Sales of fresh seafood are up 13% in the last four weeks. Frozen seafood sales are up by 37%.
Many grocery stores are now rationing the amount of meat being sold due to coronavirus outbreaks in some of the nation's processing plants. But on the flip side, fish is plentiful and less expensive, since restaurant closures have led to a big oversupply.
More people are cooking seafood and sales have set record highs, according to the New York Times. Sales of fresh seafood are up 13% in the last four weeks. Frozen seafood sales are up by 37%. Social media is filled with videos of quarantine recipes for seafood.
And with so many restaurants closed, there's a huge over supply of fish, which means prices are down, even for normally expensive lobster meat.
"Get ready for your mouth to water, [lobster] could go down to $4.99 a pound" said Stew Leonard, Jr., CEO of the Stew Leonard supermarket chain.
Leonard said he is making a special delivery to Martha Stewart's house later this week. "I was talking to her and I said, 'What do you want?' She said fish! I'm bringing fresh cut halibut, salmon, scallops from New Bedford."
Another good reason to buy seafood: it's healthy and easy to prepare. Executive Chef Chaz Fable showed Inside Edition how he grills salmon.
The pandemic has led to shortages of various meat products as processing plant workers test positive for COVID-19 and supply chains break down, resulting in fewer shipments.
It even prompted Wendy's to remove its popular burgers from the menu in some of its restaurants. In a statement Tuesday, the restaurant chain said that burgers are "temporarily limited at some restaurants ... supply has been tight because beef suppliers across North America face production challenges."
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