Where to buy cheap fish?

kiwichick

Another ?

Have decided to buy fresh fish to make my own fish fingers/nuggets for the kids. Got some at tesco the other day and it was £3.34 for one fillet which made about 25 bite sized nuggets.

This seems expensive to me but then again I have never bought fish this way so it might be quite normal.

Can anyone enlighten me? If it is dearer than it should be can anybody tell me where to get a better deal? Or which fish is best to buy. I think I had cod or haddock but had asked the bloke serving me what would hold its shape best.

Thanks,
Al.

scuzz

Cod will probably cost more than others because stocks are dwindling, which is why we need to cut down on how much of it we eat

Try a fishmonger to see if their prices are better.

Where about's are you? If you live near the sea/fishing town see if you can buy direct from the fishermen as they come back from their trips. Never know, they may cast aside fish which are seen as too small to pass on to bigger retailers, so could get lots of smaller ones on the cheap

sallypurple

I'm lucky, my OH is a fisherman and you don't get much cheaper than free!

Your best bet is to go to a fishmongers or market stall, you will often find they will do it cheaper if you buy 5lbs at a time. I would try pollock, it is a cheap, white fish with firm flesh that is very similar to cod, it is what gets used to make most fish fingers. It freezes well even already made into nuggets.

If you don't mind frozen fish they sell frozen pollock fiillets very reasonably in LIDL.

[Deleted User]

kiwichick wrote:

Another ?

Have decided to buy fresh fish to make my own fish fingers/nuggets for the kids. Got some at tesco the other day and it was £3.34 for one fillet which made about 25 bite sized nuggets.

This seems expensive to me but then again I have never bought fish this way so it might be quite normal.

Can anyone enlighten me? If it is dearer than it should be can anybody tell me where to get a better deal? Or which fish is best to buy. I think I had cod or haddock but had asked the bloke serving me what would hold its shape best.

Thanks,
Al.

I am very lucky in that I live only about twenty minutes from Whitstable in Kent. I go there about once every two months or so and stock up on fish so fresh it's almost jumping off the counter.It is far superior to any of the supermarket fish that is often vastly overpriced. The staff at the fish market are really good as well and will recommend different sorts of fish and will sell you any amount ,even a small piece so you can have a try to see if you like it.Anybody who lives within easy driving distance of Whitstable do give it a try as it is open seven days a week. I have taken my grandchildren there to see the fishing boats come in and unload so they know where their fish comes from. Also there is a huge pile of discarded shells that I have got a bag of, to use crushed up small as a deterrant to the slugs that devour my flowers in my garden.
On the south coast there is also Hastings Old Town fishmarket which is very good value as well.
Where i live in Rainham we are also lucky enough to have a wet-fish shop and the fishmonger there is excellent and will get you something special if you ask him.
With our fishermen struggling to make a decent living nowadays I think it is important to do the utmost to help them buy buying fish as fresh as possible otherwise they it will become a dying trade, and another nail in the coffin for free enterprise .Think of how many good trades have died out because of huge supermarket conglomerates.Door-step deliveries of Bread and milk to name but a few.Not only that, why buy pre-packed plastic wrapped fish when you can buy it fresh, and a fraction of the cost.

exlibris

Coley is also good as a substitute for Cod. It looks grey when uncooked, but does cook white. I use it mainly for Fish pies. Mush cheaper than Cod, Haddock etc

arkonite_babe

I bought frozen fish in Iceland the other week, it was on special offer. Smoked mackeral and pollock, If I remember it was 2 for £5 or something like that. Plenty in the bags and it has lasted me for about 4 meals so far with still some left.

theverylast

I would suggest Pollack as well.

It's worth finding a local fishmonger and telling him what you want it for - he may be able to save bits that might not be right for selling, as a fillet for example, but would be ideal for what you need.

One other point... apparantly fish labelled as organic has to come from fish farms (where diet and water can be regulated) whereas fresh fish, caught that morning from the sea can't as the fishermen have no control over what it has eaten and where it has been! Worth remembering that not everything organic is perfect!

arkonite_babe

welcome to OS theverylast! Thankyou for sharing the information, it makes you wonder exactly how organic items get classified when you read that!

se999

One of our family favorites is smoked peppered mackerel which we get from Tesco's, it sealed up and you buy it from the packaged not fresh fish counter. It's quite a strong flavour so you don't need big servings. We just open the packet, seperate the fillets and warm it through in a hot oven.

In the summer mackerel is cheap, and we've cooked it whole on the BBQ, the oil does make it a bit smokey at times though!! But it is the 'healthier' fish oils in it I think.

Other than that we look for what's on special and are willing to experiment. Especially if it's in Tesco's reduced section!!

We do pay extra normally for undyed smoked fish.

The one thing I've noticed is that farmed salmon seems to be getting more and more fat all the time, so it loses the benefits of it being a healthy alternative.

Despite saying that if you want really cheap fish, watch out when Tesco's do whole salmon promotions at half-price, we've picked up a couple of whole salmons at about £6 each at the end of the day when they've reducing prices.

nabowla

I picked up some great bargains at the Sainsbury's fish counter last night: 66p for a large portion of king prawns (enough to feed 2), 46p for a couple of king scallops and £2.50 for two very large pieces of wild atlantic salmon (each piece was large enough to cut into 3 portions). None of the items had been frozen previously so were suitable for bagging up and freezing. The policy seems to be selling off most of the fish at the end of the day rather than having to store it overnight. If I'd bought the same fish in the middle of the day I'd have spent a fortune - but, just by waiting a few hours, I get real bargains.

maryb

I read somehwere (might even have been Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall) that frozen fish is actually fresher than the 'fresh' fish counter stock because it is frozen so quickly after landing and it doesn't affect flavour and texture very much

It's certainly cheaper. Also frozen fish is dead easy to skin - you just rip the skin off - whereas it's a pain skinning fresh fish.

Because we go sailing in summer we sometimes get mackerel caught by towing a line behind the boat. Now that is to die for , pan fried in olive oil then a bit of lemon juice squeezed into the pan juices.