Seafood has so many wonderful health benefits for the mind and body and it can help to set children up for a lifetime of good health. Providing them with important vitamins and scientists recommend that we should all eat two portions of seafood a week.
As we all know, some kids can go through phases of being picky eaters so now might be the perfect time to encourage them to try new things and help them to learn to love fish! Here’s our tips to get started…
● Start early… It’s probably no surprise that children who are introduced to seafood at an early age are more likely to enjoy fish and eat it regularly. Fish can be introduced as early as 6 months when the baby is weaned. Visit www.nhs.uk for more information and the best types to try.
● Start Simple… If your child is older and never tried fish, no worries. Just start simple and don’t pressure them. Look for small portions of mild flavoured fish and cook very simply, adding minimal flavours. See how much your child enjoys fish in its purest form, especially if you point out the health benefits. You may be surprised!
● Fish Twist… Try and substitute the usual meat protein for fish where you can. Taco Tuesday and Fajita Friday can just as easily include fish and prawns rather than meat. For children who require a bit more encouragement, introduce either marinated or breaded and battered products. Make it exciting, a dip sometimes does the trick.
● Get Hands On… Children tend to engage more and enjoy something that they have helped to create. Take a look at the fish pizza recipe in our brochure or viit the website and browse our child friendly seafood recipes. You could even get your child to help you make a fish pie for the whole family!
● Be consistent… Try and encourage seafood twice a week so that it becomes ‘the norm’. The more familiar something is, the more likely your child will eat it. Just because your child doesn’t like Salmon doesn’t mean they wont like Haddock or prawns. All seafood is good in whatever form so if they like just one type then that’s perfectly fine.
Keep your eyes peeled, we will have lots of wonderful offers, inspiration and recipes on our instagram and facebook pages this week to help you. Including arguably our best offer ever… kids eat free!
If you have some tips on encouraging fussy eaters to give something a try we would love to hear about it, please share your experiences with us!
Here at Regal we are proud of our Grimsby heritage and whilst
we bring together some of the worlds superior seafood products and the best of
British, we believe that Grimsby produces some of the finest products that we
have to offer.
Chapmans of Grimsby have been our chosen supplier for finest
quality, artisan products for almost 20 years and brothers Paul and Kevin are masters
of their trade and our trusted supplier for many of our handmade products.
Paul and Kevin
Our best selling seafood wellingtons are handcrafted using
quality seafood, wrapped in crisp puff pastry and filled with rich and delicious
sauces. The absolute upmost care and attention goes into every single product and
that’s why we are proud to work with them.
The Chapmans family have been involved in Grimsby seafood
for several generations and central to their success story are their late
mother Mavis Chapmans closely guarded recipes, she understood the importance of
using only the best seafood which her husband Terry would bring home from work.
The Chapman’s Team
Their dishes are inspired by their wealth of experience and
love for quality seafood and fine ingredients combined with handcrafted
methods. These together have earned them a host of awards for their range.
As well as supplying our existing range of wellingtons,
breaded and battered portions, they also support us with bespoke solutions.
This allows us to take stock from our fresh fish and freeze it prime condition
before sending it the short 5 minute journey from our factory to theirs.
Making Wellingtons
They then work the Chapmans magic by turning it into a
delicious breaded product or smother it in a delicious sauce and coat with
croutons. Some of our favourite products such as the Haddock Bake and Hake
Balti have been created by their in house product development.
All of the products supplied by Chapmans have a homemade feel to them and that’s what keeps us and our customers coming back for more! That and their cheerful personalities, they along with their friendly staff are certainly the nicest and easiest people to deal with.
Delicious Salmon Wellingtons
We have been overwhelmed by their hard work and dedication over the past few weeks, with several products being made for us every day, they have offered us huge support during the difficult situation and ensured that our supply hasn’t been interrupted so a huge thank you from all of the team at Regal.
Chapmans Seafoods are certainly a jewel in our crown, here’s to many more years and many more wonderful products to come!
Seafish UK are a family business who have been producing
frozen seafood products from their factory in Hull for 40 years and for over 15
years we have been lucky enough to see many of their wonderful products grace
our catalogue.
Steam fresh portions with flavoured butters, battered fish
portions and luxury fishcakes to name a few as well as seasonal products such
as salmon burgers, festive bakes and seed coated fillets. Some of our longer
serving customers will remember the Hunters Cod and Cod Margherita Pizza, we
have tried and tested all kinds of seafood products and if a new idea comes
into mind Seafish are always happy to oblige!
With an in house NPD (new product development) chef and team,
Seafish are the perfect place to go with a kitchen recipe or concept and they
have the expertise and tools to bring the product to life and to the dining
table of our wonderful customers.
As well as our top quality range of fresh fish the Regal
catalogue boasts over 100 frozen and ready prepared products. Our frozen product manager Margaret Money is
constantly looking at current trends and inspiration for the next season to
ensure consistency and variety to our offering whilst constantly comparing and
improving the range.
Seafish source top quality seafood caught from sustainable
sources and are able to produce bespoke recipes, so we can have confidence they
will produce to the exact specification we require and in small batches. This means that the product is not sat in the
coldstore for long periods of time and also allows us to continuously monitor and
improve the products.
Margaret has a long term working relationship with Seafish
sales manager Emma Acklam and every couple of months they sit down to discuss
the product range. Margaret is involved in NPD tasting sessions, with the very
best options being brought back to Regal for discussion at our fortnightly
product range meeting.
From there samples will be tested at Regal HQ with and our
call centre and office staff give their seal of approval! Production schedules
are set fairly quickly with Seafish technical team making sure all the
paperwork is in place and the staff at their BRC AA rated factory are ready to
produce.
Excellent quality standards and a family background means
that Seafish are large enough to handle quick turnarounds in production but
they are also small enough to care. This is why they have been a key producer
for us for the past 15 years and we hope for many more years to come!
A special thanks to Seafish for ensuring despite the
unprecedented times that they and we are open for business as usual and
ensuring that we can supply our product range.
Fish and Chips are still at the heart of our nation and
despite the difficult situation at the moment, they remain Britain’s favourite
meal so we would like to ask our wonderful customers to help us come together
and help our Fishermen at this very difficult time.
In the last few weeks, the Coronavirus has hit our fishermen
hard. Markets have collapsed across Europe leading to an abrupt end to fishing
in some UK ports. With fishing boats tied up, income has disappeared leading to
very tough times for UK fishermen who were already struggling after a harsh
winter and terrible storms.
Here at Regal Fish, we are working with the Fishermen’s Mission to extend our support to the fishermen and their families and we need your support!
We want you to host your own ‘fish and chip’ dinner, all you
need to do is buy a pack of our delicious Chunky Battered Haddock Portions and
enjoy them at home. Simple as that!
traditional British fish and chips with potato and lemon
For every pack that is purchased during April we will donate
£2 to the Fishermens Mission so they can help those in need.
Andy Malcolm, Fundraising Manager for the Fisherman’s
Mission was invited to add his comments
on our promotion.
‘‘The Fishermen’s
Mission is the vital port of call for UK fishermen and their families. Fishing
is the most dangerous job of all. Families who have lost loved ones at sea,
injured fishermen and retired fishermen battling loneliness and poverty know
that the Fishermen’s Mission is there for them.
The Fishermen’s
Mission keep our fishermen afloat in times of crisis. We can put food on the
table, ensure a roof overhead with heating and lighting and be a trusted friend
when anxiety and uncertainty seems to dominate.
Many of our retired
fishermen and fishermen’s widows are self-isolating at present. The Fishermen’s
Mission ensure they are never forgotten with practical help, food deliveries
and most importantly regular telephone calls to ensure all is ok.
Thank you so much for
helping keep our fishermen afloat and for supporting the Fishermen’s Mission.
Your help means we can always be a lifeline for struggling fishing communities.’’
Our Battered Chunky Haddock Portions are now available to sell via our website www.regalfish.co.uk and to entice you further we have placed a triple offer pack on our website for only £25. That’s £2 saving for you and £6 straight to the Fishermen’s mission!
Whilst the Government urge us to stay at home as the single most important peace of action that we can all take in order to protect the NHS and save lives. Many of us are wondering what to do with our time; some trying to juggle home working and home schooling and others feeling cut off from family, anxious and uncertain.
The advice is to try and keep a routine, so set an alarm and try and get up at the same time each day, get dressed and keep mealtimes set so that you have a structure to your day. It is really important if you don’t have any underlying health concerns, that you also do some form of exercise each day to keep your physical and mental health in best condition. We’ve got our thinking caps on here at Regal and have pulled together our top 10 ideas of ‘Things to do when in isolation’.
Take a look at our suggestions, try some out and let us know
what you and your family are doing to get through the lockdown…
Cook up a storm
Most of you will have more time on your hands, and so now is a great opportunity to get in the kitchen and create a culinary masterpiece! Make a list of what you have in the freezer and look on BBC Good Food to see what you can make from what you have.
Check out the recipe library section on our website for a selection of seafood recipes which are sure to tantalise your taste buds. Our delivery service is still in action so place your order online and receive your fresh and frozen seafood direct to your door. Our drivers are currently making contactless deliveries where possible so you can have your order left in your porch ready to collect.
Why not start your own cookery blog and document everything you cook? We love to see what you all create, so share it with us via social media. Take a photograph and write up your recipe to share with the Regal family!
Whilst the guidelines state one walk a day, it doesn’t mean you have to stop there. Why not take this opportunity to improve your fitness? Go at your own pace and follow your doctor’s advice if you have any health issues, but there is a world of home exercise resources at your fingertips.
Check out the internet for online classes or your planner for tv programmes that will give you a good workout, try your hand at line or ballroom dancing, yoga or even chair exercises for those who have mobility issues. Joe Wicks is running a daily exercise routine each weekday which is aimed at kids, but all of the family can get involved and kickstart their day with a cardio blast. Or why not open the back door and have your own step class?
Pop the radio on or your favourite CD and soak up a little bit of sunshine whilst getting the heartrate up. This will do wonders for your all round wellbeing!
Plan for the future
Remember this is temporary and life will hopefully start to
get back to normal soon. Take the time to build mental strength and whilst you
might not be able to put an exact date on it, plan what you would like to do
once normality resumes.
A good exercise would be to write down the everyday things that you would like to do now, normal things like visiting a friend or sitting in the library. Each time one passes your mind, write it on a note and fill a jar. Imagine how much joy these simple things will bring in only a matter of time!
Start a pinterest board and decorate your home virtually!
This is great fun and doesn’t cost anything, but keeps your imagination going
with exciting things. Create a savings plan so once the current situation subsides
you can work out how you can make your pinterest board a reality.
Read a book
How many times have you said to yourself ‘I really should
read more?’ Well now is the time! Download that autobiography, drag that
history book out of your cupboard or take advantage of Audible and sit back,
relax and get lost in a book. It’s great for your mood and you might learn
something you never knew!
For more inspiration look online or check out Amazon, we found this great list, all of which have a positive approach and may be just what you need right now.
Pick up an old hobby
If you’ve recently let your garden go but have in years gone by enjoyed gardening, it’s the perfect time of year now that the weather is starting to improve. Make the most of the Spring sunshine and give your garden a bit of TLC. Soak up some sunshine (and vitamin D) and once you’re finished sit in your garden and enjoy the fruits of your labour.
Perhaps you like to draw but haven’t had time in recent years, now is the time to pick up the pencil and start sketching. Look at the RHS website for inspiration or google ‘stunning landscapes’ – you don’t need to be an expert, there are lots of drawing tutorials on YouTube, so give it a try, you might enjoy it more than you expect.
Singing, dancing, origami, knitting, DIY, sewing, crafting… the list is endless. Whatever your hobby is, it’s a great opportunity to get back into it, and if you don’t know where to start why not download a book or visit YouTube for help getting started.
Listen to a podcast
Whatever your subject, there’s a podcast for you – whether you’re music mad, tech crazy or into comedy. Take a look online, you’ll find thousands to choose from and you can stream from your mobile phone so you can listen anywhere the BBC is a good place to start but a google search will bring you whatever you are looking for.
Boost your brain
As well as obviously eating seafood to boost your brain
power, there are lots of other things you can do during isolation to keep the
grey matter in top condition. Learn a language, download an app with brain
games or try an online course.
Board games with the family are a great way to keep your
mind active and also inject a bit of fun to your day. Classics like Bingo, Scrabble
and Monopoly are great for all of the family!
Keep in touch
Whilst you can’t pop round and see your friends or meet with family, you can still stay in touch! Call regularly, and if you have a laptop or mobile phone, you can use online apps such as FaceTime and Skype. If you are a complete novice, we found an interesting article which might help you to get set up.
Online social communication is great because you still have
face to face contact, and you can even stay in touch while carrying out day to
day tasks. Call a friend whilst you’re cleaning the kitchen, chat to your
grandkids whilst baking or why not set up a board game and play it over Skype
with your family and friends!
Social media isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a good way to keep in touch and feel like you are still part of the community. There’s nothing like a good Facebook rant to get something off your chest, but try and keep it positive and offer encouragement. We love the_happy_broadcast on Instagram, as they aim to fill your news feed with anxiety free and positive news, which is much needed at the moment.
Remember to limit your usage to an hour or so a day, it’s
very easy to get transfixed with scrolling down your news feed, but take a
break and allocate your time wisely.
Meditate and make
time for yourself
Take an hour a day to think of your wellbeing, a bit of ‘me’
time is important and easily overlooked. Run a relaxing bath, pop on some
calming music and light some candles. Just make a space so that you are truly
looking after yourself and try to unwind.
We love the ‘Calm’ app, but there are lots of other similar ones which help you concentrate on your breathing techniques and take a few moments to meditate.
Start a scrapbook
Hopefully the current events will soon be a distant memory
and one that we don’t see again.
Make a diary or a scrapbook to pass down and tell your great
grandchildren about one day.
To take a positive from a terrible situation, this does make
you realise just how lucky we are in everyday life and how unimportant material
things are. Once things hopefully get back to normal, we will appreciate the
small things and hopefully it will bring communities closer together.
An update from Regal Fish Supplies Ltd about Coronavirus
Due to the evolving situation with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) we would like to reassure you that we are still delivering!
Orders can be placed via our website, it may be a little slower due to the amount of traffic we are experiencing but it is one of the quickest and easiest way of placing an order.
Our aim is to provide the usual excellent service to our customers with minimal disruption however please be patient with us at this time.
Currently our staff are working from home where possible and so we would ask you to bear with us as our phone lines are very busy and its taking longer than usual to answer calls to respond to emails. You may also notice that when we call you the number displayed could be different from usual. Where possible we will leave a message if there is no answer.
If you have any urgent questions please send us a message via Facebook and we will try and answer as quickly as possible.
At the moment the majority of our supply hasn’t been interrupted and our factory is managing to fulfil orders. Bear in mind if something suddenly becomes unavailable we may send a frozen alternative. We would usually call you to explain beforehand but this may not be feasible during this busy time so where possible our drivers will bring out the alternative.
If there isn’t an alternative and you need the product let us know and we will endeavour to arrange an interim delivery with the missing product as soon as we have a supply or an alternative.
Our drivers are working very hard to get to you but they have
increased deliveries to make at the moment and there may be delays. In order to protect themselves and our customers, where possible our delivery drivers will be adopting a ‘no contact’ approach, minimising social contact.
We have ‘Regal Cool Bags’ available to help customers facilitate ‘Door step Deliveries’ for a nominal fee of £1.50 (below our cost price). Alternatively our drivers do carry bio degradable carrier bags if you would rather your order be left in one of these.
Please discuss any other necessary arrangements when placing your order with the Customer Service Advisor or add any delivery instructions to “Additional Details, Additional Information’ when placing your order online.
As usual customer service is of paramount importance to us, we are a small team so we appreciate your understanding at this busy time. We will continue to closely follow advice from the Government and Public Health England and further updates will be sent out as we find out more information.
If you
have any concerns do not hesitate to contact us and we will assist where we
can. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our customers
the best in what is a very worrying time.
Thank you
for your loyalty and we look forward to supplying you with the best seafood,
best service and best advice despite the current situation.
This week we got to catch up with our Call Centre Manager Julie, a keen walker who’s using her passion to raise money for a fantastic cause in Macmillan Cancer Support!
How often do you complete a challenge walk? I have completed one or two a month over the last year.
What do you enjoy most about walking? I have always loved the outdoors, I really enjoy the exercise & the “feel good factor” (once I have completed a challenge event)!
What distance do you tend to cover? Anywhere between 20 – 27 miles, sometimes over very difficult terrain (thanks to the Great British weather)!
What has been your favourite walk so far? Difficult to say a specific one, I completed the Yorkshire 3 Peaks June 2019 for charity which I thoroughly enjoyed. However on a slightly different scale I completed one recently in January called the “Filey Flyer”! The 23 mile walk started along the cliff tops of Filey & taking in parts of the Cleveland way, Wolds Way & Centenary Way. The sense of freedom was exhilarating!
How often does the dog join you? Unfortunately not as often as I would like her to, many of the challenge events stipulate no dogs allowed as they cross private farm land where livestock are grazing. I do however walk every day & weekends where I’m not on a challenge walk I will take her out with me still covering distances of 10-20 miles!
Why did you choose to walk for Macmillan’s? This is a charity which some of my family members, work colleagues & friends have all benefited from. It’s a charity none of us want to have connections with as it can only mean one thing if we do! However their work & dedication is amazing & any charity event I can organise or partake in to help raise money for this more than worthy cause is well justified. My Husband & I are completing a “Macmillan Mighty Hike” on 4th July in Northumberland covering a distance of 26 miles from Alnwick Castle to Bamburgh. If you would like to support this event please follow the link to my gofundme page!
Responsibly sourced by Regal – Plastic pollution and protecting our seas!
Our objective here at Regal is to supply our customers with information
about the fish we source and supply . Whilst all of our fish is responsibly
sourced and within the quotas set by the government, were possible we promote more
sustainable species and you may have noticed that we have been more recently
highlighting Coley and offering discount packs as an incentive to give it a
try.
Coley is a more sustainable option than other white fish and is just as
tasty and versatile. As with all of the wild species of fish we supply you can
check the RASS
(risk assessment for sourcing seafood) status using the links underneath
the species on our website to find out more information on the fisheries and
how they are managed.
In addition to our responsible sourcing of seafood we work closely with
external bodies to ensure that our packaging is responsibly sourced and that we
supply our customers with the correct information in terms of recycling our
packaging.
Our poly bags, fresh fish boxes and cardboard boxes are all widely
recyclable and we take advice from external charities such as Plastic Oceans UK to ensure we are
‘plastic intelligent’. But we are always looking to improve and as advances
come we are looking to be the first on board!
We are going one step further in our quest to be more responsible and from
this month we will be actively promoting Coley. For every offer pack that we
sell, we will donate a reusable plastic bottle to local schools as part of our
project. We will also make a donation to Plastic
Oceans UK as a thank you for their efforts in protecting our seas.
Keep an eye out as we release more information about where the bottles will
be donated over coming months.
Our
aim is to provide the usual excellent service to our customers with minimal
disruption however due to the evolving situation with the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) we would like to reassure you that we are implementing the following
in accordance with the latest government guidelines and that we will closely
follow advice from the Government and Public Health England.
Currently
our staff are working from home where possible and so we would ask you to bear
with us as it may take a little longer to answer calls and respond to queries,
you may also notice that when we call you the number displayed could be
different from usual. Where possible we will leave a message if there is no
answer.
Visitors
to our sites have been restricted and all staff are taking extra precautions as
recommended and are following the NHS stay at home advice where necessary. An
increased level of health surveillance has been implemented across our business
and supply network and we are continuously monitoring this.
Where
possible our delivery drivers will be adopting a ‘no contact’ approach,
minimising social contact in an attempt to protect our customers as well as our
staff. We have ‘Regal Cool Bags’ available to help customers facilitate ‘Door
step Deliveries’ for a nominal fee of £1.50 (below our cost price) please make
the Customer Service Advisor aware when placing your order. Please discuss any
other necessary arrangements when placing your order.
Currently we believe these procedures should be adequate to prevent any further disruption to the business, please be assured that we will be doing our upmost to continue the best service possible to our customers. However due to unprecedented demand for our Home Delivery service, over the coming days and weeks we are unable to notify customers of products which become unavailable on the day of delivery, we are taking additional steps internally to track product availability, which in most cases will mean we are able to advise on product availability ‘at point of sale’.
If you have any concerns do not hesitate to contact us and we will assist where we can. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our customers the best in what is a very worrying time. Thank you for your loyalty and we look forward to supplying you with the best seafood, best service and best advice despite the current situation.
Whilst
it may have made jaws drop with the realisation of what our children were being
fed, it seems the impact that it had may have been more significant than first
anticipated. Bringing the issue of nutrition to the forefront of the media when
childhood obesity is at an all-time high was much needed and this along with
other similar posts, helped to raise the discussion once again. ‘What can we do
to fight this issue?’
The
Huffington post was the latest to publish their version of School meals around
the world (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/school-lunches-around-the-world_n_6746164)
with Popcorn Chicken being staple on the USA meal programme to Brazilian Pork
with blackbeans and rice. In fact most images show a well-balanced meal, given
that it was published in 2017 after a much needed shake up had been handed out
by governments across the world.
Schools
in England have been trying to improve their offerings over the past 10-15
years with Celebrities pushing the subject into the media and raising the
question about how we can all improve.
Alarmed
by rising obesity rates in children, Jamie Oliver met with Prime Minister Tony
Blair in 2005 and challenged the government to improve the system and the
School Food Trust was introduced. Schools across the UK invested into the
programme and drastic improvements followed.
Children near serving line with healthy food in school canteen
Whilst
the school meal system has improved massively over the past few years, one
thing that hasn’t changed much in that time is the number of servings of
seafood offered to pupils each week. The health benefits (http://blog.regalfish.co.uk/2019/12/09/fish-and-its-health-benefits/)
of Seafood are well documented and the NHS (https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/fish-and-shellfish-nutrition/)
recommend two
portions of Seafood weekly with one oily fish such as Salmon. However most
schools in this country have continued to offer the usual one portion,
generally offered on a Friday.
Of
the various images from the highlighted countries, 3 of the 9 included seafood.
Italy featured locally sourced fish served on bed of arugula, South Korea
offered fish soup with tofu and rice whilst Spain sautéed prawns over brown
rice with vegetables.
With
seafood gracing 1 in 3 offerings it shows that the rest of the world holds fish
and shellfish in high esteem. Then so why does a landlocked country such as
ours only choose to serve it 1 day a week? Are we really giving seafood the
respect it deserves?
We’ve brought together some of our favourite lunchbox ideas and quick and easy to prepare products that are perfect for busy families. And if you need any tips on encouraging your little ones, check out our blog post. (http://blog.regalfish.co.uk/2019/10/23/seafood-for-kids/)
