Catfish

#1

So, how bad is farm raised catfish? It’s super cheap, and I’m super poor. I didn’t look closely at the label, but I’m sure it’s farm raised, and probably from some country not known for good aquaculture practices. Can I eat a decent bit of this on carnivore without anything bad happening?

#2

Can’t see why not.

Catfish are bottom feeders so if they are raised in an area with less than ideal waters/soils etc, the toxins might transfer to the fish, but…toxins are stored in the fat of the fish and catfish are very lean.

(Laurie) #3

I don’t know how cheap it is or how poor you are. But a while back I researched cheapest forms of protein, and at the time I decided they were eggs, and canned wild-caught pink salmon if you can get a good deal on it (even though salmon is thought of as expensive). Canned tuna is probably cheaper, but I don’t eat it because of mercury concerns.

Canned mackerel is even cheaper. I didn’t buy it because I thought it was yucky, but if you buy the mackerel in tomato sauce and heat it with some curry spices, it’s really good! Here’s one recipe, which you can vary according to what you have on hand:

http://www.bawarchi.com/recipe/chilli-mackerel-oesu8shbjebij.html

I eat ground beef almost every day. I buy it from a farmer at $7 (CAD) per pound, so it’s quite expensive. But now that I eat hardly any vegetables and no junk food, my food bill is still quite low.

It might be different where you live. But you can figure out the cheapest sources of protein. Look at how many grams of protein are in an egg or a can of salmon or a serving of whatever, and how much you’re paying for that.

For example, if you get eggs for $3 a dozen, that’s 25 cents per egg, which is about 4 cents per gram of protein. If you pay $4 per pound for hamburger (approx 65 grams of protein), that’s 6 cents per gram of protein.

Now do your calculation for catfish. You know the price, right? And if it came in a package, it should have the nutrition label showing the protein content of a “serving.” So if there are 4 servings in a package, and 1 serving has 16 grams of protein, that’s 64 grams of protein in a package. If the package cost you $4, that’s actually comparable to hamburger at $4 a pound.

I hope this is not too confusing. I’ve been calculating the nutrition content and costs of foods for years, but not everyone is so inclined.

Another way of looking at this:

I have an idea in my mind of how much I’m willing to pay for meat and similar products. I’m in Canada, where prices are per kilogram and most things are more expensive. But if I were in the US I’d probably have a ceiling of $4 per pound of boneless meat/fish/poultry, and $3 for bone-in (or if any part will be discarded). You might have different parameters. Good luck!

(John) #4

If you are in the US, much of the farm-raised catfish comes from Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, and is of very good quality.

(Carl Keller) #5

I’m skittish about farm raised fish, especially if it’s been imported. It’s not uncommon to treat fish with antibiotics and cancer-causing chemicals to keep disease and parasites in check. That’s not to mention the sketchy nutrition these fish receive. Fish chow can be made from corn, soybeans, wheat and who knows what else. It makes little sense for me to avoid those things and then eat an animal that thrived on them.

Oh and I’m not sure about catfish, but tilapia are notorious for eating their own feces if hungry enough. It’s been speculated that fish farms in China feed tilapia the feces of other animals to save money on fish food… If you wish to never eat tilapia again, read this:

#6

I mean I eat shrimp and they are bottom feeders. Hasn’t the talapia situation in China improved these last couple years?

(Cindy) #7

Are they really considered lean? I’ve always thought of them as a very fatty fish. Maybe it’s the way they’re fixed here in the South (usually breaded and fried). I might have to give catfish another look.

(Carl Keller) #8

I don’t see how it would be possible to know for sure. It’s not like they will let american officals inspect the farms and it’s not like the chinese care if the food they sell us is high quality or not.

Given our current state of politics with China, I suspect the whole country is LOLing at the idea of us eating their [spoiler]shitty[/spoiler] fish.

#9

I doubt the majority of Chinese citizens care tbh, much like most of us don’t have much of an opinion on their local economies beyond “sweatshop labor” discourse.

I do have a knee-jerk reaction to people assuming food imported from China is garbage; a Scopes check on the Chinese tilapia issue seems to suggest that it’s gone from “avoid” to “good alternative” if you can’t find an American product. Not to say China doesn’t have issues of course; when I learned there’s a black market there for fake eggs, it blew my mind. But given our current deregulation of the FDA by Mr. Lego Wall, and how E. coli-ridden our fresh produce is lately, I’m not even sure we can safely suggest our exports are safe.

(Carl Keller) #10

What kind of reaction do you have for people who KNOW most American food is garbage? :slight_smile:

Of course it’s your right to base what you eat on the recommendations of Snopes, who I seriously doubt has the ability or permission to inspect all the fish farms in China, but I’ve been lied to by much more prestigious organizations my whole life and at the very least, I will play the safe hand and stick to my preference for wild caught fish

#11

I remember back when our relationship with Cuba looked promising a couple years ago, and people were discussing what should be part of a cultural exchange, and someone suggested the KFC’s double-down as the most American thing ever, and I had a difficult time coming up with points to disagree.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #12

Being from KY catfish was always on our tables and I personally find it feels fatty in my mouth versus something like tilapia.

I used to think farm raised fish was crap and wild caught was best but I have to consider WHERE it was wild caught, does it have mercury, radiation or little pieces of plastic in it? I’m starting to think I’d rather eat the dirty water, dog food fed, farmed fish.

(PSackmann) #13

We used to live in a lower-income area in Atlanta. Some of our neighbors would fish in the local parks for catfish, then take them home and put them in a bathtub with cornmeal for a few days. Supposedly, this helped to clear out some of the toxins they had been eating. I don’t know if it’s true or not, just thought it was kind of an interesting idea

(Full Metal KETO AF) #14

Personally I won’t buy farm raised fish or shellfish. Alaskan salmon or gulf shrimp or other wild caught.

#15

I think you’re right. It seems they are generally considered to be a fatty fish. Of course the website I got my info from seems to be the only one that thinks otherwise. My bad.

(Kim Edwards) #16

So…does anyone have a good recipe for Cajun catfish?

(Bob M) #17

You can buy little meat for that price where I live. Maybe ham. Some ground beef, other beef only on sale. Liver and beef heart might make it into that cost. Most of what I buy is at least double that cost.

(John) #18

I usually pay about $1.99/lb or so for boneless/skinless chicken breasts and thighs when bought in the “value pack.” Ground beef is usually in the $3.99 to $4.99 range, and that is for the good stuff.

(Bob M) #19

I’m not a fan of chicken, so only my wife buys that. I don’t know the cost. (Chicken = high in PUFAs.)

No steaks? No shrimp? No mussels? No fish? No duck? (Can get duck about $4/pound, sometimes, usually frozen, though fresh gets down there too.) No pork? You can get some pork for less than $4/pound, but you have to be selective.

And let’s not even go to grass fed anything.

(Bunny) #20
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