Not Quite Five Frugal Things and Sunday Guilt

I wanted to write a post as a contribution to the weekly '5 Frugal Things' thread on Katy's excellent  Non Consumer Advocate blog, but I am ashamed to say, I can't quite muster 5 frugal things I did this week. In fact, on reflection, it has been a very expensive week.

Costs are spiralling a little out of control with our wedding, and I have bought horrifically expensive but very pretty and sturdy fencing materials. We have also eaten out, and I had my hair done. Plus, I am have started the Cambridge Weight Plan (more in another post) in a bid to squeeze into my wedding dress at the final fitting, in 19 days time - which is expensive and making me grumpy!

So, although I only have the three paltry offerings for Katy's cause this week, I am grateful for her post as it has brought my attention to my poor efforts at frugality - credit cards balances are growing, and I need to stem the flow as much as possible. We also need to keep to the wedding budget more rigidly.

So, here were the three frugal things I did this week, pathetic though they are!:

I froze a glut of ripe avocados. Apparently, this is a 'thing' and some supermarkets are even selling peeled, frozen half avocados. I am reliably informed from a friend that this works, although the texture is not as nice as a fresh one, when defrosted. However, you can still use them to smash with scrambled egg, spread on toast or as guacamole. Got to be worth a try and better than wasting them.

I also froze a bunch of leftover parsley that was going a bit off. I chopped it roughly and froze it in a Tupperware box in the freezer. It was absolutely fine in an omelette later in the week.

I rescued a soft, bendy cauliflower, roasting the florets tossed in harissa paste (though I suppose curry powder and oil would do just as well) in the oven, with the intention of taking them to work with some hummus, for lunch. But it was so good, we scoffed the lot still warm, before I could even take a picture! Still, better than wasting them.

On a frugal food note, we are quite lucky here. because takeaways don't deliver this far out. So where in the old house we would definitely have ordered a pizza after a night at the pub on Tuesday, this week we came home and made a scrappy tea of sausages, homemade chips and baked beans, saving about £20. You could say we were saved from ourselves!

This weekend, I had been looking forward to measuring and staking out the soft fruit beds ready to strip the turf.  But, the drawback of being a wannabe part-time smallholder and a full-time office worker, is that I am so, so tired. I ended up spending yesterday with friends, family and at the hairdressers. Today, the weather has turned and is a bit grey and windy and we are both dog tired. I just can't muster the enthusiasm, even though I want my patch up and running so badly.  I don't trust myself to measure accurately in this state!

But, I am thinking that it is better to wait and do garden jobs with whole hearted enthusiasm, than forcing it. In this modern world, we are so unkind to ourselves and heap on so much guilt.

So I have taken instead to my favourite autumn/winter pastime - quilting in front of the iPlayer, catching up on Gardeners World. Happy Sunday all.