The Ultimate Guide to Buying Seafood

ACROSS THE STORE Additional • FRESH: A great option if you’re planning to eat fish today or Considerations tomorrow. Seafood should be SUSTAINABILITY consumed within one to two days • Sustainable means that seafood has when it’s fresh or thawed. If you’re been caught or farmed with minimal eating it right away, prepared seafood impact to the environment. is a quick and easy option, as well. • The majority of U.S. retailers have Swing by the sushi station or prepared sustainability practices in place. Always foods section for a meal on the run. buy seafood from a reputable market - For the wallet: Seasonal or local where the employees are able to answer fresh options tend to be more your questions. budget-friendly at your fish counter. • When at the store, look for a trusted Both farm-raised and wild fish are certification such as Certified good nutritional choices, so talk to Sustainable Seafood from the your seafood counter expert about Marine Stewardship Council or Best Aquaculture Practices administered by best deals, what’s freshest and the Global Aquaculture Alliance. recipe ideas. The Ultimate Guide to Buying Seafood • You can also download the Seafood Watch app from the Monterey Bay • FROZEN: If you plan to save your Buying seafood doesn’t need to be complicated. Utilize this guide to Aquarium or visit FishWatch.gov, both seafood for a later date, this find the perfect seafood to satisfy your taste, schedule, budget and diet. of which list sustainable seafood choices is the way to go. It’s also based on where the fish is from, how it great for fast family-friendly was caught and other factors. I’M IN THE MOOD FOR: TO PREPARE AND COOK MY meals such as pre-seasoned fish that can be cooked • For a light, delicate fish, choose a SEAFOOD, I’D LIKE TO: FARMED VS. WILD quickly in the oven or even microwave. lean fish, such as striped sea bass, • Both farmed and wild seafood are safe • Use my outdoor grill Frozen seafood is just as good for you, cod, flounder, grouper, haddock, to eat. - Many fish stand up to the heat, especially with today’s flash-frozen-at- halibut, mahi mahi, perch, pollock, and it can bring out a delicious sea technologies and can be saved for • The two main types of seafood farming red snapper, rockfish, sole or are marine, which is net enclosures in grilled flavor. Try salmon, snapper, up to six months. yellowfin tuna. tuna, mahi mahi, swordfish, catfish, the open ocean or in tanks on land, and – For the wallet: Frozen seafood is often freshwater, usually man-made ponds. • For a richer taste, choose a fattier scallops or shrimp. a budget-friendly option, especially if In the U.S., the most common farmed fish usually with darker flesh, such as • Steam or poach it you can buy larger packages and store species include oysters, clams, mussels, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, - Try lean fish – mild-flavored with them. Check for sales and coupons for and shrimp, and fish such as catfish, swordfish, trout or albacore tuna. tender, white or pale flesh – such even better values. trout, salmon and black sea bass. as sea bass, cod, flounder, grouper, • Farming fish, shellfish and even seaweed haddock, halibut or pollock. helps produce food while restoring LET FRESHNESS BE YOUR • CANNED, TINNED OR POUCHED: There • Broil or bake are many canned seafood options for a habitats, replenishing wild stocks, and GUIDE. It’s easy to substitute rebuilding populations of threatened - Try a medium-fat fish, such as quick and easy meal or snack, and they Tipone fish for another in a recipe, so if the and endangered species. mahi mahi looks and smells fresher than bluefish, catfish, mullet, salmon serve as a great source of protein. the pompano, buy it instead. Also, keep in or swordfish. • When it comes to the environment, both – For the wallet: Canned seafood farmed and wild fish and shellfish can mind the frozen and canned sections offer • Eat it without having to cook it is often the most budget- the same health benefits and often a wider be harvested responsibly, or not, so it is friendly option. Keep an eye variety to choose from. - Choose a precooked fish that’s best to find out the sustainability policy frozen (so you just have to warm it out for sales and stock of your grocer or look for a trusted up), or opt for canned tuna, salmon up on this shelf-stable certification on the package. or crab. pantry protein.

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