One sneaky expense of cooking from scratch is those darn little bottles of herbs and spices. We love cooking a lot of different ethnic food, which means lots of lovely flavors, but we’re a big family and the costs of all those seasonings add up!
The good news is, you don’t have to pay for those pricey grocery store bottles. Here’s my best advice on how to approach spices, where to shop for them, and how to store them to maximize your money.
Start at Costco
If you have a Costco (or Sam’s Club?) membership, start there for spice shopping.
Cinnamon is practically a food group around here because we use it so liberally on oatmeal and muesli. One of the principles of lowering your grocery budget is pay attention to the things you eat/buy often, because savings there move the needle more.
We also buy dried onion, garlic powder, ground black pepper, and a salt-free seasoning blend at Costco. Pretty much anything they sell that we use often is a good candidate.
To give you an idea of how much you can save this way:
Today at Safeway, I could buy a 2.37 oz bottle of cinnamon for $3.49 (McCormick), $2.49 (Private Selections), or $8.49 (Morton & Bassett).
Today at Costco, I could buy a 10.7 oz bottle of cinnamon for $3.49. It’s great cinnamon, and even if Morton & Bassett is better, I don’t value it as 11x better. Yet, it’s 11 times the price per ounce!
Find Your Local Ethnic Food Stores
I don’t know where you live, but chances are there is a Mexican food market and/or an Asian food market somewhere in your vicinity that you might not even be aware of. They tend to be located in non-descript strip malls, so they can be easy to overlook.
They are a GOLD MINE for inexpensive spices.
Today you can buy ground cumin from Safeway for $3.99 for a 1.5 oz plastic bottle. That same $3.99 price tag bought me a 14 oz bag of ground cumin at Apna Bazar. Even the big bulk bottle of ground cumin at Safeway is $9.49 for 4.5 oz. I paid essentially $1.27 for that amount simply because I ventured into an Indian grocery store instead.
Is there a difference in quality? Maybe. I haven’t found personally found that to be the case (except for the superior quality of Penzey’s, mentioned later).
For most people, the only different in quality they might notice is if a spice is less fresh or potent. The solution for a spice that is less potent is simply to increase the amount you use. The cumin I bought from Apna Bazar was lovely and flavorful, but if I theoretically did need to add more if it, it certainly wasn’t 9 times more! 🙂
Look for Bulk Bins
If you’re trying a new recipe and only need a little of a spice, purchase it in the bulk bins! You won’t need to buy a whole bottle of something you won’t use again, and the price is often less per ounce. This is a cost saver, as long as you aren’t too heavy handed. You can even bring a tablespoon measurer after you’ve put some in your bag to help you estimate if you’re in the right ball park.
Remember to Shop at YOUR Grocery Store
Take the time to create a price list of your local grocery stores, so that when you do your regular shopping, you’re continually reaping the savings. It wouldn’t make sense to include every spice you use on your price list, but if you just compare a handful of spices from store to store, you’ll find a pattern that points to YOUR best store to shop for spices.
I compared my local Winco with my local Safeway and found that Safeway was often twice the price for the little spice bottles:
Look all the Options (and Check the Cost per Ounce!)
Even if you’re at the right store, you’ll likely have a flood of options.
Of course the store doesn’t line up all the bottles of turmeric next to each other so you can compare. You have to check for every brand and every size bottle! Fortunately the cost per ounce is listed on the label, so it takes less than a minute and can save you a dollar or more per spice. I don’t make $60/hr while grocery shopping very often, so it’s worth my time to scan the shelves a bit!
In this photo, you can see that a bigger bottle of fancy-pants organic nutmeg was almost half the price per ounce of the more standard McCormick nutmeg (185.7 cents vs. 349.1 cents per ounce):
Don’t forget to check the ethnic sections even within the store: At Safeway, the cheapest curry powder in the spice aisle is $7.49 for 1.75 oz. If you look with Mexican food, however, you’ll find a baggy of curry powder for $1.99 for 1.5 oz. That’s a much better price, and definitely worth getting to see how you like the flavor! If you try it and like it, you’ll save $5 every time you buy curry powder.
Consider Penzey’s Spices
This is not a sponsored post at all. Penzey’s doesn’t know I exist!
We used to live just around the corner from a Penzey’s Spice Shop and I loved walking over there with my little kids to peruse the gorgeous arrays of flavors from around the world. They have samples to sniff and cool descriptions to help you distinguish between Turkish Oregano and Mexican Oregano, or Sweet Paprika and Half-Sharp Paprika. They often throw in free bottles and stickers with your order and ours had the sweetest older ladies working there.
The good news for my budget was that although their prices are top-quality, they are very affordable when you buy them in bulk bags, rather than in the glass jars.
We don’t have one close by anymore, but we still often choose to stock up on spices by buying them online (they even sometimes have sales!) through penzeys.com .
Ten years ago we spent $50 getting a whole bunch of square tin containers from Specialty Bottle in two different sizes. The bigger size was reserved for spices we used most.
With a little label making magic, these have been work horses for over a decade. I can tell at a glance where things are without alphabetizing.
(I do have a cardboard box in my pantry with all the bulk bags for refilling the containers every handful of months, and I go ahead and just keep the big Costco bottles next to the cute containers because I don’t want to mess with refilling those.)
Here is a price comparison:
Safeway McCormick Oregano is $3.99 for .75 oz, Spice Island Oregano is $6.99 for .6 oz. Penzey’s is $6.69 for .8 oz, but it’s $14.95 for a 3.2 oz bag. So when I purchase a large quantity, it’s slightly cheaper than I could buy at the grocery store, and the quality is outstanding.
Spice Inventory List
I don’t consider myself a highly organized person. At all, actually.
But I do have a piece of paper taped inside my cupboard that is alphabetized. I can quickly check our status on the obscure spices we have accumulated and easily note the ones I’ll want to purchase the next time we place an order at Penzeys, so that I will order enough to qualify for free shipping of course!
I’ve been marking this particular copy up for several years, just erasing and re-writing as needed.
Proper Spice Storage and Shelf Life
There is a lot of information out there about how to pamper your spices.
Here’s your dose of reality from a real mom: I keep my spices in a dark place at room temperature AKA my kitchen cupboard and a cardboard box in my pantry, because heat and light will shorten their shelf-life. However, I don’t sweat expiration dates. We tend to use up most of our spices within a year or so, but the more obscure ones might sit around longer and lose some potency. I just add a slightly greater amount to the recipe for more flavor if I need to!
Buying whole spices and grinding them fresh (for things like cumin and coriander, for example) will extend their shelf life. Storing spices in the fridge or freezer will extend their shelf-life. But I just keep mine in the cupboard and it’s worked great for over a decade.
So, there ya go. Make delicious food, save money, and stress less.
I also find great bargains on Amazon, especially if I am buying in bulk. Since I have a Prime membership the shipping is usually free and it is very easy and convenient.