Talk to Fish is the Dish about seafood and child nutrition - £200 voucher prize draw NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Fish is the Dish want to talk to Mumsnetters to see how they, if at all, they incorporate fish into their child's diet.

Here's what Fish is the Dish have to say, "Our latest research has revealed that future good health is what we want more for our children than anything else. One of the best things we can do to help our children achieve good health now is to provide them with, and encourage them to eat, a healthy, balanced diet. Fish of all sorts provides great nutritional value to the diet of children. For example, all types of fish including white, oily and shellfish, are excellent sources of protein and vitamin B12. Plus, many varieties such as cod, haddock, coley, crab and mussels are also rich in iodine, which contributes to the normal growth of children."

So, do you like fish? Is fish something you like eat with your children? Are you aware of the health benefits that incorporating seafood into your diet brings? If you're not a fan of seafood are there other foods you deliberately try to include into your and your DCs diets to make sure that they get all the nutrients they need? If you are a fan, what's your favourite fish or seafood recipe?

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 seafood voucher which can be spent on seafood from Wings of St Mawes which will be delivered to you. To read more about Fish is the Dish and Mumsnet click here.

Thanks
MNHQ

[jollytummywobbles]

I eat loads of fish, my eldest dc just won't, apart from fish fingers. He used to eat tuna, but decide aged 2 that he didn't like it any more, and no amount of persuading will change his mind :/

[Jinty64]

I'm not a fish fan (but like prawns, squid etc.) dh is. The children vary. Ds1 loves salmon steaks, tuna and any sort if stir fry with prawns. Ds2 doesn't like fish. Ds3 loves tinned tuna and likes home made fish fingers.

My favourite recipe is seafood linguini which I make using a bag of frozen mixed seafood.

[Tyranasaurus]

So, do you like fish? Is fish something you like eat with your children?

I'm vegetarian- so no. If they choose to eat fish when they're older that's fine

Are you aware of the health benefits that incorporating seafood into your diet brings?

Yes- I am also aware of teh problems such as heavy metals and food poisoning

If you're not a fan of seafood are there other foods you deliberately try to include into your and your DCs diets to make sure that they get all the nutrients they need?

Just a wide range of foods- don't deliberately add any foods

If you are a fan, what's your favourite fish or seafood recipe?

n/a

[stealthsquiggle]

Do you like fish? Yes. Is this about fish, or about seafood, though? We like both, eat both, but not as often as I might like because we live about as far from the sea as it is possible to get and there is only one really good fishmonger, which is a long way away. I don't like supermarket fish much, in general, although we sometimes get salmon from there.

Is fish something you like eat with your children? Yes. Try eating it without them . DC love everything fish and seafood related (that they have tried so far) and will tuck greedily into a seafood platter (DD can eat all the oysters before the rest of us have sat down, if not watched like a hawk) or whole fish/salmon fillets/fish pie/whatever.

Are you aware of the health benefits that incorporating seafood into your diet brings? Yes.

If you are a fan, what's your favourite fish or seafood recipe? Salmon fillets with brown shrimp and hollandaise sauce is the favourite option from the DC (well, that and deep fried baby octopus, but that is an eating out treat as I have never managed to adequately reproduce it at home). I love skate wings, DH loves sole. We all love to sit down with a heap of crab claws and shell on prawns.

[stealthsquiggle]

Oh, we do buy one other form of fish from the supermarket - DH has recently managed to convince the DC of the joys of fish finger sarnies (up until then neither of them would touch fish fingers ) - and also DD loves whitebait so I get that if I see it.

[iwantavuvezela]

We eat a lot of fish, and it is something that I have incorporated into my daughters diet from a young age, as I understand the benefits of it. I make a fish pie quite regularly; we eat salmon fillets almost weekly, throw in the odd fishfinger, as well as trying out other fish when i go past the fish counters at local supermarkets or farmers markets.

My favourite dish has to be baked salmon with either the wagamama teriyake sauce; or topped with feta, fresh mint and baked. Both are delicious, easy to prepare, quick to cook, together with spinach and mash i always feel like I have given us a nutritional boost!


My fish pie, which consists of a pack of chopped up fish, and any spare salmon fillets - thrown in vegetables that are lurking in the fridge, topped with a cheese sauce and then baked ...... everyone in our house loves this ....
We also try shellfish, but mainly in restuarants, and my duagher will happily eat prawns, crab, squid etc.

For sandwiches my daughter also loves smoked salmon and cream cheese, as do I.

I am interested thought in sustainable fish, and try and look at packaging when i buy to make sure of this. I would like some more information around this though as we do eat alot of fish, but i would like to make sure that what we are eating is good for us; where it comes from, and sustainable.

[Rockinhippy]

Again for those worried about the cost of fish ...

Aldis do a pack of 4/5 Basa fillets for 1.99, this is a wonderfully firm meaty fish something akin in texture to monkfish & lends itself well to cooking with all kinds of recipes, or simply baked on its own -

DD loves it as "Pizza Fish" simply smeared with tomato purée, sprinkled with a bit of basil, top with mozzarella cheese & bake - this is a very quick, simple on the run meal for her.

We all love Basa, but it is one of the fish that is best not eaten too often during the course of a week.

[trikken]

We love fish. Its just so expensive for a decent bit so we dont have fish often. When we do buy it we buy it frozen just so it keeps a bit longer. We love it to make fish pie. I do like it for the health benefits but as I said its not something we can often afford in our weekly budget. Love just a plain bit of cod with chips as a treat as well. We tend to buy prawns more often as I can make them go further and use them in more recipes. (Paella, prawn curry risotto etc)

[SuckItAndSee]

we all love fish and seafood, the DC included. However I do find it too expensive to eat regular as the main part of our meal. The fish dishes we do make often tend to be those that stretch it a bit further, so we a lot of thai prawn curry, cullen skink, smoked salmon pasta, fish pie, and paella. I am a particular fan on the basics packets of smoked salmon trimmings, which are £1.49 and creamy pasta sauce for the four of us.

[SuckItAndSee]

regularly, even

[ErrolTheDragon]

DH and I love fish and other seafood.

DD liked fish when she was small but then for some reason developed a total aversion to it. She really can't eat it. The only 'sea food' she'll eat is samphire and nori . So we give her fish oil - easier now she can swallow capsules, most of the liquids were unacceptably fishy.

She'd be decidedly if we won £200 of seafood, though DH and I would enjoy it!

[williaminajetfighter]

Try to incorporate fish into our diet but seven-year old daughter has expensive taste - her favorites are sea bass and salmon. We do teriyaki salmon and incorporate it into noodles. We often do tuna steaks.

More basic options are fish pie and flaked tuna in a pasta bake. DD doesn't like 'fishy-tasting fish' so it does limit our choices. Have not yet introduced shellfish and DD doesn't like prawns.

Of course the constant in our freezer is fish fingers.

At daughter's age the fish often has to be 'dressed up' with a sauce otherwise she won't eat the fish plain but we'll get there eventually.

Fish is probably eaten once-twice/week; we do veggie meals about 3x week, 1 chicken and 1 meat/lamb/pork dish.

[daisyjoy]

I regularly make fish pie using coley fillets (very unoffensive but my picky eater still complains!). I also do jacket potatoes with tuna mayo (though my other DD complains at that one!), and of course they both like fish fingers... I try to get salmon into them but neither are too keen, the most success I've had is flaking it into a cheesy pasta sauce, but DH and I love fish so if it's just us eating then spicy salmon and couscous is a big hit!

[Cies]

Dh is Spanish and hascalways eaten a lot of fish, most dayscreally.

We generally have it a few times a week.
Once somthing tinned eg tuna pasta.
Once breaded hake or pollack.
Once grilled salmon or trout
And once seafood eg mussels, prawns.
Mostly all v plain, with oil, salt, lemon.

[worldgonecrazy]

So, do you like fish?
I'm veggie but my husband likes fish so I cook it once or twice a week.

Is fish something you like eat with your children?
We started with BLW, we don't make special food for DD at all, if she doesn't like something she doesn't have to eat it. So, she has fish put on her plate. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes she doesn't. Her favourite at the moment is gravadlax.

I'm aware of the health benefits of seafood, but also aware of the risks of feeding something that has grown in a polluted environment to my daughter.

Favourite seafood recipe is fried trout, fried in browned butter. It just falls off the bone.

[kateandme]

i think when you see a well cooked fish dish it is delicios and one of the best things to have done properlyu.
we dont eat enough of it.its hard to get younger ones into some sea food.they squirm more at fish than other meats for some reason.which im sure the smell is part of.

i think we all need to learn and be concious of fish and the substainiltiy of it and what other fish we can try

great dishes will always be a fish pie,salmon macoroni bake.and salmon and prawn creamy linguini

[KnitActually]

I wish my boys liked fish, we give it to them anyway, but they make faces about eating any, even fish-fingers :(

[FoundAChopinLizt]

We are a family of six, dcs ages 15,13,11 and 9.

We try to eat well on a budget, I've always eaten fish even as a child coming from a fishing town, and gave it to the dcs as a matter of course really.

I use a lot of frozen fish for fish pie or cheesy fish (fish with cheese white sauce) or a tomatoe bases sauce.

Also frozen seafood for pizza toppings, one pack will do three pizzas, also do seafood pasta with a tomatoe based sauce.

We also like smoked salmon or mackerel pâté, easily made with value soft cheese, peppercorns and lemon juice. Crab pate for a real treat.

They would all love fresh fish and seafood but the cost is crazy in the quantities we need.

We might have mussels on holiday for a special occasion. Also smoked salmon trimming on toast or in scrambled egg.

We also eat a lot of tinned tuna but even this is quite expensive. Once in a blue moon I might buy fish fingers if a friend is coming who prefers that sort of thing.

We all also take fish oils capsules when we feel like it, they're cheap in ALDI or Wilkos.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

We love fish pie. I tend to buy the reduced fish and freeze it until I have a good selection to make a really tasty pie. I'd like us to eat more fish (not the processed variety) and will try to include it in with my frugal meal planning I'll be introducing in the new year.

I'm nervous of shellfish though (ever since an encounter with a bad paella) but would like to be more adventurous.

[Letitsnow9]

I was brought up eating fish, it was a treat from my grandparents. I don't understand why some people have big issues with it or assume kids won't like it

[glorious]

My 10mo DD loves fish, it's her favourite thing. So we're eating a lot atm.

She's keen on fish pie, prawn pasta, grilled/fried fillets with peas and mint, tuna and yoghurt sandwich (egg allergy so no mayo).In Japan we took her to sushi bars and she really enjoyed that (cooked fish only ).

I also often take tinned fish if we're eating out as it's so easy to transport.

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

Fish has been popular with the kids since weaning, I used to make loads of plaice in a cheesy sauce for them. They are growing up now and we regularly enjoy fish pie (usually with salmon, smoked haddock and prawns), home made fish fingers using matzo meal as a coating, tuna pasta bake, white fish fillet wrapped in a bacon rather and baked in the oven, and my dd's favourite sandwich filling is tinned salmon, creme fraiche and a squeeze of tomato purée.

[Danielle2903]

Our family loves fish and we all eat regularly. I would probably say fish is one of 2 year olds fav foods. She will happily eat salmon, smoked haddock, prawns, mussels lemon sole at any time and sometimes requests this for dinner lunch etc. I usually buy all my fish fresh from the fishmongers and cook in milk in a pan or oven cook in foil. This is normally enjoyed with potatoes and veg. Wee one will enjoy prawns by themselves as a snack or enjoys with Marie Rose sauce and lettuce. Also I make tuna and potato patties with onion through them which she just loves. Another fav is tuna pasta with mayo, onion, sweetcorn and green pepper

Overall a winner in our household!!!

[mindingalongtime]

We east more fish than meat, at least 4 times a week. DS wouldn't eat meat ever s he didn't like the texture, he used to have smoked salmon at least 5 times a week!

My mindies love my fish pie, it has undyed smoked cod loin and haddock in it with a few tiger prawns thrown in at the end so they don't overcook.

I grew up in Cornwall and my children inherited my love of fish, especially shellfish, DD loves a cockle sandwich!

[daimbardiva]

We eat fidh once a week, I often use polenta to coat white fish and shallow fry it in olive oil. We all love fish pie with salmon, white fish, smoked haddock and prawns. I am as careful as I can be to buy sustainably, buying from the fish van or the local fishmonger.