I’m always trying to figure out how to get regular fish in our diet. We all love it and it’s good for you, but it’s so expensive, it has the potential to bust the food budget.
We thought it would be good to try fishing, so my brother-in-law took my husband out to one of his best spots for salmon fishing.
He had just gotten a couple the last time he went. And it only cost $30.00 for the license.
Ummm…that $30 ended up coming out of the entertainment budget and not food.
And the search for seafood that will fit into our budget continues.
I have found talapia to be a good, inexpensive fish that works well in recipes using snapper or any white fish. And it’s not nearly as “fishy” as snapper could sometimes be.
The meal pictured above used a pound of talapia (5 small fillets) that was $3.99. I sauteed some onion and garlic, added some chopped tomato and kalamata olives and let it cook for a few minutes. Then I spooned the sauce over the tops of each fillet I had placed in a baking pan (a trick I read about is to turn under the thin ends of the fillets so they don’t get too overcooked while the thicker part is cooking), and baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until the thickest part of the fish flaked easily with a fork.
I’m sure if you’ve been reading here awhile, you will see a trend I have toward these Mediterranean flavors…but I do think you will love this, too.
Since all the vegetables pictured came from the garden (roasted green beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, even garlic), and rice is pretty cheap (about .30), only the fish and kalamata olives were the costly ingredients. I buy the olives at Costco in the large container and it lasts a couple months (because they have so much flavor, you don’t need tons of them). I’m estimating the amount I used to cost about .75, so I’m still at my goal of around $5 for the meal- even with fish included!
Sweet.
I’d love to hear how you get fish into the frugal food budget!
-Jami
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Anonymous says
I share Peggy’s concerns. After the plastic in China’s pet food and baby formula my hubsand and I have started reading labels more closely. Cheap is not necessarily a food bargain. I too like tilapia. Read your labels and choose as a wise consumer.
Jami @An Oregon Cottage says
Wow- great comments! I love the recipe suggestions and will have to go online for Market of Choice (we only get the Sunday paper) to see their deals. Jenelle’s suggestion to do a couple of super-cheap nights is a good idea!
I had always heard that tilapia was a good choice for farmed fish, but your question, Peggy, got me researching. I’m going to put up a little post about what I found.
I’ve never seen that dirty jobs show- that doesn’t sound too good, does it? I’m always leery of TV reality shows, though- they tend to find the worst situations and exploit them through editing. It’s probably a case of educating ourselves and buying only what we can feel OK with.
Thanks, guys!
Blow Glass Girl says
I can’t eat Tilapia after watching a dirty jobs episode. If its farm raised you might check and see what they are fed cause at the farm they did they show at…they only ate waste. Sorry.
Anonymous says
I love tilapia broiled with spicy seasoning and then toped with LARGE spoonfulls of:
Black or White Beans
Salsa
Corn
(simmer all together until tastey!)
mouth watering now…
Shanzanne says
Hi Jami,
We LOVE fresh fish but are very picky about its quality and have a very small budget. I have found that Market of Choice has great sales on great quality fresh fish every few weeks. Check out their ad on the back page of the front section of the Register Guard every Tuesday. The fish is almost always half price or less, and I’ve found that one package (usually one pound) feeds my daughter and I very well with leftovers. This week they have fresh, wild salmon for $5.99/lb. We cook it in a little butter/olive oil combined with lots of salt, pepper, lemon juice, and dill or another herb. Their snapper is great and also their cod. Its still a bit of a splurge, but its so good AND good for us, that its a splurge worth making for us.
Peggy says
Hi, there.. Maybe you could answer this in your blog; I can’t be the only one interested.. Do you have any concerns that tilapia is from China (or possibly Ecuador)? Obviously, they are farm raised, but do we have a concern about lead or other contaminates in the water? What inspection process do they go thru? I’ve never seen this addressed. We really love Tilapia, haven’t found any fresh fish as good. We buy farm raised catfish, but even that you have to make sure it’s from the US.
Thanks so much for any input; I sure enjoy your blog.. Keep up the good work! Peggy
Jenelle says
We take a similer approach. I buy the tilapia from Costco and we usualy make fish tacos with it. The rest of the ingredients for the meal are exceptionally cheep, rice and or beans, corn tortillas, cabbage.
I love fish but the rest of my family is not that into it, but they all love fish tacos.
Another strategy I use, is to average my dinners for the week at $5. So if I want salmon or steak one night for dinner, I will make a few uber-cheep dinners during that week to make up for it. Usually the cheep meals are lentil and rice casserols, or a soup, breakfast for dinner, things like that.