How Do you Buy Spices

Hello Everyone!  I suppose today's blog entry is more of a tip than anything else, and I promise full of savings!  For most of my life when I needed spices, I'd go to the spice isle, look up and down until I found what I wanted, then usually chose the least expensive brand because I found some of those jars of goodness really expensive!

What most people don't realize, spices have a shelf life of 6 months to a year, beyond that they have lost quite a bit of their flavor and "power" so to speak.  When I learned this and actually did an inventory of my spices, I found some that I had in my cupboard that were there since college...well beyond the 1 year mark!  So, I'd like to recommend you change up the way you deal with spices, from storage to acquisition.

1.  Purchase a set of generic spice jars.  These come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, and most all include labels for a variety of spices.  If they don't come with labels, pull out that old label maker you have laying around and don't know what to do with..OR..use a dry erase marker to write on the top of each jar.  Here is an example:  This is on Amazon.com, just search for spice jars.

2.  AVOID the canned spice isle.  Go to a supermarket that has spices in bulk.  You will quickly find you can fill a spice jar for less than a dollar vs. several dollars on the pre-packaged type.  You can also buy the amount you think you will use in a year vs. a jar that may last until the end of time!

3.  Now that you have jars that are all the same size and shape you can arrange them in a variety of ways that fit your cupboard.  I purchased a wire tray and line mine up in there...it's awesome and so easy to access.

Once you get used to getting spices in the bulk spice area, you will never go back to the spice isle.  I'm not saying that on occasion I don't use pre-packaged rubs and odd spices, but 90% of the time I can get what I need in the bulk area.

Eat Well!