10.25.2011

Tuesday Tips: Saving Money on Spices

I am constantly shocked at the price of spices when I look the shelves in the grocery store.  $4 for that TINY little bottle?!?  You must be joking!  

My friend and neighbor grows a lot of her own spices and dries and grinds them.  I love the freshness of this, but in my present stage of life, I've decided it's just not for me. (other than the basic herbs I grow in my garden and planters.)

Most bulk stores sell spices in large quantities for a reasonable price...but there are very few spices that I would use up fast enough to justify purchasing such a large quantity. (splitting with a friend might be a good option there.)

So -- what to do?  Aldi has a decent selection of spices and they are all about $0.99 for a large jar.  If they don't have what I'm looking for, I will usually check the dollar store or Dollar General and they have basic spices for $1.00 and sometimes $0.50.  

But, one of my more recent finds is that in some grocery stores (I've found one Bi-Lo so far), there is a separate spice section with the ethnic foods and these spices are WAY less than the spices on the baking aisle.  And, they have a better selection than any of the other places I have found discounted spices.  


These bagged spices were $0.79 each and the Thyme filled up my empty jar at home which is average size.  The jar of sage was around $1.59-$1.89, my memory fails me.  But, I had looked at each of these spices at the same store on the baking aisle and they were in the $4 range each.  So...next time I need spices, I'll be visiting the ethnic foods aisle instead of the baking aisle.

Do you have any tips to add for saving money on spices??

PS -- this is my 98th post...I'm having a giveaway for my 100th post!!  stay tuned. :-)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I know, spices are the WORST! But, we can't do without them. You have some great tips! Thanks :)

brite said...

Most health food stores offer spices in bulk. At first, when you see "$21/lb for sage (or whatever) it seems like a lot, but when you realize how much spice it would take to make a pound it's a steal. Especially if you are a member of a health food store or co-op...mine offers 15% off for members ($10/year, which I make up in about two months). I bought seasonings for 60 lbs of ground pork for about $6 recently.

Lucka said...

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing this. It always made me mad that they don't just sell them in bags because that's what I'm used to from the Czech republic. Who needs a brand new jar every time?!?!? So thank you! This is very good to know!

sherri lynn said...

These are great tips! I never thought to look in the ethnic aisles but that totally makes sense!

cwely said...

I concur with Brite. When we cook Indian food especially we will go to Fresh Aire and get just what we need. You will be amazed at the difference in fresh spices as opposed to the grocery store ones that have been sitting on the shelf for awhile.

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