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Woolworths Mackerel in Oil/Tomato Sauce - 425g Can (~275g Drained) - New Line - $1.55

220

Available in Mackerel oil and tomato sauce.

This product line is so new it's not on Pricehipster yet. It's also significantly cheaper than Woolworths' existing Homebrand equivalent.

For those that eat murdered animals, it's probably now the cheapest option of canned protein per kg (for human consumption…or otherwise?) in Australian supermarkets and almost certainly the cheapest canned form of Omega 3.

If you compare its drained weight with the cheapest fresh meats in Australia (probably chicken derivatives) and assume cooking meat causes a 25 - 33% loss of water weight the price still ain't too shabby at $5.64/kg. Most canned fish isn't as impressively cheap once you look at the drained weight (except maybe no name sardines, and now mackerel). Considering you can get chicken breast at a local supermarket for $5.99/kg (Greener Grocer, Maroubra) and a dollar more per kg at supermarkets it's hard to compete with at the moment from the perspective of palatability.

The mackerel is a product of Thailand but the species isn't listed. Larger, predatory mackerel are known to harbour significant levels of methylmercury but the species and origin isn't listed on any of these cans. Generally, mackerel around SE Asia would be of the smaller variety and contain less mercury, but some regions are known to be contaminated (though mostly shorelines probably). It probably contains less mercury than Skipjack tuna but whether it's as low as levels in canned salmon and sardines is anyone's guess.

Much like the cheap'n'nasty no name sardines they're not anything special but are less fishy than budget sardines. You can now get the fancy-pants Brisling Sardines at Aldi (110g cans) for $1.10 I think.

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closed Comments

  • +9

    "For those that eat murdered animals" Really mate?

    • +5

      I choose to eat murdered animals instead of murdered plants.

      • +2

        Ha! Ha..for some drinking even milk is murder!! Get a life.

  • That's damn cheap if it's not a price error

  • +3

    This product line is so new it's not on Pricehipster yet.

    Haha wow. Has it been on the Woolworths website for less than 3 hours? You're on the ball there Mr Pumpkin Eater.

  • +1

    For humans, or for pets? Or aren't we supposed to care at that price?

    • Gonna grab 40 tins for the M-i-Law's moggie, must be better than the typical ingredients in the designer grain free stuff she buys at $3.50 for a 156 gram tin
      "trout, fish broth, vegetable broth, ocean fish, dried egg product, potato starch, pea flour, smoked salmon, carrots, guar gum, natural flavor, sunflower oil, sweet potatoes, sodium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, inulin, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, taurine, DL-methionine, choline chloride, iron amino acid chelate, etc, etc"

      • Probably insufficient taurine in mackerels alone. Contrary to popular perception felines aren't natural fish eaters.

        • Hey thanks Vofa for that excellent piece of information. Never heard of taurine before but a quick search confirms your advice and how vital it is in cats diets (are you a vet by the way?). Just goes to show that the food isn't just all the crap unsuitable for us to eat.

          As they are tins and will keep for some time, she could do maybe one third part mackerel, two thirds quality grain-free dry food and use them up that way. Do you think that would be OK for the cat?

        • @alidli: My dog loves them every now and then as well. 16 year old staffy, still up and about. Mackerel is surely good for an old dog.

          Taurine is also hugely important for healthy fish.. make of that what you will.

        • @alidli:

          I can chime in here as a cat owner.

          Much like humans, you can never win the "perfect diet" competition.

          Raw mackerel is actually an excellent source of taurine. The problem being that vets say to avoid raw fish due to parasites and the fact raw fish have an enzyme that destroys thiamine anyway, creating other deficiencies.

          The number one enemy of taurine is heat and the worst form of heat is boiling, which both heats and draws it out. Canning foods naturally destroys a lot of taurine but even then this isn't a universal rule. Sometimes the brine in a can of salmon can contain crap tonnes of taurine (apparently), but you're relying on a particular factory's process at one point in time.

          By giving excess, tastier taurine-less foods you might offset their supplemented foods.

          Cooking also destroys other B vitamins that cats can't produce so we're screwed there as well. Then we need to ensure they get some but not too much vitamin A. So raw liver sounds perfect until you're told the bacteria in raw meat could make your cat sick and taurine rich, B vitamin rich, vitamin A rich liver itself might cause a vitamin A overdose.

          Ooh and then it turns out the malliard reaction from cooking at high temperatures can affect the intestines of cats, lowering taurine absorption ability.

  • +2

    For those that eat murdered animals, it's probably now the cheapest option of canned protein per kg

    If canned is a necessary qualifier then maybe. Otherwise these murdered animals are sold at (1.55 / 0.275(drained)) = $5.63/kg. Their mutilated bodies are 22.4% protein therefore (5.63 / 0.224) = $25.16/kg protein.

    But I just plucked (non-murdered animal) peanuts out of the air and they're $2.10 / 0.375 = $5.6/kg. 25.1% protein therefore (5.60 / 0.251) = $22.31.kg protein or 12% cheaper.

    https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/598179/woo…

    Many other (non-murdered animal) nuts and legumes will be similar. If you can get soy (Asian stores - dried beans particularly) your dollars will buy even more protein.

    and almost certainly the cheapest canned form of Omega 3

    I suspect an algal n3 sup will provide much more per $ but, again, no can. Nor is there the bioaccumulation of various other substances which people seem to prefer rather than getting the n3 straight from the same plants the fish that were swallowed by the fish that were swallowed by the fish that were swallowed by the fish do. And no-one gets killed unnecessarily which is a deal-breaker for some.

    • Woah.

    • Here ya go, first google hit has protein at $10/kg or 60% cheaper. (And for all the naysayers it's a complete protein with every essential amino for humans).

      http://www.nutroaster.com.au/soyabeans.html

      Please don't murder animals. There is no good excuse.

      • Nuts are murderous for some or at least a cause for itchy skin.

        • Nuts don't have intent therefore they can't murder or otherwise be held culpable for their affects.

        • But hey, if you wanna try them in court then go for it.

      • +2

        You then run into the problem of where the soy was sourced, and what agricultural practices [i.e Amazon forest clearing] were used to produce it. The virtue signalling with Quinoa ended up pricing the product out of reach of those who had depended on it as a staple.

        Still, the animals that perished to clear the land for your soy did so "naturally" I guess…

        • -2

          Around 90% of all soy is actually fed to "livestock," not humans. The deforestation of the Amazon is for cattle grazing and cropping for livestock. When you eat animals, you eat soy and so many other agricultural outputs which humans could eat directly. Cattle convert 15kg of soy protein into 1kg of animal protein; the environmental detriments of animal agriculture lie mainly in these types of inefficiencies but there are other factors too. Human consumption of soy is a blip on the agricultural radar.

          Since we are talking about mackerel, cattle and other livestock are in fact the worlds largest consumers of marine animals in the form of ground meal as protein supplements; they basically get the by-catch and other stuff people don't want to eat which can constitute up to 90% of catch. (eg: prawn trawling). Farmed fish, like much salmon, are also big consumers of by-catch and smaller intentional catches.

          Quinoa is currently a boutique food capitalised on by, well, capitalists. Talk to them about it; I and most people I know don't consume it apart from as an occasional point of difference, probably as much/little as the national average.

          Your desire to relieve yourself from cognitive dissonance, as evidenced by your spontaneous retort, indicates you have an interest in the matter. I encourage you to pursue it honestly and fairly. If you are interested in the environmental detriments associated with the human consumption of animals, along with the food crises it is causing, then this is a great place to start:

          http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM

          If you are concerned about the welfare of nonhuman animals then this is a great place to start:

          http://vegankit.com/why/

        • @thevofa: No dissonance. I am familiar with Festinger's work as psychology was my second major and find your flippant reference to it facile, though illustrative. Nine hours is hardly "spontaneous", but unlike some, I wouldn't attribute your regarding such a period as "haste" to your diet.

          I have hunted and butchered my own meat, but prefer to eat MSC fish for my protein. I do worry about the massive cull and resulting extinction of current domesticated species should the switch to vegetable protein sources you prefer take place. That is unless you have found another planet we can utilise for growing such food while the animals currently grazing the soil needed die of old age or are taken by the predators soon to follow them into extinction.

        • @terrys: If it took you 9 hours to come up with that blatant disregard for facts then I really don't know what else I could say here that's productive. Have a good day.

  • +1

    Best description ever for a tin of canned fish.

  • +2

    I am a fan of the brunswick sardines from canada. When it goes to $1 a can at the local woolies or coles I broden the whole lot :D

  • Aldi's one is 59c per 95g drained.

  • There pink salmon is good value as well, way cheaper than tuna when you consider the drained weight [90/65%] - plus I find tuna is something that loses a lot when tinned, whereas I've always found fresh salmon lacking compared to the tinned.
    When comparing the weight of fish to that of meat, the rule of thumb we used in the 70s was 3 units meat = 1 unit fish. Maybe someone has some more recent info but that works out when I cook.

  • +4

    I packed 6 trays of these on the shelves on Monday night… never would I have thought they'd be so special and have their own OzB post!!
    For anyone looking for them at WW Kings Langley, NSW - isle 9 at the end near the frozen food section :)

    If I recall, the Homebrand variety in tomato sauce sitting right next to them on the shelf was $2.30 for the same size can

  • +3

    Holy Mackerel!

  • Sadly, those that eat sea creatures will now have to pay more than 61% extra for their colorful cans of canned mackerel. It's now $2.50, which is even more than the homebrand variety.

    Speak to your local representative to effect change.

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