From a health and environmental point of view, fish and eggs are king among animal proteins. If you choose free-range eggs and sustainably caught or farmed fish, they also score high on animal welfare.

Even so, most people still prefer meat. This post will attempt to make fish and eggs so attractive that they relegate meat to the “vegetable dressing” role described yesterday. 

Let’s talk strategy

To become a natural part of our lives, food needs to satisfy three criteria: great taste, high practicality, and reasonable cost. 

Objectively speaking, the taste gap between meat and fish is pretty small. Often, it’s more about what you’re used to. 

But change can be difficult. For some, knowledge about the health and environmental aspects of meat (particularly red meat) vs. fish & eggs will suffice. If you care about these important topics, use it to drive positive change in your eating habits. 

Aside from these motivators, we can also do a lot to maximize taste and convenience at a reasonable cost. 

In terms of practicality, cold smoked salmon and canned mackerel are great options. Both of these great omega-3 sources are super convenient for making a light and healthy dinner (see next section). 

Some simple cooking skills will also help a lot. We should all know one or two good recipes using locally available fish. Proper scrambled egg and omelette should also be in anyone’s skillset. 

Fish could present a challenge when it comes to budgeting. Omega-3 fish like salmon can get pretty expensive, but there are cheaper options like mackerel or sardines. Adjust the amount of fish you eat based on local price and availability. Luckily, eggs are affordable almost everywhere. 

Light and practical meals

It’s a good idea to maximize variety by regularly eating oily fish, white fish and eggs. Oily fish is very convenient in smoked or canned form, whereas white fish is often sold in convenient fillets. Scrambled egg or omelette can be made in less than 5 minutes. 

I have six main fish and egg meals. The first is my staple avocado and smoked salmon dinner, which we’ll get to tomorrow, but my two secondary dinner options fit perfectly with today’s theme:

• Omelette filled with canned mackerel in tomato sauce with cucumber on top. Only add the cucumber before each bite and it will add a very pleasant crunchy texture to the culinary experience. 
• Scrambled eggs with sweet chili sauce on spinach leaves. These healthy leaves are a very useful utensil for eating scrambled eggs 🙂

Over weekends I make one of three fish recipes:

• Salmon with beetroot. This is just some salmon fillets seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and lemon with some pickled beetroot on top. It’s ready after 16 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius and works particularly well with barley rice and mango chutney. 
• Baked pollock fillet with mixed vegetables. Some convenient crusted fillets are baked for 20 minutes with mixed veggies at 200 degrees Celsius. The crust may not be very healthy, but it makes it much easier to supersize the vegetable portion.
• Salmon instead of meat for the barbecue. The usual salt, pepper, garlic and lemon seasoning combo works very well here too.  

So, check out your local fish availability and invest some time to learn to prepare it in a tasty, healthy and practical way. That little bit of time invested in learning will pay you back handsomely!