I have just recently become Pescetarian. Any tips would be helpful.

SnuggleSmacks

GingerbreadCandy wrote: »

Oh! One tip though, especially if you have never cook fish before – make sure your kitchen is well ventilated and keep windows open when cooking. Ideally close the door to other rooms. ^^

Supposedly, adding a bit of lemon juice before and while cooking helps break down the smell (and this is not just a grandma solution, we actually had a chemistry lesson on this back in high school ).

If the fish is fresh, there shouldn't be much of a smell.

KarenJanine

As well as fish you may wish to add some vegetarian meat alternatives to your diet to keep up the variety. That way if your Mom wanted to cook spaghetti and meatballs, you could have the same dish but substitute for vegetarian meatballs which shouldn't create too much trouble.

Restaurants nearly all have fish and vegetarian options so you shouldn't have any trouble dining out.

granturismo

Jenni129 wrote: »

You're 19, so make your own food. ...

This. If my mother was the main cook in my house, I wouldnt expect her to cook an alternative meal for me.

GingerbreadCandy

SnuggleSmacks wrote: »

GingerbreadCandy wrote: »

Oh! One tip though, especially if you have never cook fish before – make sure your kitchen is well ventilated and keep windows open when cooking. Ideally close the door to other rooms. ^^

Supposedly, adding a bit of lemon juice before and while cooking helps break down the smell (and this is not just a grandma solution, we actually had a chemistry lesson on this back in high school ).

If the fish is fresh, there shouldn't be much of a smell.

Depends on the fish really. Fresh sardines for instance are wonderful to grill, but the smell of cooking will linger for a while.

Then again, I have a small, badly ventilated flat so I will have the smell of anything I cook for up to two days if I am not careful.

shartran

Yes, I too am thinking about the mercury in tuna. Only eat a few times per week. I like sardines. Usually, I will consume fish 4 times per week. The rest of the time, it's without meat - supplement with a bit of yogurt - dry cottage cheese (high protein, low sodium), and maybe some egg whites. LOTS of veggies - raw is preferred...

Good luck with your mom

MeanderingMammal

DernaCat wrote: »

A few nights ago I decided to become pescetarian.

Notwithstanding the general advice it would be useful in communicating to other people what the rationale for the change is? Ethical or something else?

I'd agree with the points above about stepping up to doing your own catering. that said, as pescatarian is neither one thing nor the other I can appreciate why someone might take the view that you could just not eat the meat component of a dish. It's a bit simplistic though and I'd suggest you need to improve your communications to her about your thinking.

Any words of wisdom and guidance would be very helpful. Thank you!

You'll need to look for other source sof protein as well; paneer, pulses, leafy greens etc

fwiw the whole mercury contamination issue is significantly overblown.

GingerbreadCandy

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

DernaCat wrote: »

fwiw the whole mercury contamination issue is significantly overblown.

Oh good, the entire thread was starting to make me doubt…

Turning_Hopes_to_Habits

My husband and I are pescatarians for health reasons. Don't forget to include egg dishes in your meal rotations: frittatas, omelettes, eggs in purgatory, etc. To keep calories and cholesterol lower, use a ratio of about 1 whole egg to 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid egg whites.

Don't rule out sardines. Try the ones that are skinless and boneless first, and try the in tomato and Dijon mustard sauce as well as olive oil.

Gortons makes a few frozen salmon filet products that I like: Simply Bake is inexpensive and low calorie (I like the roasted garlic and butter sauce one). Another option is the Teriyaki Salmon, which is a little more expensive and a few more calories (like, 220 or 260 instead of the 140 for the Simply Bake). I like to have them for lunch with broccoli and butter and a side of grated carrots or some other vegetable. I usually get out of lunch for around 400 calories.

For a splurge meal, I'll make ahi tun steaks. I like them seared; to me, completely cooked is almost the same taste as canned and why on earth would I pay so much extra for fresh? Just personal taste, though.

Vigo's makes a really good red beans and rice for about $1.50, and you just add water and put it in the microwave for 20 minutes or so. That's great with a salad and some cornbread.

Michael Angelo's makes some preservative-free, simple ingredient frozen dinners that are vegetarian and taste really good. We like the Vegetable Lasagna and the Eggplant Parmesan.

Lentils really are great. They are good protein, cheap, relatively fast, and can be seasoned any which way. Check out the Lentil thread on the recipe forum.

I make 90% of our food from scratch, but if you are working in someone else's kitchen, those are some relatively inexpensive easy options.

As far as your mom, see if you can be politely proactive. Ask her in the morning or afternoon if there's something you can do to help with dinner. See if you can start cooking for the family, tweaking the meal so your portions don't have meat. Depending on how broke you are and whether or not she's paying for food, you'll probably get much better results with honey. Start helping more with dinner if you can, take out your portions pre-meat, make sides that you can eat, and - without making any kind of a fuss at all or any complaints - simply choose not to eat things she's put meat in. Don't call attention to it, she'll notice on her own. If she asks you about it, just stay pleasant and say you're changing your eating habits. No one likes to have people not eat what she's taken the trouble to prepare, so it's very likely she'll end up supporting you if you handle it right and if she's at all reasonable.

Good luck!

spamarie

I'm not a proper pescetarian, however I do eat a lot of fish just because I enjoy it.

If you don't want to eat what your mother cooks, you probably need to cook for yourself. Or you could learn a few recipes the whole family could enjoy together.

One of our favourites is homemade fish pie. It's basically any kind of fish in a white sauce (I just use the milk I poached the fish in, add a little flour to thicken) topped with mash (I use a mix of potatoes and rutabaga so it's got some hidden veg in there). Sometimes I add a little grated cheese on top. It takes a little while to cook as you need to boil the veg and poach the fish then stick the whole thing in the oven for half an hour, but it freezes brilliantly, so I usually make several meals' worth and have a super fast, filling dinner later in the month. I serve it with some broccoli, peas or green beans on the side. It's great in cold weather.

For quick fishy lunches, I make a 'whatever veg is in the fridge' salad and top it with either fresh, marinated anchovies (LOVE!), tinned tuna, cold flaked salmon I cooked previously, tinned sardines or prawns. Yum. A hard-boiled egg goes nicely with all of those too.

ljmorgi

KarenJanine wrote: »

Restaurants nearly all have fish and vegetarian options so you shouldn't have any trouble dining out.

Ha! Not in small-town Indiana they don't!