The benefits of frozen fish
Frozen fish is quick and easy to prepare, and many varieties come marinated, seasoned or in sauce. The choice of fish species available is also broad, from white fish such as barramundi, hake, hoki, Alaskan pollock and whiting to oily Atlantic salmon. And while fresh fish is generally better for flavour and texture, freezing retains nutrients so frozen fish can be just as nutritious.
Of course, the more fish in a product, the more of these beneficial nutrients you'll be getting, and not all fish species are naturally high in omega-3s. We reviewed more than 100 frozen fish products – all the uncoated fillets, fillets with seasoning or sauce, battered and crumbed fish and fish fingers we found in supermarket freezers – to uncover your best options. See What to buy for standouts.
The cost of convenience
It's handy to have pre-marinated, seasoned or crumbed fish pieces in the freezer, but you'll pay for the convenience.
For example, we paid $10.99 for a 250g pack of Woolworths Select Lemon & Dill Salmon Fillets, which works out at $43.96 per kg. Instead, we could have saved money by buying fresh Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon fillets ($28.99 per kg), also boned and skinned, from the same supermarket's deli counter and made our own lemon butter sauce using a handful of common, inexpensive ingredients (see our recipe).
Mercury in fish
Some fish species contain more mercury than others because they are long-lived fish and/or predators and can accumulate higher levels of mercury by eating other fish. As mercury can affect the nervous system, particularly the developing nervous system in unborn babies, you should limit these species in your diet, especially if you're pregnant.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand recommends that pregnant women, women planning pregnancy and young children consume no more than one serve per fortnight of shark (flake), marlin and swordfish (broadbill) and no other fish that fortnight or one serve per week of orange roughy (deep sea perch) or catfish and no other fish that week. The rest of us should only eat shark, broadbill, marlin and swordfish once a week and no other fish that week.
Frozen fish brands reviewed
- Bayview
- Birds Eye
- Black & Gold
- Coles
- Coles Seafood
- Coles Smart Buy
- I & J
- IGA Signature
- Just Caught
- Kingfisher
- Ocean Royale (Aldi)
- Pacific West
- Petuna
- Sea Gold
- Sealord
- Tassal
- The Fishmonger (Aldi)
- Woolworths Homebrand
- Woolworths Select