I telephoned one of my taxi drivers and asked him if he could please source and bring me some bones for Pereg, also some fish "scraps". Unfortunately no bones but he has just turned up with a humungous polystyrene box full of fish, fish and more fish. Fish heads, fish spines/rib type bones with loads of flesh on them and I have no idea what else as I took one look inside the huge bin bag inside the box and closed it, because where am I going to put it all? Well, in one of the freezers, obviously, but each thing has to be bagged and then frozen before trying to find a home for it, and in the meantime the box is sitting on the counter by the sink unit and I am scared to go near it again! I wonder if my neighbour has any spare refrigerator and/or freezer space?
There is a saying, be careful what you wish for .................... I know you're a raw feeder, but I would pressure cook it down to a manageable volume, then freeze in blocks.
I just have to pluck up the courage [and check that I have enough freezer bags] to start bagging and freezing. Pereg would probably eat it cooked but she prefers raw, straight from the freezer. And from the quick glance I took [before I put the lid back on pronto] it is all from good, healthy oily fish. I think I need to buy another freezer...
Eurgh the smell. I bought some sprats to feed Shadow when I switch her to raw later in the month (delivery doesn't happen until 21.09) and she was sniffing round me like god knows what. I think she is going to love fish.
Boil it to within a inch of its life,it would get all the goodness out the fish and get rid of a least a bit ! Pereg will have the shiniest coat ever!!!
@Samm1551 - Shadow will adore raw fish! And if she is anything like Pereg, she will love all raw meat/poultry/fish. Pereg started late on raw but chickchack was hooked on it. @fieldy - there are kilos of it! All one type but I do not know what fish. Sea fish, not fresh water, and definitely oily fish not white fish. Looks like they removed the heads and then filleted them so I have very meaty [fish] heads and very meaty backbones/ribs [I know that is not the correct word]. I have bagged as much as I could until my small freezer bags ran out [I hope I have another box of them in my store cupboard...] - and they are in the two top section of ThreeBees on fast freeze. The rest I have, somehow, managed to put in thick polybags which I have shoved in The Super Apollo [fridge]. My brand new top [well it was bought last year but I had never worn it before today] has fish liquid all down it. Not to worry, it will wash out, and if it does not it will not be the end of the world [I bought five of these tunic tops for 100 shekalim [just under £17] for them all. And De Dawg has been hand fed all the odd bits I came across while trying to sort this lot out. I will cook some for myself - fish broth and loads of fish meat for chowder - when I can think about coping with what is now in my refrigerator, but it was so fresh that there is almost no smell of fish anywhere - either on me or in the kitchen. Actually I could put a load through my electric mincer and then freeze in patties for Pereg... I just cannot think at the moment as this amount is ridiculous! But it was free and I wanted Meir to get me something else, so all I had to pay for was the something else plus one taxi fare for him to bring it. But heck, what do you do with men who think more is better?!
Why do you think I don't let my 3 men loose in Asda, all they will put in trolley will be sausages & bacon nothing else. X
Same with my son .... he'll come back with smoked salmon, marinated herrings, pate,. salami and smoked ham ... and who pays the bill? Mum of course!
Problem. Once the current lot on fast freeze in ThreeBees is frozen, I will have to find somewhere to put them in order to freeze another lot. And all the drawers in ThreeBees are chocka. All the drawers in Pereg's freezers are chocka. And there is not much room in the freezer section of the Super Apollo. [Must think of a name for Pereg's freezer as it is unfair on him that everything else is named but him...] If it was not for the fact that for the last few years we have been requested [ie told] not to feed the feral cats due to the damage they do, tearing screens to get into homes etc, I would happily share some with them.
Fish pies, fish stew, fishcakes, maybe fish wine & fish stock, me thinks Malka & Pereg will be eating fish for next 3 months.
Tina, there is not really enough fish "meat" to make pies etc etc - and I do not eat pies or fishcakes etc etc - although there would be enough to make some good chowders. The problem is where the heck am I going to store it all when frozen? Being so fresh a lot will be OK in the refrigerator for a couple of days, but I want it all individually bagged, frozen, and put away in one of the freezers, only where? Meir really is a sweet guy and I think that he thought he was doing A Good Thing - more likely the fish place were only too happy for him to take the lot away! Pereg had a large fresh fish head for her evening "bone" meal instead of a frozen chicken back, and if she does her usual and nags for more food later on I will give her one of the backbone things. She does not care - to her they are proper Food with a capital F and proper Food is what she likes!
Bogie and Pepe are bewildered by all this and can't see what the problem is. Surely you know fish is for rolling in? Just scatter it around and the more it rots the better it will be.
Can see your days are going to be busy with the fish Malka,love the idea of fish patties through the mincer! Any of your friends need some fish???
@fieldy - people here with dogs tend to feed them on the cheapest kibble available, and in all honesty I cannot see anyone wanting to make fish stock, chowder - which I am definitely going to make tomorrow, or - or - well fish is eaten a lot but not really fish heads and backbones etc. That is why all these would have been binned had Meir not gone in and asked for them! It is the freezer space that is the problem, but I never say no to freebies!
I did wonder what he was doing when he heaved that humungous polystyrene box out of the boot of his car and staggered in with it...
Well, yesterday evening's bagged and frozen lot has now been slotted, somehow, in all available freezer spaces, so I decided to tackle some more. As I could not move the polystyrene box from where Meir had dumped it next to the sink, I had bagged what was on the top for freezing - which was the backbone/skeleton/tail etc - lots of meat on them though and being flat I could slot as many as each drawer could take and still close! Anyhow, after I had bagged and shoved in ThreeBees as much as he could cope with [I had also run out of the small polybags although I did have another box of them in my non-food store cupboard, I started pulling out fish, fish, and more fish, filling thick poly carrier bags and shoving them into the refrigerator so I could wash out and put the polystyrene box outside [binmen tomorrow!]. However, I think that the heads are far better for Pereg as they are more substantial, so this morning I went through some [just some] of the poly carrier bags and fished [sorry for the pun ] out head after head after head, bagged those and the two fast freeze sections of ThreeBees is now doing them - as is The Super Apollo's freezer. The problem is that when this lot is frozen the only place I will be able to put them is the second, slightly larger, fast freeze section in ThreeBees. Being frozen I can now fill that section. Which will leave me just the top fast freeze section to freeze more. I will do as many heads as I can but have a nasty feeling that a lot of the rest will have to be binned. If it was not for the fact that I know how destructive the feral cats are and the fact that the Local Authority have requested [told] not to feed the ferals due to the damage they cause, I would be only too pleased to put the rest of the fish out for them. Pity to waste any but on the other hand the lot would have been binned yesterday had Meir not asked for it. And Pereg adores raw fish, bones and all!
What a pity there are no shelters or other animal owners who could help you out. It is really going to stink in your dustbin!!!
@CaroleC - nobody wants any.. Will not pong out my bin as everything that goes into it is wrapped and put in a big bin bag which is tied - goes out late the evening before the binmen come [Sundays and Wednesdays] so no pong, but what a waste. Although I keep telling myself that it all would have been binned had Meir not taken it. Does not make me feel less than a waster though, but I just do not have the freezer space for anything else, although ThreeBees at 280 litres and over 2m high is ginormous, Pereg's freezer has a 140 litre capacity which is far more than most "under the counter" freezers have [not sure if it would fit under a counter..] and The Super Apollo, my refrigerator/freezer had a total of 550 litres... ...but I have nowhere else for another freezer and if nobody wants the rest of the fish, what do I do?
