Buying whole fish to save money?

fart

Hey.

Wondering if anyone knows about fish?

Basically, i figured out that when buying stuff from the supermarket, it's often not in it's natural form, it's been changed, therefore you get charged for the 'services' that people have performed on them. For example, mince is usually more expensive per KG than the (no doubt) horrendous cut it's come from. Filleted fish is miles more expensive per KG than buying the whole thing.

I want to learn how to fillet my own fish and mince my own meat, but i've got a question wih regards the weight of a fish.

Obviously Salmon fillets for example average about £14 per kilo for something half decent. You can get a whole salmon from a local fishmonger for about £8 per kilo. Obviously this seems cheaper, but how much of the fish is actually usable? Ie, how much of actual edible fish would we be getting for our £8? Head would get chucked, fins, tail...would it actually work out no cheaper to buy the fish whole or would it still work out much cheaper per kilo once every unwanted/unusable bit was thrown away? I'm pretty keen to learn how to fillet properly so i'm looking forward to suggestions. Thanks!

compmad1

Get them to fillet the fish (big hassle) and ask for all the 'leavings'. There is still a lot of usable meat left which can be microwaved/steamed, flaked + used in sandwiches etc. It costs the same whether they cut it up or you do.

fart

Fair enough, getting them to do it would be better after all!

However, how much eatable fish would i get out of one 1kg Salmon for example? Does it work out any cheaper compared to buying the packaged stuff from the supermarket?

smokey_dave

We buy salmon fillets from the fishmonger shop in Morrisons supermarket.

But we only buy when the salmon is on HALF PRICE.

We get 2 fillets wrapped together and buy several of these. We use one straight away and freeze the rest

geordie_joe

fart wrote: »

Fair enough, getting them to do it would be better after all!

However, how much eatable fish would i get out of one 1kg Salmon for example? Does it work out any cheaper compared to buying the packaged stuff from the supermarket?

Think about it, they buy a whole fish, chop bits off it and throw them away. You buy the bit that they don't throw away, but you also pay for the bits that were thrown away and the "added value" of them turning a whole fish into something ready for the pan.

Well thats the theory anyway, but these days you can never tell.

The only way to be sure is buy a whole fish and a piece of fish for around the same price and see which has more "edible fish".

redfox

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nuatha

fart wrote: »

Fair enough, getting them to do it would be better after all!

However, how much eatable fish would i get out of one 1kg Salmon for example? Does it work out any cheaper compared to buying the packaged stuff from the supermarket?

Typical yield for whole dressed (gutted) salmon is 75% as fillets.
Especially in the early days of filleting you'll have flesh left on the skeleton, this could be scraped and used along with the cheeks to make fishcakes. The remainder could be used to make stock.

Practically all round fish are fillet the same way, if you wish to learn to fillet yourself I'd recommend getting several pounds of whiting or similar cheap white fish to practise on. There's videos on youtube that show the basic techniques. Having said that, a good fishmonger will fillet whole fish to your requirements at no extra charge. The real advantage to filleting your own comes if you live within reasonable distance to a fishing port and can bulk buy.
HTH

kittycat204

fart wrote: »

Hey.

Wondering if anyone knows about fish?

Basically, i figured out that when buying stuff from the supermarket, it's often not in it's natural form, it's been changed, therefore you get charged for the 'services' that people have performed on them. For example, mince is usually more expensive per KG than the (no doubt) horrendous cut it's come from. Filleted fish is miles more expensive per KG than buying the whole thing.

I want to learn how to fillet my own fish and mince my own meat, but i've got a question wih regards the weight of a fish.

Obviously Salmon fillets for example average about £14 per kilo for something half decent. You can get a whole salmon from a local fishmonger for about £8 per kilo. Obviously this seems cheaper, but how much of the fish is actually usable? Ie, how much of actual edible fish would we be getting for our £8? Head would get chucked, fins, tail...would it actually work out no cheaper to buy the fish whole or would it still work out much cheaper per kilo once every unwanted/unusable bit was thrown away? I'm pretty keen to learn how to fillet properly so i'm looking forward to suggestions. Thanks!

I bought a whole salmon the other day when they were on offer. I watched some video's on youtube and chopped it up myself. I didn't do a perfect job but what was left on the bones i was able to scrap off with a spoon. There was virtually no waste. With the scraped bits a made a beautiful quiche. I would recommend it if you think you are able to do it. Far better value.

fart

nuatha wrote: »

Typical yield for whole dressed (gutted) salmon is 75% as fillets.
Especially in the early days of filleting you'll have flesh left on the skeleton, this could be scraped and used along with the cheeks to make fishcakes. The remainder could be used to make stock.

Practically all round fish are fillet the same way, if you wish to learn to fillet yourself I'd recommend getting several pounds of whiting or similar cheap white fish to practise on. There's videos on youtube that show the basic techniques. Having said that, a good fishmonger will fillet whole fish to your requirements at no extra charge. The real advantage to filleting your own comes if you live within reasonable distance to a fishing port and can bulk buy.
HTH

Well i'm in Edinburgh so close to Salmon-country, but plenty of fishmongers round here that will do it for you.

Still, quite keen to learn, perhaps i'll go have a chat with the local 'monger

If 75% is fillet and let's say maybe 5-10% scrapings for fishcakes (we already make our own with fresh Salmon, fresh home grown herbs and potato) i'd probably place £8/kg at more like £8/800g, which translates to £10/kg - still a massive massive difference between that and shop bought. Even the cheapest stuff in Asda is £11.80/kg.

My maths are shocking but i hope i worked that out. My goals (now i'm buying my own house outright) is to get my food bill down to as little as possible! We already try to grow our own veg and spuds, as well as making our own bread and balancing our meals to be cost effective, so we're on the right track On a side note - i got back from Asda tonight and had already decided on buying a whole chicken rather than buying the breast on its own. Chopped it up without diagrams or anything, as the diagrams were unclear; i don't know the front end from the back end on a chicken haha. So i just dove right in, got all the breasts out whole, two perfect legs/wings/thighs, giblets and bits went to the cat (minus bone/cartilidge) and we even had enough left over after that to get a small sandwich bag full of small chicken bits which will do for a pasta or something.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Dunroamin

Cook it on the bone - much easier and much better flavour.

fart

Dunroamin wrote: »

Cook it on the bone - much easier and much better flavour.

Literally can't be doing with bones in fish - the mere thought of them being present means i can't enjoy it. Or do you mean Chicken?