FISH

Tip, frozen fish is much cheaper and often fresher than "fresh".

Eating lots of fish can be as bad for you as anything else you eat too much of.

*conscious = conscience

Load of carp.

Best bit of battered fish I've had recently was from my local Wetherspoons on Friday night. Huge piece of nicely battered, crisp cod, chips, peas and a pint for £7.25. Can't go wrong.

just found out why salmon is expensive.

Bad news for salmon lovers: the price of the popular fish is going up.

"Consumers will have to pay more for salmon in the future than they've done so far," Paul Aandahl, an analyst at the Norwegian Seafood Council, told Bloomberg News.

The reason for the price increase is a confluence of factors, including an outbreak of sea lice among Norway's salmon farms. As a result, salmon production in Norway—which is the world's largest producer of the fish—is expected to fall 5 percent in the first part of 2016.

The jump in price is pretty astonishing. Since October, the cost of Norwegian salmon that's being exported to other countries spiked as much as 53 percent to $3.25 a pound—the highest price in three decades, according to Bloomberg. 

Those prices are expected to hit $5.30 a pound this year and $5.50 a pound by 2017, according to Kolbjiorn Giskeodegard, a senior analyst with Nordea, a financial services company in Stockholm, Sweden.  And if Norway raises its prices, then other salmon producing nations-—such as Chile, Scotland and the U.S.—will follow suit.

Remember, that's what wholesalers pay; the increase will hit the consumer when more expensive salmon turns up at grocery stores, restaurants and sushi joints. In some places, the price has already climbed. Bobby Unwin, a fishmonger in London, told Bloomberg he's raised his prices to customers 3% to 4% in the last couple months.

Paul Aandahl, with the Norwegian Seafood Council, doesn't expect growth in production—and therefore relief on the price of salmon—for at least the next two years.

The sticker shock will be particularly harsh because salmon's been so cheap lately. Last year, Norway exported the most salmon ever, Bloomberg pointed out. At the same time, the European Union put in place a ban on exports to Russia because of its activity in Ukraine. That meant a nation of nearly 145 million people was not able to buy salmon from Norway, flooding both Europe and the U.S. with tens of thousands of tons of cheap salmon, whetting the public's appetite for more. "Prices in the key European and US salmon markets fell 10 to 20 percent in 2015, mainly due to massive oversupply," Giskeododegard said.

One alternative to salmon is arctic char for its taste and texture, although the price difference might be negligible. Other fish high in omega-3—the fatty acid that helps make salmon such a healthy choice—are mackerel, trout, herring, tuna and sardines, among others.

cheers, thanks

Is it worth by frozen stuff from Iceland stores ? I bought their chicken once and it was like eating plastic

I will look out for these bargains but they go quick, it's packs of mackerel that seems to be reduced more than the rest for some reason.

My mate, Paddy, used to work on a fish farm.  Unfortunately, he drowned...couldn't get out of his tractor fast enough.

@Jack Hacksaw,

Don't they warn us against eating more than two portions of fish per week due to the concentrations of chemicals found in fish these days?

We should eat at least one portion (around 140g when cooked) of oily fish a week.

Oily fish can contain low levels of pollutants that can build up in the body. For this reason, there are maximum recommendations for the number of portions we should be eating each week. These recommendations are different for different groups of people:
•The general population is advised to have no more than four portions of oily fish a week.
•Women who are planning a pregnancy or who are currently pregnant or breastfeeding should eat no more than two portions of oily fish a week. This is because pollutants found in oily fish may affect the future development of a baby in the womb.
•Children, pregnant women and women who are trying to get pregnant should not eat swordfish, as it contains more mercury than other fish. Other adults are advised to eat no more than one portion of swordfish per week.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/fish-shellfish.aspx

Interesting Dr C.....

So how about the people who take copious amounts of "Cod Liver Oil"?

I am eating poached Basa (Catfish) as i type. Lovely stuff, i have it twice a week.