Fish is a popular choice for those on a plant-based diet, as it’s low in calories and high in nutrition. Unfortunately, the cost of fish is typically higher than most other foods, especially when you buy it fresh. If you’re looking to incorporate more fish into your diet, but don’t want to break the bank, here are some tips on how to buy and cook it so that your wallet doesn’t hurt as much.
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The Cost Of Fish
Fish is a popular choice for those on a plant-based diet, as it’s low in calories and high in nutrition. Unfortunately, the cost of fish is typically higher than most other foods, especially when you buy it fresh. It can be quite the luxury to eat halibut, grouper, and salmon every day, and the cost of these fish species keeps on rising due to overfishing and poor environmental conditions. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, “Each year the world’s largest fish auction, the Tokyo Fish Market, sells almost 300 million pounds of fish and shellfish—about one-third of the total amount. On average, the price of a pound of fish jumps up by about 10 percent.”
What makes fish so expensive is that it has to be harvested by fishermen, transported to markets, and then sold to restaurants and stores. Often, supermarkets and vendors buy it by the case, which also adds to the cost. This can make it more expensive than some other fish-based foods, such as caviar or shrimp. If you’re looking to incorporate more fish into your diet, but don’t want to break the bank, here are some tips on how to buy and cook it so that your wallet doesn’t hurt as much.
Fresh Versus Frozen
Fresh fish is usually more expensive than frozen, especially if you eat the whole fish. This is mostly because restaurants, supermarkets, and fish markets know that some people will prefer to buy the freshest product they can get, so they have to charge more for it. If you decide to buy frozen, you’ll be able to defrost it quickly in your fridge and cook it whenever you want. Plus, there are some great ways to cook fish so that it stays moist and juicy even when frozen. You’ll see what I mean once you try it. For instance, you may want to try baking, grilling, or broiling your fish instead of frying it, as those are the best ways to keep the moisture inside.
Value Menu Versus Combo Meal
When you’re in a fast food restaurant, it’s easy to be lured in by the alluring aroma of fries and burgers sizzling in oil, or a dish of pasta and chicken simmering in red sauce. However, those calories and fat come at a price. Most restaurants specialize in cheap food with low nutrition value, which often times contains large amounts of salt, sugar, and fat. If you really want to indulge but feel that you shouldn’t because of your diet, then there are options other than eating at fast food restaurants, making meals like those above healthier choices. You may want to look for a restaurant that serves steamed vegetables with your fish or a salad bar to accompany it.
Meat Versus Fish
When it comes to meal costs, many people automatically think about the price of the fish, as it’s often the most expensive part of a seafood meal. However, the cost of the meat portion of a seafood meal can be just as expensive, if not more so. Squid and fish have high costs associated with them due to labor rates, as well as the cost of the product itself. For instance, it takes about 150 squid to make a pound of squid, and the same goes for the small fish mentioned above. One small fish fillet will cost you about $2, while the same fillet cooked in a restaurant will cost about $12, not including the price of dinner itself.
Therefore, it’s not just about how much the fish costs; it’s about how much the whole meal costs. If you want to bring down the overall cost of eating out, then you may want to swap some of the fish for chicken.
Buy What You Need
It’s important not to overload your freezer with tons of fish. You don’t need a ton of space just to store a few pieces of fish, so make sure that you don’t have more than a few pieces in there at any given time. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying a lot for storage space as well as food. If you want to buy more expensive fish species, then make sure you buy them when they are on sale, otherwise, it may be more expensive to buy them fresh.
It’s also important to read food labels to know what sorts of ingredients are in the dish you’re buying. Certain fish varieties are filled with more mercury than others, so if you don’t want to eat them, then make sure that you’re aware of the dangers. If you want to incorporate more fish into your diet, but don’t want to break the bank, here are some tips on how to buy and cook it so that your wallet doesn’t hurt as much.