I was thinking the same thing. Should have used that in my project.Let's clarify a bit, which battery are you talking about, the 1.5V battery connected to the MOSFET or the 3V battery connected to the 555?
Assuming the latter, I believe you can solve the problem by adding a power-on reset feature. Take a look here: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm#monostable and look at Power-on Reset or Trigger. And I apologize, I read Tracecom's replies but didn't realize this link came from tomega3 originally.
Disconnect pin 4 from 3VDC and put a 10kΩ between pin 4 and 3VDC. Add a 0.1uF ceramic capacitor between pin 4 and GND. When you apply the 3VDC to the circuit, the reset pin will be pulled low momentarily because the capacitor will act as a short to ground until it charges up (within a second or so if that). During this brief period, the 555 will be in reset mode which will keep the output off.
Let us know if this works out.