy organic.
Why strawberries? They have a high vitamin C content. Why does that matter? This is what the CDC says:
In addition to a healthful diet that includes good sources of iron, you can also eat foods that help your body absorb iron better. For example, you can eat a fruit or vegetable that is a good source of vitamin C with a food or meal that contains non-heme iron. Vitamin C helps your body absorb the non-heme iron foods you eat, especially when the food containing non-heme iron and the vitamin-C rich food are eaten at the same meal.
You can read more about that here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/vitamins/iron.html
So, if you need more iron in your diet, a very easy way to accomplish that is to have a breakfast of an iron fortified cereal and a fruit high in vitamin C.