Which fish is good value in the UK?

UK fish prices are set by demand for a very short list of species. Coley and pollack are close relatives of cod caught by the same boats, and they cost a fraction as much for reasons that are almost entirely about reputation. If you cook by category rather than by name, the shopping gets much cheaper without getting worse.

Step by step

1. Substitute within the flaky white group.Cod, haddock, hake, pollack, coley, whiting and ling all behave the same way in a pan or an oven. Coley and whiting are usually the cheapest; hake is the one chefs quietly prefer. Any recipe written for cod works unchanged.
2. Use the cheap flat fish.Dab, megrim and witch are excellent and often a third the price of lemon sole or plaice. Whole, floured and fried in butter, they are among the best cheap meals available.
3. Buy oily fish, which is where the value is.Herring, sardines, sprats and mackerel are cheap, sustainable and nutritionally the best fish on the counter. Whole mackerel grilled or barbecued costs very little and needs no skill.
4. Treat mussels as the default shellfish.Rope-grown mussels cost a fraction of prawns or scallops per kilo, though a good share of that weight is shell. A kilo feeds two generously as a main course.
5. Buy frozen-at-sea rather than counter fish where you can.It is processed within hours of catching, so it is often fresher than the fresh counter, it costs less, and it keeps for months rather than a day. Check the ingredients say only fish, not fish and added water.
6. Buy whole fish where the recipe allows.Whole fish is much cheaper per kilo than fillets, and the frame and head make stock. A whole sea bream or mackerel roasted takes no more skill than a fillet and is more forgiving.
7. Ask the counter what is cheap today, not what you planned to buy.Fish price varies with what landed. A counter will happily tell you what is good value that morning, and buying that way is how you end up eating the freshest thing there.

Tips

• Tinned sardines, mackerel and wild red salmon are the cheapest useful protein in most supermarkets and need no cooking at all.
• Fishmongers routinely give away or sell very cheaply the frames, heads and trimmings from filleting. That is free stock for soups, risotto and chowder.
• Yellow-sticker fish is fine if you freeze it the moment you get home — it is a use-by date and a fridge-life question, not a quality one, on the day.
• Smoked mackerel fillets are already cooked, keep well and turn into pâté, salads and fishcakes in minutes with no cooking at all.

Common mistakes

• Buying cod out of habit — You pay a premium set by demand, not by eating quality. Coley in a fish pie, under a sauce or in batter is genuinely indistinguishable to almost everyone, at a fraction of the cost.
• Dismissing coley because of its colour raw — Coley flesh is greyish when raw and turns white when cooked. It is a visual objection to a fish that eats like haddock, and it is why it is one of the cheapest good fish in Britain.

Questions people ask