Oily fish in pregnancy

[McSnail]

I know oily fish is supposed to be a really important part of the diet when you're pregnant. Are tinned sardines/mackerel just as good as fresh? I'm on a tight budget just now and fish (esp. things like mackerel and salmon) are sooooo expensive.

I think mackerel and salmon are ok tinned but tuna isn't because something is lost in the canning process. Sardines are though.

Mackerel is out of season at the moment so it would be expensive - it should get cheaper later on in the summer. We always find trout good value and easy to get fresh from supermarkets.

Yes - I heard tinned tuna didn't really count as oily fish, but the article I read didn't mention canned mackerel, sardines etc. I bought some kippers, but they're smoked and I'm not sure how healthy that is for the baby (such a lot of salt)

Oh, I love trout. None in the Co-op today though. In fact, their fish selection was pretty paltry in general...

Is your Co-op normally good for fish? I usually find them quite poor as they're mostly small and don't have a high enough turnover. We were impressed by the big fish counters at our local Morrisons and Asda though.
We have a wonderful local fishmonger but he's so expensive....

tinned sardines, mackerel etc are oily fish but i think you are limited to two or maybe one portion a week whilst pregnant due to the mercury levels that are found in them.

I think seafood (very fresh obviously!) is also meant to be excellent (not eating it myself however, never seem to get it together so making do with pregnacare cod liver oil tabs!)

Tinned is absolutely fine. The general rule is the smaller the fish, the lower down the food chain they are and therefore the lower the levels of mercury "contamination". So that's why the huge tuna are limited to a couple of small tins a week but you'll be fine with smaller fish like mackerel and even better with little fish like sardines and even anchovies. I'm mashing tinned sardines in tomato onto toast with lots of black pepper - IMO tinned are even better than fresh because you can mash in the softened bones as well and that is giving you extra calcium for all that bone building. Tuck in!!

Also its worth remembering that all fish contains "Omega 3" which is the good stuff you're after. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on oily fish - these just have the highest levels of Omega 3's. I've been tucking into Birds Eye frozen Omega 3 fish fingers - fish finger sarnies with garlic mayo and squeeze of lemon . Just checked the packet and 3 of those beasties is 18% of your Omega 3 RDA. The fish in them is Pollack - apparently naturally high in Omega 3 but a white fish nevertheless. These fish fingers are regularly on BOGOF in my local supermarket so they make for a budget treat. HTH

Oo, thanks for that! Never thought about fish fingers.

Posting that set me off - just finished the last box in the freezer!!

I also got some salmon fish fingers, my kids love them and it should be good for the bump too.