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January 2013 Grocery Challenge

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  • Shortie
    Shortie Posts: 2,224 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    This GC isn't going according to plan... we still have Mr Shortie's folks with us since before Chrimbo and we had Mr Shortie's brother, sister-in-law and niece stay for two days, bringing with them their wine and a pack of biscuits that they took back with
    them.

    Mr Shortie has been shopping twice since our 'shop to get us to the end of December' and another £18 gone :(. We've been eaten out of bread and drunk out of milk and tea bags (though Mr Shortie's Mum did replace them today which I was thankful for)

    I'm still keeping a tight eye on the spends, and even though I think we'll be going over budget I'll keep updating this thread. It was probably a bad month to cut the budget by £50 (i.e. on a month when we have a week of 2 more adults, and 2 days of 2 adults and a child on top of the extra 2 adults!) but I still want to try for it as much as poss.

    We have lots of leftovers-meat in the freezer (ie frozen picked off bones chicken, phesant (yea.... we all told Mr Shortie not to get one, so he went against us and got TWO instead :mad:. None of it was eaten as it was bone dry, so it's been picked and bagged for a curry on the basis a curry is wet and will rehydrate the meat a bit) and gammon bits. Then outside of the Xmas leaftovers we have a reduced Chinese style duck and a few packs of mince. We shouldn't have a huge meat bill for the rest of the GC, but we will need a mega top up of consumables - bread, milk, cheese (while using up the blue cheeses we'll be left with that we don't eat, sigh..), butter, fruit and veg. We'll also need pasta and potatoes and other bits.

    I doubt (already) that we'll be able to come within budget this time but I WILL promise myself to keep track of the overspends on this thread to keep my eyes open. Off to update sig now

    Sorry for the grumpy, grumbly post x
    April 2021 Grocery Challenge 34.29 / 250
  • VickyV
    VickyV Posts: 247 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker
    Shortie wrote: »
    This GC isn't going according to plan... we still have Mr Shortie's folks with us since before Chrimbo and we had Mr Shortie's brother, sister-in-law and niece stay for two days, bringing with them their wine and a pack of biscuits that they took back with
    them.

    Grrr! I hate it when people arrive with goodies, eat yours and then leave with said goodies. :p

    In limbo at the minute as i'm not supposed to be starting until the 1st Jan but we need to shop for fruit, veg and staples and it seems wrong to stock up before I start - I'm only fooling myself after all! I think I'll ignore my little spend in the fruit shop today (I had the urge to cook a fancy 3 course meal for hubby as the poor thing's back at work and I'm not!) but will start the challenge tomorrow so I keep track!

    As part of said 3 course meal I did a chicken fricassee (a bit 70's, I know) which should serve 6 if done in full quants and I reckon would work out at about 85p per head including rice accompaniment - I've seen chicken legs in Ald1 800g for £1.99.

    RECIPE

    Ingredients:
    1-1.2kg Chicken pieces (legs/thighs for best value)
    1 large carrot - sliced
    1 onion - sliced
    200ml white wine
    1 bouquet garni
    100g mushrooms
    juice of 1 lemon
    2 egg yolks (save the whites for a meringue)
    60g butter
    salt & pepper to season

    Method:
    1. Put 1.5l of water in a large heavy based pan along with the onion, carrot, bouquet garni and chicken. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
    2. Remove the chicken and pat dry. Reserve 200ml of cooking liquid (save the rest and use as chicken stock in tomorrow's tea or freeze).
    3. Melt the butter in the pan and add the chicken. Cook for 10 minutes taking care not to brown (although mine did and it was still fab!:cool:) - this may need to be done in batches.
    4. Add the wine and reserved stock and simmer covered for 35 minutes.
    5. Pour a large glass of the wine you opened for this meal and relax for 20 mins - optional but recommended :D
    6. Remove the chicken pieces and keep warm, strain the liquid back into the pan. Add the roughly chopped mushrooms, season and simmer liquid until reduced by a third. Take off the heat and add the lemon juice and egg yolks stirring constantly, put back on the heat and stir until thickened slightly - not too much or you'll be fishing scrambled egg out of your lovely sauce!
    7. Return chicken to the pan and coat in the sauce. For true 70's dinner party elegance(?) serve into the centre of a ring of rice and pour any remaining sauce on top.
    There you go, easy and a great excuse to open a bottle of wine!I don't think it will freeze all that well but you can easily do half, as I did, for two greedy adults and a three year old on hunger strike (as I am being unreasonable in serving him vegetables "all the time":mad:)!

    Vicky x

    P.s. elsiepac sorry to hear about your mum, hope everything goes well!
    Grocery challenge:December 2022 £151.96/£400 . Advent decluttering challenge 47/240.
  • storytime
    storytime Posts: 334 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    VickyV wrote: »
    Grrr! I hate it when people arrive with goodies, eat yours and then leave with said goodies. :p

    In limbo at the minute as i'm not supposed to be starting until the 1st Jan but we need to shop for fruit, veg and staples and it seems wrong to stock up before I start - I'm only fooling myself after all! I think I'll ignore my little spend in the fruit shop today (I had the urge to cook a fancy 3 course meal for hubby as the poor thing's back at work and I'm not!) but will start the challenge tomorrow so I keep track!




    Surely it's all relative? What you buy at the end of January will be used in February etc. I bought half price pork chops and sausagemeat in mr T yesterday all packed in the freezer for January but I won't buy anymore now until 1st Jan as I now feel guilty!
    My secret fantasy is having 2 men....
    1 cooking and 1 cleaning.
  • lushlifesaver
    lushlifesaver Posts: 2,375 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Not starting on our Jan budget yet but today I have to go and get milk and some Day Nurse tablets as bf is feeling ill. Not a massive expense as I have kept a chunk of change from December (what we didn't spend on our Christmas Eve night out as we came back early!) in my purse and will use that :)

    One of our freezer draws has cracked right down the front so at some point will have to empty that and mend it (bf's mum knows some stuff that will mend it apparently) and I could do with defrosting the freezer anyway so may well try and run it down to pretty much empty this month and get that done. Any top tips for defrosting it?

    Are many of you that have started January's budget finding any bargains in the supermarkets? Haven't even tried to venture in to one yet for fear of getting squished by crowds but will have to attempt it next week!
    ************************************
    Daughter born 26/03/14
    Son born 13/02/21
  • EN3
    EN3 Posts: 11 Forumite
    I'd like to join too please. Its my first time at this, so I suspect it will be a work in progress but I am determined to generally get more organised in 2013. I live with my partner + 1 dog +/- my mother or occasional guest. Both my partner and I work shifts - often subject to change at short notice. I am going to start collecting receipts as I have no idea what our current HK spend is - other than too much :eek:
    On the positive side the small chest freezer is full, the smaller freezer in kitchen is probably half full, I have a good basic stock cupboard for seasonings etc, and an overflow for the EU food mountain in my 'office'. So the plan is to first inventory everything, then meal-plan and continue to follow the thread for advice and inspiration.
    Many thanks to all of you who have inspired me to finally get my backside into gear!!::T
    Decluttering 2013 challenge. GC Jan 2013:£100 spend/£240. 20p Challenge 2013. 50p Challenge. £365 in 365 days. I WILL Mealplan and not change my mind!
  • the_cat
    the_cat Posts: 2,176 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    I don't feel guilty stocking up! There are so many more whoopsies for these few short days than usual it would be silly not to! I am doing an annual budget and will start with completely full freezer and stores. My aim is to have a similar stock at the end of next year but if I don't succeed, then at least I tried
  • KatyReed+5
    KatyReed+5 Posts: 128 Forumite
    I had spent the last few months running down my stocks to start a fresh in Jan, but i had a bit of a session yesterday and have made quite a good freezer batch cooking stock with everything i had in, needlesstosay i now have very empty cupboards, i also have sliced up a bucket load of left over christmas ham to freeze, thanks for the advice. I am today going to use all the leftover veg to make some carrot and lentil soup for lunches for me, i'm so excited about getting back on the GC wagon in the new year :D X
    June £0.00 GC / £200.00
    Family of 4 : 1 adult 3 kids ages 3,4 & 5.
  • Morgana3577
    Morgana3577 Posts: 1 Newbie
    It is also my first time and initially for Jan 1st - 31st I will be aiming for £400 for 2 adults + 2 children. I feel this is a lot, but this is my initial guestimate on our monthly grocery list so January will be figuring out exactly how much we do spend on a monthly basis and will then adjust accordingly for Feb. Ideally I would like to get it down to £250/month.

    This should be fun :)
  • she_who_can_not_cook
    she_who_can_not_cook Posts: 650 Forumite
    MrsCD wrote: »
    You can freeze passata to use another day - use ice cube trays so you can use as much or as little as you need.


    You can also freeze wine, but as mulled wine has spices in it, I'm not sure what you would add it to. Usually it's things like mince based or steak based casseroles. Alternately, you could make a posh jelly with gelatine and fruit.

    i am another icetray user usually its leftover juice from a tin of plum tom's or juices from sc chicken even leftover gravy ect anything that i can add to give favour to my soups
    Gc 2013 +26 -5. -4 -7 -14 -15 -10.-8.20 +15p+30+5.80 Dec +9 GROCERY challenge 2014 Jan -2Feb -3 March -1.50 April +5.40 May +4.90 June -3.July 16.50/85

    God bless my sweet "old man" Goldie that died in the early hours of 27 th March please see him on my avatar
  • Josslette
    Josslette Posts: 554 Forumite
    Hi everyone :)

    Please could I be put down for £255 from 3rd Jan til 14th Feb?

    Unfortunately we will only have £50 of that until 15th Jan(when OH gets paid) so trying to do what we can with Christmas leftovers. Already made some pea and ham soup with a chunk of the christmas gammon, so there's four portions of that in the freezer.

    We're starting on a healthier plan in Jan, trying to make healthier meals and not buy lots of chocolate etc. But I am a bit concerned that the healthier meals may end up being expensive. We'll have to go to Makro and bulk buy some chicken breast :D
    September Grocery Challenge £0/£225
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