To ask for help in substituting a cheaper pregnancy craving before I bankrupt us?

[LeapingUpstream]

This is possibly the most ridiculous problem I have ever considered bringing to Mumsnet, but I'm actually at my wit's end: I'm currently 18 weeks pregnant and for the last fortnight have been absolutely obsessed with smoked salmon. It's not something I usually eat or even particularly like, but now it's all I want, in vast quantities, at every meal.

Tried cheating with smoked mackerel yesterday and it was definitely not an acceptable alternative.

Assuming this means I'm lacking omega 3 or something so have started a supplement, but it doesn't seem to have helped. Frantically hoping someone can suggest something that might hit similar taste/ texture spots? I can't think of anything and it's driving me mad.

Or, failing that, how do I get rid of the craving!? Even rationing myself the current rate of consumption is not sustainable, but I'm literally catching myself daydreaming about it. Woke up at 5am today thinking about it, and ended up buying a packet on the way back from the school run and eating it for breakfast 😳. Husband and I are both wfh today and he's just offered to make bacon sandwiches for lunch... all I can think is that smoked salmon ones would be much better. Particularly if he gave me all the smoked salmon and ate the nasty, non-salmony bacon himself 😂.

Last pregnancy I just wanted cheese and onion crisps, but much less strongly than this, (and besides, I could have eaten an Aldi multipack a day for the whole forty weeks for less than I've already spent on salmon 😫) and in my first pregnancy I didn't have any cravings, so it's not something I've ever tried to deal with before!

Help!

Buy fresh salmon and hot-smoke it yourself at home? Easy enough if you have a wok (and a good extractor fan).

Sorry to break this to you but cold smoked fish is not recommended in pregnancy because of listeria.

I haven't followed that list from.the NHS to the letter but surely eating lots of raw fish is actually a bit risky.

I would have a look at the list as some of the things are probably more important than no alcohol. For example, not eating pate is really crucial, and I also wouldn’t go near uncooked soft or blue cheeses.

Cooked smoked salmon is fine and I agree with others saying get smoked salmon”bits” or off ends to cook. Or just cook actual salmon? You could get a whole salmon and make it last?

The NHS doesn't ban anything - it's advice based on clinical evidence and people make their own decisions.

Current advice does include avoiding smoked salmon (without additional cooking) due to the risk of listeria

Salmon farming is an extremely unpleasant industry which is very bad for the fish and the environment. The smoked salmon you are eating will almost certainly have come from farmed salmon.
op, Google it and I’ll surprised if you ever eat salmon again.
Needless to say the appalling RSPCA condone it - presumably thanks to hefty backhanders from salmon farmers.

Skippers? Smoked and high in omega 3
https://www.john-west.co.uk/products/skippers-in-sunflower-oil/

Or check out your local Polish shop for sensibly priced yummy fish stuff.

My DSis and I both had these cravings during pregnancy, unlike her I never ate a spoon of cat food 😆probably only because I didn't have a cat.

Make a pasta carbonara without bacon, add chopped up smoked salmon with the egg mixture, it cooks in no time at all, tastes delicious and you can use the cheapest, raggiest bits of salmon

I’d like to know whether there is any convincing research demonstrating that more than 3 teas is a risk in pregnancy. Or whether this is just because of the mantra “caffeine baaaad” and they’ve picked 3 teas as a limit arbitrarily.

@pleasehelpagirlout62

Thing is, if you read the actual science you have r to drink buckets of tea to get close to causing a problem,

Same with alcohol, consumption has to be significant, not just wine with dinner. Because our body dilutes toxins,

But they don't tend to share the science,

Would they if men got pregnant?

I also craved it! It helps to ration it out- eg bread roll with salmon, pasta with smoked salmon, salad with warm smoked salmon, so the pack can last a few days. I tend to crave salty things- burgers, crisps and salmon- so maybe keep exploring salty foods.

Lots linking caffeine to pregnancy loss but this is a recent metanalysis of other studies linking the data from those studies together: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9396037/

A cup of black tea contains 50mg caffeine. Every additional 100mg caffeine a day increases the pregnancy loss risk. NHS recommends limiting caffeine to 200mg for this reason-you’d only need 3-4 cups a day to increase the risk of pregnancy loss to a statistically significant level, albeit low to a bit less low.

Buttered toast, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon trimmings. It's still very, errr, salmon-y, and is a fraction of the cost. Bloody tasty too.

You can't really do trials on pregnant women so they're going on what they know.

Which is caffeine is possibly linked to miscarriage and low birth weight among other pregnancy complications.

And it might be suggested there is no safe limit of caffeine in pregnancy so the NHS does it's best to give advice, erring on the side of caution.

https://ebm.bmj.com/content/26/3/114

I think the answer will be something that only makes sense to you.

I'll chip in cool original flavour Doritos, salted cucumber or celery, bacon fried to very crispy, large mild kalamata olives, sour cream and chive dip with a squeeze of lemon, sushi rice (make your own so it's safe, it's just rice with salt, sugar, vinegar and perhaps some soy sauce).

This probably sounds nonsensical and your "similar foods" may be entirely different but I'm thinking about trying to match the salt, sour, sweet, umami combination rather than reproduce the flavour as such IYSWIM.

Regarding caffeine in pregnancy - I think I read somewhere that the link is actually because older mothers generally drank more caffeinated drinks and were more at risk because of their age. I’ll see if I can find it.

Regarding OP’s conundrum - sorry, no suggestions but I do understand the intense craving, I wanted to eat soap in my pregnancy!

All I wanted to eat when i was pregnant was KFC spicy chicken wings and whole jars of pink pickled ginger. I could easily have gone through 3 jars of that a day, and did a few times until I just simply ran out of money for it.

If it's the smokiness you could try smoked cheese, it's soft hard cheese, so has a similar bite to smoked salmon, but it's like £1 for a small roll of it.

No - it was added quite recently. One reason was the risk of listeria because it’s cold smoked and not cooked, and the other was the nitrates in the smoking process.

Yep, also had a really strong craving for sushi which of course I couldn’t give in too really. Yes, I know I could have but I chose not to. Now I can’t eat sushi - one of my favourite foods before pregnancy. It’s like my body think it’s pregnant and is telling me it’s not really good to eat it atm.

Not 'quite recently'.

In 2020 there was a listeria outbreak in the UK related to consumption of ready to eat smoked fish.

Vulnerable populations to severe effects /complications of many infections, illnesses or diseases will include pregnant women due to weakened immune system - hence the advice.

This. I feel like it's very widely known.

I ate this by the spoonful when I was pregnant 😂

What to avoid during pregnancy

• cold-smoked or cured fish (for example smoked salmon or gravlax, including in sushi), unless it has been cooked until steaming hot

https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

Trout can sometimes be a cheaper alternative to salmon, but it too would need cooking thoroughly before eating.

Having cared for my cousin who contracted listeriosis at 25 weeks, lost the baby and spent 2 weeks in ICU, I wouldn't risk it. Rare but devastating.

Do you think it's the saltiness; the smokiness or the texture?

For saltiness; maybe try some tinned anchovies? (perhaps in a salad?)
For smokiness; maybe some BBQ kettle chips?

https://www.theedgyveg.com/2020/01/07/vegan-smoked-salmon/