The Slow Beef Stew for Rebuilding After Birth

Blood loss during delivery leaves most new mothers iron-depleted right when the body is asking the most of them, healing, producing milk, running on disrupted sleep. Iron rebuilds what birth took out, and a slow-cooked beef stew is about as efficient a way to get it as food gets, tender, warming, and easy to eat one-handed between feeds.

What you'll need

• 300g beef chunks (stewing cuts work well here, they get more tender the longer they cook)
• 1 carrot, sliced
• A few slices of ginger
• 2 cups stock or water
• A handful of leafy greens, added at the end
• Salt to taste

How to make it

Brown the beef in a pot for a few minutes, then add the ginger, carrot, and stock. Bring to a simmer, cover, and let it cook low and slow for at least an hour and a half, until the beef is fork-tender and cooked through, well past any pink. Stir in the greens in the last few minutes just to wilt them.

Make a big batch. This freezes and reheats beautifully, which matters more right now than almost any other cooking advice, having a few portions ready in the freezer for the nights you genuinely cannot cook is worth more than a perfect recipe you don't have time for.

Slow, warming, and it does the rebuilding while you rest.