Buy Frozen

Save the planet!

You often read "Choose fresh. Buy local. Eat organic" and most of us might find ourselves joining in with this way of thinking some of the time.

But, if we are really to make a difference with the environment, some recent evidence suggests we should start buying frozen!

We asked people if fresh or frozen is best and the answer is often the same: fresh is best. This is sometimes true but sometimes not. Take fish – we don’t all live near the sea, fewer of us fish and a fish market can be hard to find at best. Most of us live inland but that’s no reason not to eat fish!

Many of us who buy fish live far from where the fish is caught, and many of the fillets we buy are fresh and shipped by air and road, two carbon-intensive forms of transport.

Sometimes the fish we see at the shops may not be in the frozen counter, but that does not mean it’s fresh. And the label may say that the fish is fresh but that does not mean that it is. The term fresh is starting to mean that it has not been frozen rather than meaning that is was recently caught and this is a concern!

Fresher Fish are Frozen

Your 'fresh' fish maybe older than you thought

We read about someone once who was keen to see how long his 'fresh' fish had taken to reach his plate. When he asked at the shop they told him to speak to the wholesaler who then put him onto the supplier and then on to the the fishing boats. His discovery was both fascinating and worrying. The fish was kept at sea for three days after it was caught, then held at the dock and then in storage for half a day. After this the fish company held it and then the supplier until finally it arrived at the shop! It had taken about a week to reach his plate.

Selecting Fresh Fish

Where to find the freshest fish?

Although it made interesting reading, you don’t need to go to such extremes to ensure that the fish you buy is fresh.

Just Buy Frozen

You can be sure your frozen fish is really fresh.

When you buy frozen fish you can be sure that the fish was frozen out at sea within 4 hours of catch or at the very least close to the shore as soon as the boat docks. Whatsmore, when you get the fish home you can put it straight in the freezer without worrying about when to eat it.

Because fresh fish should be cooked the day or day after it is purchased, frozen fish makes more sense for busy families. Buying frozen fish is easy and here’s all you need to do: