Planning low-cost nutritious recipes for vulnerable groups
Low-cost nutritious recipes combine cereal with pulse, add greens, oil or jaggery, and use germination, fermentation or malting to raise nutrient value cheaply for infants, children and mothers.
Principles for low-cost nutritious recipes
- Use local, seasonal, cheap foods: ragi, bajra, broken wheat, rice, Bengal gram, green gram, groundnut, sesame, drumstick leaves, amaranth, banana, guava, jaggery.
- Combine cereal and pulse (rice with dal, idli, pongal): pulses supply the lysine cereals lack, and cereals supply the methionine pulses lack.
- Add energy with a little oil, ghee or jaggery, especially for infants and preschoolers who eat small amounts.
- Add micronutrients: greens and yellow vegetables for vitamin A and iron; a vitamin C fruit with iron-rich foods; iodised salt.
- Use simple processing: germination and malting raise vitamins and thin the porridge; fermentation (idli, dosa) improves digestibility and B vitamins; roasting adds flavour and helps flours keep.
- Suit the group: soft, thick and smooth for infants; finger foods and snacks for preschoolers; extra protein, iron, calcium and folate for pregnant and lactating women.
- Keep it hygienic, quick and acceptable: familiar taste, easy for busy mothers, made in the household's own vessels.
Sample low-cost recipes
| Group | Recipe ideas | Why they are good |
|---|---|---|
| Infants (6-12 months) | Malted ragi porridge with jaggery; mashed rice and moong dal khichdi with a drop of ghee; mashed banana | Energy-dense, soft, easy to digest; calcium and some iron from ragi |
| Infants (6-12 months) | Home multigrain mix (sathu maavu) of roasted ragi, wheat, Bengal gram and groundnut, ground fine and cooked as porridge | Cereal-pulse-nut protein; keeps well |
| Preschool children | Ragi-groundnut ladoo; vegetable upma; drumstick-leaf adai; sprouted green gram sundal | Snack-sized, colourful, rich in protein and iron |
| Pregnant women | Greens dal; sprouted gram salad with lemon; ragi dosa; sesame-jaggery balls (ellu urundai) | Iron, folate, calcium and protein; vitamin C helps iron absorption |
| Lactating women | Extra rice or chapati with dal, curd, green leafy vegetables, milk, a handful of groundnuts | Extra energy and protein for milk production; fluids and calcium |
Worked example: energy and protein of a recipe
From the food composition tables, one serving of a ragi-green gram-groundnut porridge gives 12 g protein, 8 g fat and 50 g carbohydrate. Find its energy and the percentage of energy from protein.
- Energy from protein = 12 × 4 = 48 kcal.
- Energy from fat = 8 × 9 = 72 kcal.
- Energy from carbohydrate = 50 × 4 = 200 kcal.
- Total energy = 48 + 72 + 200 = 320 kcal.
- Protein energy % = 48 ÷ 320 × 100 = 15%.
One serving gives about 320 kcal, with 15% of its energy from protein: a good balance for an extra meal. For your own recipe, take the values for the real ingredients from IFCT 2017.
Activity: planning and presenting low-cost recipes
- 1Choose the group (infant, preschooler, pregnant or lactating woman) and the nutrients to focus on (energy, protein, iron, calcium).
- 2List cheap local foods available in the season and note their market prices.
- 3★Plan 3-5 recipes using the principles: cereal + pulse, greens, a little fat, one processing trick.
- 4Work out the nutrients per serving from IFCT 2017 and compare them with the group's ICMR-NIN 2020 needs, as a percentage of the day's need.
- 5Work out the cost per serving from the market prices.
- 6Prepare the recipes and check taste, texture and acceptability with a few people from the group.
- 7★Present them in a demonstration, with recipe cards in the local language.
★ one-way, controls the pace
At a Poshan Maah recipe competition, anganwadi workers and mothers prepare dishes such as ragi ladoo and drumstick-leaf adai; the nutritionist works out the cost and nutrients per serving so that the best recipe can be shared across the village.
2 marks: “Why is a cereal-pulse combination recommended in low-cost recipes?” Cereals are low in lysine and pulses in methionine; eaten together each supplies the other's missing amino acid, improving protein quality cheaply.
5 marks: “Suggest three low-cost nutritious recipes for a pregnant woman, with reasons.” E.g. greens dal, sprouted gram salad with lemon, sesame-jaggery balls; they give iron, folate, protein, calcium and vitamin C; cheap and local.
10 marks: “Explain the principles of planning low-cost nutritious recipes. Suggest recipes for infants, preschool children and pregnant women.” Principles; needs of each group; recipes table; processing methods; nutrient and cost calculation with a worked example.
Cereal + pulse + green + a spoon of fat, with a trick: sprout, ferment, malt or roast.