Frugality

I have a habit of telling G, "It's because I'm cheap."  It's why I've come up with various ways to cook veggies, fruit, meats, anything that's edible.  Because I hate wasting.  I used to throw things out, now I try to come up with a way to use it.  It's just in my nature this past year.  I used to be a waster, a "throw it out it might be bad" type of girl.  Now I'm a "hmm, I could use it here or just freeze it for later."  I mean, after all, pretty much any veggie I use can be saved for stock later.


So tonight I was feeling industrious.  We had red skin potatoes, carrots, and parsnips left in the fridge.  They needed to be used up, so I threw them in the oven to roast after G and I had finished a late lunch.  After they were done I prepared some butternut squash (we have 2 huge ones and 3 medium ones) for roasting.  We're headed out to Wal-Mart in a bit to pick up more glass pyrex storage thingies (technical term, oh yes) to put the squash in so we can freeze it in usuable portions for later.  I will be roasting squash all night, but it will pay off on days when I don't feel like cooking much, and can throw it in a pan to eat by itself with some starch and a protein, or can blend it into a soup quickly for lunch.  The fibrous parts that you spoon out with the seeds are saved for the dogs who both love it, and the seeds are gathered up together and will be seasoned and roasted like pumpkin seeds.  Oh so yummy, and a nice quick snack.


In the meantime we're drinking coffee, (using the stove top percolator tonight) and I thought to myself, "hmm, we use our espresso grounds twice when making a pot, I wonder if we could with this."  So I added enough water for about 3 cups of coffee and tried it.  Worked out fantastically and saved us grinding more beans for a second pot!  Necessary?  Not really.  We're fine financially.  But I always tell people it's because we do somewhat odd things that we don't have to that we are able to not spend as much.  


I also made another batch of mock Devonshire cream, and will be making scones later (sans the sugar the recipe calls for).  G will have roasted chicken, veggies and salad for lunch tomorrow.  And earl grey with scones for afternoon tea.  He's a spoiled man, but worth every minute of my time!