I mail order from Penzey’s 3-4 times a year, and they’ve never failed to send me a free 1-2 oz. sample jar of something, usually a spice mix. I’ve got a dozen of those little bastards in the cupboard right now, some of them pretty good.
Like “Sandwich Sprinkle.” Salt, granulated garlic, black pepper, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram. I’ve never sprinkled it onto a sandwich, but it’s good to know it’s in there. Probably be great on a roast chicken.
OOOOOOH, try it! It’s delicious on a sandwich! Adds a little extra pizzazz.
If your Whole Foods has a bulk section that’s the way to go - I often buy less frequently used spices when/as I need them for recipes, a couple of teaspoons might cost 20 cents.
That’s my approach, and most hippie/natural foods/woo woo stores that I’ve been to have that same spice section. If it’s something I use a lot, like cinnamon or cumin, I’ll buy a reasonable amount; but if it’s something I don’t use much and just need for one recipe, like coriander or sage, I’ll buy just enough for the recipe, and often it weighs out to like 0.01 lbs., so I pay like $0.20 for the spice.
I’m unfortunately too disorganized to buy all my spices at once, and too lazy to make an extra trip to the hippie store just to buy my cumin or whatever, so most of my spice purchases are overpriced underflavored McCormick’s from the chain supermarket. But I always feel grocerysmug when I manage to get the cheap shit from the hippie store.
I’ve never been a big fan of pre-mixed spice blends. I like to add what I like, in the proportions I like, and to know exactly what I’m putting in. If a spice blend has three spices I’m not familiar with in it, and I decide I like the taste of that mix, just which spice is it that I’m liking?
I tend to agree, but there’s a number of spice blends I love having around. First, Old Bay. Old Bay is just perfect as it is, and no copycat recipe gets close enough to Old Bay.
I also like the ubiquitous Lawry’s. It’s my general all-purpose seasoning when I don’t feel like rolling my own. Also, Slap Ya Mama cajun spice. It’s just four ingredients, but just so handy to have around. Yeah, I can make my own, but why bother. It does the job well. I also like a good number of the South Asian masalas I can get at the Indian grocery. Sure, I can make my own (and sometimes do) but, honestly, a box of Shan spices is tastier (to me) and easier than most of what I can make, especially when it contains a dozen or so ingredients, some of which I don’t normally have on hand (and I have a lot of stuff on hand.) There’s also a Georgian spice blend called kmeli suneli that I just use the imported stuff from Georgia because I know it’ll taste how it’s supposed to taste and will be made from the ingredients they normally make it from.
Oh jeepers. Both blends and individual herbs/spices have their place. When I’m making chicken salad for my kid’s lunch at 6:45 in the morning, I’m not going to fart around with finding the perfect proportions of 8 different spices. I’m just going to sprinkle some Homestead Seasoning from Savory Spice in there, and instantly elevate it from good to great.
Not here. Actually I do buy it at CostCo. Not wanting to make a ten-mile trip for research I went to the website to refresh my memory (it’s not like I buy it every week) and bumped it a bit.
I buy from Colonel De’s. It’s much cheaper than buying McCormick from the grocery store. I just bought a package of bay leaves for $1. It’s more bay leaves than come in the bottle for about 1/4 the price-McCormick at Walmart is $3.44. I’m local for them but they do have online ordering.
If you buy McCormick, you know you are paying the most. Sometimes they are the best as well, but most times not. Around these parts Tampico brand is what you’ll find in the cellophane packets in the spice aisle of the megamart.
Okay, $13. But it’s way more syrup than the pint mentioned above.
Savory Spice Shop is another on-line spice company with brick and mortar locations (including one in Chicago).
It really is worth the time to see what all these different companies carry. Each has some things the others don’t.
Try myspicesage dot com. Free shipping, frequent sales, and excellent variety.