Fish

I started living on my own, what kind of budget fish should I be buying?

And whats alright to get frozen?

Sardines, herring, sprats

bulk bags from costco that go on sale. You get real fish and its cheap.

im from the southern part of the us. i usually buy flash frozen bags of catfish or other less bold flavored species.because they're cheap, take seasonings well, are easy to cook and can accompany many sides.
i can feed 4 within about 40 minutes if i thaw them relatively quickly under cool running water and prep the sides during the thawing.
i even get a 2lb bag of peeled and de-veined shrimp once a month and have that breaded and fried or sauteed in butter for pasta and cream sauce.
if you learn what frozen vs fresh costs and budget based on what you save you're still spending based on some other factor than your budget. figure out what you have to spend after you have everything else that you need, then maybe splurge once or twice a month on fresh fish.
otherwise do what said and buy the frozen bags. they are decent quality 90% of the time.
grats on moving out/ditching the roomates.

I've heard catfish is really good if you know how to prep it. I have no experience with it. Whenever I brought home a fish that lives in mud it tasted like mud. Whats the key to catfish?

i grew up eating fish fry every sunday with about half my family. we got our fish from the local reservoir and i guess it's kind of like the chinese who eat weird shit i'd never touch. i just never hated it like some seem to on Veeky Forums.
secret is farm raised i guess. it tastes milder than what i grew up with. blackened is the way if you enjoy it even slightly, but don't like the corn meal, southern style breading and deep fried preparation. pre-boxed breading if you do want it that way. cuts out having to mix your corn meal and flour expertly.

anything that isn't tilapia garbage fish

I just want cheap whitefish that I can blacken, bread, or otherwise abuse that doesn't taste super fishy.

...

then catfish or flounder. i like tilapia, although if i were you i'd never ask for help with it on Veeky Forums, because of trolls and know-it-alls.
invest in a can of old bay seasoning or a blackening seasoning
the stuff in the pic is the reason redfish fishing had to be regulated back in the day.

Pilchards are nice and only $1.79/lb fresh in my area. There's 2-3 pilchards in a pound. I buy eight at a time, which is about 3lbs, take them home and gut them myself.

To cook, I cut up some potatoes and par boil them then put'em in a baking pan and top them with the freshly cleaned pilchards and a sprinkling of salt.
Then, I make a tomato sauce with whole cloves of garlic, hand-crushed tomatoes, lots of olive oil and more parsley than you think would be necessary.
Finally, I pour the sauce over the fish and potatoes and cook the lot in the oven 'til the tatties are cooked through and everything is delicious.

Serve myself a pair of pilchards, some tomato-y potatoes and a salad and I've got myself a some tasty dinner for about $2.50.

Pilchards are also nice just steamed and dressed with lemon/garlic dressing and lots of parsley. When I do that, I typically have them with boiled potatoes and wilted spinach.

Look for sales. There is large in-market price variance, depending on your location. I like me some cod.

If you ever want to get fresh fish, ask your grocer when it ships.

Salmon and Mahi Mahi are both usually cheap around me, and they both taste god as fuck. So I usually get those two. Sometimes cod just for the fuck of it.

If your supermarket discounts meats to promote turnover, its a good idea to check the fish. Because I'm a cheap bastard using suboptimal fish, I prefer to marinade as a coverup.

Among tilapia, swai, cod, catfish and salmon your local grocer will have one of them for about $6/lb. They're a lean enough meat that it ends up costing about the same as a hunk of beef in terms of portions.

I also have no qualms about freezing fish, though its a good idea to thaw overnight in a fridge or under some running water. Microwaves absolutely fuck fish up

>discount fish

How the hell does one enjoy frozen fish?

No matter the cooking method, they shrink to less than half the size of their frozen state. Not to mention it fuckin shatters and turns into mush.

You ever tried thawing before cooking lad

cod, is probably the healthiest fish there is at a cheap price; can get lots of it frozen for cheap pretty much anywhere.

picked up some delicious spanish mackerel earlier. such a tasty fish.

Don't know about the U.S., but in UK hake and grey mullet are way under priced and would cook up well in that style.

Me too. Preston market?

You can get 4 oz of salmon at the dollar store.
canned salmon on sale costs about the same per ounce

i get frozen swia, its cheap and decent

I heard about this from some middle aged texan guy who travelled the states learning to cook, he was taught blackening from one of the original guys pupils supposedly, have yet to use what he taught me in the last few months, should probably practice this stuff more often.

The secret is removing the blood and myoglobin-heavy(dark meat) parts of the catfish.

Most people don't mind the more strongly flavored part of the catfish, but almost everyone I know soaks the catfish in a brine or milk solution overnight before frying to remove blood.