NOW CLOSED: Young's 'Twice a Week Challenge' feedback thread

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for the 25 Mumsnetters and their families that are taking part in the Young's "Twice a Week Challenge"

Here's what Young's say about the "Twice a Week Challenge":

"The UK Government's general advice is to eat two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily, and we'd like to show folks how easy it is to meet this target. Young's has a wide range of delicious fish meals so you needn't get bored of eating the same dishes and there's something that all the family will enjoy".

"Jamie Oliver by Young's has recently launched a frozen-fish range for Young's, championing high-quality and sustainable alternatives to species such as cod and haddock. The range includes MSC-certified fish fingers, crispy fishcakes and little meals created especially with kids in mind all made from Young's responsibly sourced salmon and Pollock and packed with hidden veg and low in salt. What is more, the pollock in Jamie's range is filleted and frozen within hours of being caught, keeping it as fresh and delicious as possible and all the recipes use chunks of fish and not minced fish, so you can be confident knowing you've got a quick and healthy meal on standby whenever you need it"

Below are a few questions for you to answer but please feel free to add any other thoughts or comments you may have.

Please also state which products you tried throughout the "Twice a Week Challenge". Everyone who adds their feedback will be entered into a prize draw to win Jamie Oliver goodies worth £100 - the winner can choose between JO kitchenware to the value of £100 or a £100 voucher for one of Jamie's Italian restaurants (locations nationwide).

Please add your feedback giving overall first impressions at the start of the 2 week challenge period and then answer these questions towards the end of the fortnight. We'd also love to hear how you get on during the challenge and your recipe and meal idea tips.

Thank you and good luck with the prize draw!

Questions to be answered at the start of the challenge

~ How easy generally do you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet?
~ Do you eat frozen fish as well as fresh? If so why? If not why not?

~ What was your overall impression of the Young's range? What did you like? What didn't you like?
~ Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family?

Questions to be answered towards end of challenge

~ Out of the products you tried, which did you / your family like best? Why?
~ Which didn't you / your family like? Why?

~ Would you buy Young's products again? Why?
~ If you didn't eat frozen fish before, have your opinions of frozen fish changed at all? If so, why? If not, why not?
~ How easy / difficult did you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet? Why?

~ How convenient did you find the meals? Were they quicker than how you usually cook fish meals? If so, why? If not, why not?
~ Going forward, do you think you will try to include fish at least twice a week in your families' diet?
~ If it came up in conversation, would you recommend the Young's range to your friends? Why?
~ Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family?

Thanks, MNHQ

Hiya. Well got to my local co-op this morning who had a huge selection of young's products. Spent £53 in total! Got a mixture of fresh (haddock and salmon) frozen (cod, salmon) and ready meals too (various fish pies) also got some fish in sauce and scampi too and some JO fish cakes and a little ones JO meal. So value for money I think!!!!!

Ok questions.

Introducing fish into our families diet is going to be a little tricky I fear. DH loves fish. DD age 6 likes fish fingers and tuna. DS has not had fish since he was tiny and insists he doesn't like it but has agreed to try this fortnight so we will see. DSD loves all types of fish like her dad! I tend to eat cod from the chippy and the odd fish finger when the mood takes me.

Generally we eat frozen or tinned fish.
Sustainability isn't a huge concern as we don't purchase fish a lot (and I'm ignorant as far as this issue goes if I'm honest).

Price is a huge consideration for me as feeding a fussy family of 6 is tough.

With regards the young's range I was actually pleasantly surprised! The frozen selection of fish pies was impressive and I bought a few. Also pleased I can try haddock and pollock instead of the normal cod I would generally choose!

Have had the winter vegetable fish pie for lunch with the potato Rosti topping and if I'm honest I would not have known it contained fish. It was delicious!!!!! My first fish pie ever! now I need to work out how to use this viideo camera

minisitry of foof!
thanks missberta

Started off the challenge by buying a pack of frozen "white fish" and making a fish pie. I cooked the fish from frozen according the instrucitons and then gave it an extra 2 minutes in the microwave, as it still looked gluey to me.

It tasted fine, thanks to my ace cheese sauce. (which we normally eat with cauliflower cheese). To make life easier I always cook enough sauce for 3 dinners, and freeze two portions of sauce.

~ How easy generally do you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet? Not that easy, I am not confident with cooking fish, but we used to have fish fingers about once a week when DS was smaller.
~ Do you eat frozen fish as well as fresh? If so why? If not why not?

Frozen, don't like the smell of fresh fish in fridge, and don't like bones.
~ What was your overall impression of the Young's range? What did you like? What didn't you like?
Couldn't find the JO stuff, but there seems to be a good range in Sainsburies. However, the Sainsburies own brand looked very similar, and was priced cheaper.
~ Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family?
Yes, I do worry about overfishing and look at where fish is sourced from.

We usually buy farmed salmon.

What sort I things do u want on the filming side?????

Had the JO Crispy Pollock Fishcakes for tea tonight (before pancakes!). We enjoyed them, especially the crispiness! Nice and light. The closest we have had before are Tesco own Cod fishcakes but the texture and breadcrumbs of the JO ones were better. DS had 2 of the same, but smaller ones. He also liked the crispiness and he liked that he could taste the mashed potato. Problem was, once he'd filled up a bit he started looking a bit more closely and didn't like the green bits! We managed to convince him to keep eating but he was quite suspicious, however, once he'd finished he said they were tasty!
Would certainly buy them again, if they were on offer as they were when we got them on Saturday.
I also nipped into our local co-op mini supermarket today and found lots of Youngs Products! Maybe I'm just looking a bit more closely now but saw fresh cod, smoked fish and prawns. They also had the scampi in the freezer section as well as JO fishfingers and breaded/battered frozen fillets.

DH had the Mariner's pie tonight. Said it was quite tasty, but you couldn't really tell the fish from the potato, and was lacking a bit in fish. Didn't like the potato being piped in icing swirls on the top - made it look really poor quality.

Marking place, sorry, will come back an answer questions tomorrow.

Tonight we had the Gastro tempura basa fillets with lemon and herbs.

It was very well received by my DCs, DH liked it too. We couldn't really taste the lemon though. Basa is a fairly firm fish but very mild, I didn't think there was much taste to the fish or the batter (This could be why it was devoured by my boys!) I wouldn't buy this again, I was looking forward to this one the most and it was just a bit meh.

DH had the salmon and pollock fish cakes for tea. He said they were very nice, very very nice so will be buying them again! I gave DS (9 mths) some salmon for his tea which he demolished. DS age 11, despite saying he would try, failed to eat any of the mariners pie and instead had jacket spud lol. I had some fresh smoked haddock for tea for first time ever and really enjoyed it which did shock me. I loved the fact it was bone free as that is one of the main issues I have with fish!!!!

Bonkerz - I emailed you before with a pdf - let me know if you need it again. We just want you to film the family scoffing the food, the cooking of it and an overall opinion from you. Drop me a line if you need help!

Ok, so I went to Tesco to buy £40 of fish, apart from a few strange stares we managed well, we have alot of JO fish and Youngs.
From the fridge section we only managed to buy fish sticks which I can't stand but ds adores which is a new revelation!

How easy generally do you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet?

Very difficult as before this trial I thought it was only me that enjoyed fish. Dh has refused to even nibble on any so he hasn't changed but ds and dd have been surprising me.

Do you eat frozen fish as well as fresh? If so why? If not why not?

We have only ever eaten frozen fish.

What was your overall impression of the Young's range? What did you like?
What didn't you like?

I liked the packaging of the more expensive products, the £1 fish cakes packaging is very boring and I normally would avoid them, but had £1 left to spend so it will be interesting to find out if they taste good!
The Gastro range looks very appealing. The JO range packaging is not very good, I like to see what I am buying and it is a guessing game as the packaging is just a box.

Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family?

I am a bit ignorant to this tbh.

Thanks annmumsnet...... That's ok then. Obviously I have missed tonight's cooking and scoffing but will sort it all for tomorrow and get DCs to make some comments.

This test is just me and the DD's as unfortunately myself and DP aren't together anymore

40nottrendy, It was definitely something I found at both Tesco's I have been to so far (it's basically my social life!), and they seem to be grouped togeter oddly too, fishcakes with the pieces then fishcakes with Calamari etc. Not sure whether this is a Youngs thing or a Tesco's thing!

On the plus side, I went to a smaller Tesco's yesterday and found lots more Youngs and JO products, including the Calamari, fresh prawns and the Gastro range. I had the Basa fillets last night with creamy mash and a citrus salad and it was really nice.

The tempura batter was firm but not dry and the fish was gorgeous. Definitely something I'll buy again.

We had a fillet of the tempura lemon and herb basa left after dinner, DS and I ate it at 8.30. Cold it's delicious and I could taste the lemon this time. We both commented how much it tasted like chicken!

~ How easy generally do you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet?
The rest of the family are very happy to eat fish - I'm an ex-vegetarian who has only re-introduced fish into my diet in the last few years so am a bit wary of trying new things and things that are "too fishy" tasting. If cooking for the whole family I use fresh fish e.g. salmon fillets with pesto on top then grilled or occasionally make a fish pie with fresh "fish pie mix" in a cheese sauce topped with potato.

~ Do you eat frozen fish as well as fresh? If so why? If not why not? I rarely use frozen fish except fishfingers for the children. I think because of the longer cooking time or need to defrost first.

~ What was your overall impression of the Young's range? What did you like? What didn't you like?
My dh did the big shop and was pleased with the range on offer - he bought lots of different things to try - two different fish pies, fish cakes, fish in batter, fishfingers, "easy cook" skinless fish pieces (white and smoked)- these I am most excited about as I can see the potential for making fish pie without planning in advance to get fish pie mix in the big shop. We're not so keen on ready prepared meals and are more likely to use plain fish pieces in recipes

~ Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family? Yes - dh is even more likely to consider this than me.

Made fish pie today using the frozen cod, smoked haddock and salmon fillets and some king prawns.

I've always bought fresh fish for this previously so was interested to see how it would compare. It has been a revelation the pie was still as tasty, the fish wasn't watery and even better it worked out cheaper.

I will keep a stock of this in the freezer now because whilst we all like fish pie it feels like an effort when you need to go to the fish market beforehand.

Thumbs up from insanity's house.

I am having Basa fillets tonight and the dc have JO pollock and sweetcorn fish cakes. I am very shocked at how small they are

Bought £10 of frozen tonight in TESCO as there was no fresh available at all. Only cooked prawns -

The JO stuff was all on special offer so bought some fish pies (salmon and haddock) for the children and some large battered fillets for DP and I :)

Oh yes, will be buying frozen cod fillets too - but ran out of room in freezer for me to get it today -

Does it really work out cheaper than fresh??

So far we have tried the fish fingers (although not the JO ones as we can't find them in stock anywhere so far) and also the fish shop style fish cakes which are lovely.

Today we stocked up on Calamari, fish fillets and the JO fish cakes.

~ How easy generally do you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet?
Fairly easily for me and DH but DD is a little harder to persuade

~ Do you eat frozen fish as well as fresh? If so why? If not why not?
Yes we eat frozen, perhaps more than fresh fish as it is something we can
decide to have last minute as it is in the freezer waiting

~ What was your overall impression of the Young's range? What did you like? What didn't you like?
Overall impression is good, looks like quite a large range although finding some of the products hard to source in the shops near here, not really keen on trying the fish pies but other products will give them a go

~ Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family?
I feel sustainabiltiy is important as what will happen when our fish stocks run low or infact run out ?

Today we had the Young's Chip Shop fish fillets x 4. With chips and salad [oh how boring - salad again] I like to fit in loads of salad a week - DS will eat this as he is not too keen on most veg Just to think I lovingly made all his food from fresh when weaning - not a jar to be seen and he is the most fussy of eaters.

DS loved loved loved these "Just like chip shop ones, I love these, can we have them again, these are delicious". He ate a whole one which is quite amazing for him
DP and I had 1 1/2 each which was plenty. The batter was really crunchy if a tad oily (our fish & chip shop is the best one offiicially in our city ). The fish was fishy, didn't fall apart and was tasty. They looked like the picture on the box.

An all round olds family thumbs up for this, and as you won't get much change from a tenner in the chip shop - £1.99 for four was excellent value

Ok so I have had my Basa fillet with cracked pepper and salt.
It was divine, ds tried some and loved it too.
Definately be buying those again. I had one which was fine as they are quite big.
Ds had the JO pollock and sweetcorn fishcakes.
He did not eat them so I had a nibble as I was looking forward to them as the JO fish fingers are so good.
The verdict...The fishcakes are horrible. The fish is too strong. I could only find 3 bits of sweetcorn aswell.

What I am really enjoying about this trial is how low the calories are on the fish I have eaten! Much lower than on meat.
As I am dieting it makes a big difference and means I think I will be buying fish more regulary! :)

So tonight DH and I cooked up some smoked haddock, salmon fillets and the JO salmon and pollock fish cakes (glad I checked predictive text then as it had written pillock). DS aged 11 and a fish phobic asked me to cook him a fish finger!!!!

So the taste test began. Very easy to cook! Shove in oven. Wait till done

Smoked haddock yummy. Liked the flavours although I'm not sure I could eat a whole piece. Salmon was not to my liking but DH says it was spot on. He preferred the fresh to the frozen he normally has but at £3 for 230g it's not really a budget meal! The JO fish cakes were good. High fish content and good balance of the two fish.

Then came the time for DS to try the dreaded fish finger! He was brave but alas says the texture is awful. I on the other hand enjoyed his left over fish fingers in a sandwich with ketchup. Really enjoyed them. The breadcrumbs were crispy and the fish had a nice texture and it was nice to not see white froth coming out of them like the cheap ones I have purchased prior. May spend a little more from now on an buy nice FF

Back again to answer first set of questions and review 2 meals :)

How easy generally do you find it to introduce fish into your family's diet?
DH does the cooking in our house, so we are largely dependent on what he wants/likes to cook, so it would be easy if he wanted it and not easy if he didn't! We don't eat fish very often as he finds fresh a bit of a faff to cook and it just doesn't occur to him to cook frozen. I'm hoping to change his mind with this product test He is a bit of a carnivore, so it is tricky to get him to cook a meal without meat. He doesn't consider fish 'real' meat :o
Do you eat frozen fish as well as fresh? If so why? If not why not?
We don't eat much of either (see reasons above)
What was your overall impression of the Young's range? What did you like? What didn't you like?
I was really surprised at the range, had no idea there were so many different products! It made me quite excited to think what we could sample as we didn't have the worry about 'wasting' money if we didn't like something :) I didn't like how it seemed to be spread about a bit in the supermarket and how I had to look for quite a while to decide what to buy. Obviously there isn't a lot to be done about that as the supermarkets will group it by product, rather than brand as that makes sense if you are doing normal shopping and not just looking for one particular brand!
Is sustainability important when you?re choosing meals to feed your family?
I think it is, I did watch the programmes last year about the problems with cod fishing and EU quotas, so have been mindful since not to eat cod. It's great to see JO try and bring other fish into the mainstream :)

We have had two meals so far, the Young's 20 fish fingers and the Young's Chip Shop Haddock Fillets.
The fish fingers were nice, I have not had fish fingers since I was a child so was pleasantly surprised to discover that these ones were actual pieces of fish, the ones I had when small were some sort of reconstituted fish mush :o DH was also happy although wondered if they have got smaller over the years as he remembered fish fingers being bigger when he was younger! DS (aged 2) has never had fish fingers before and was very impressed. We had them in sandwiches and he pulled the fish finger out of the bread to eat it and left the bread!
The Haddock Fillets were good, we had them with oven chips, I was surprised as they looked like they would be quite dry compared to actual chip shop fillets, but they were lovely and juicy and the fish was very nice. DS wasn't as impressed as with the fish fingers, but then he has just got a horrible cold, so not very interested in eating much so I don't think it was the fault of the fish :(