Yes, I agree, meal planning with seafood may not seem like the first thing that comes to mind, but there are some tricks you can use to plan ahead or use leftovers.
First we will focus on fresh seafood. For the most part, all fresh seafood can be frozen (before cooking) — it may not be quite as perfect, but will still taste great when you go to use it after. Often, seafood is frozen at sea for transport, so don’t be afraid to purchase it frozen either — the less transitions from fresh to frozen to defrost, the better. When you purchase fresh seafood, you want to use it within 1-2 days of purchase.
There are many ways to prepare seafood – we can get into that more in individual posts, but what do you do if you have some leftover? Well, the first suggestion is to eat it the next day for leftovers. If you want to mix it up a little, you can mix it in with an egg scramble or serve it on a salad. You could also make it into a salad by adding some mayonnaise or plain greek yogurt, some salt and pepper, perhaps a little celery or shallot! Yum!! You could also make a seafood stew if you have other pieces. This is a time when you could freeze cooked seafood and save bits here and there — then when you have enough you can mix up a chowder or cioppino.
Some shelf stable options? Well, canned tuna is always a good option to have on hand. It takes almost no time to whip up your favorite tuna salad (have you ever tried it with some mustard? I love it!) and this will last a few days. You can also purchase other canned seafood to keep around. Frozen shrimp is a trick I employ when I want a little fancy. It’s easy to keep shrimp on hand — either precooked or raw. You can cook them up with some cocktail sauce and you have a fancy appetizer! They thaw pretty quickly as well! If you are able to get fresh shrimp that you would like to freeze, our shrimp guy swears by shelling them and freezing them in a block of water (like a plastic wear container or even a bag). They don’t seem nearly as dry when you defrost them out and they hold their shape better. If you have leftover shrimp shells (or any other seafood shells) this is a great opportunity to make some seafood stock. Just like other stocks, put all the shells in a pot of water with some veggies (carrot, onion, celery, maybe a bay leaf) and let it cook down. It is delicious!!
Seafood may not be the easiest to utilize when trying to use leftovers or having multiple meals from one preparation, but it definitely can hold a place in your meal planning. Many seafood dishes (especially fish) can be prepared in a minimal amount of time with minimal ingredients (sometimes no additional ones!), which can make them great quick weeknight meals as long as you have the seafood on hand!
I hope these continue to be helpful — let me know what questions you have and your favorite tip! Also, if you have a tip of your own to share, we’d love to hear it!
xoxo, Gretchen