Got blown away at the grocery store today.

Adillo303

Adillo303

*****
While I was grocery shopping today, I stopped to look at spices. I was low on Rosemary and I looked at Saffron and Vanilla beans.


Vanilla Beans - Two beans for $16.00 (approx) $1,023.36 a pound

Saffron - $18.99 for .06 Oz - $5,065.00 per pound

Rosemary - $141.00 per pound

Kind of blew me away. When I got home, I looked at Spice House

Madagascar Vanilla beans - 3 for $5.24 Yes there are more expensive Vanilla beans, I hardly think McCormick uses them.

Saffron - $8.49 per gram / $149.95 per Oz / $2,399.20 per pound
This is Spanish superior grade. There is one grade better. Again, I do not think McCormick uses the top grade.

Rosemary - $1,89 per Oz $18.99 per pound fro whole needles.

I suppose lots of you already knew this, it just really surprised me. I was used to picking up a jar of spices and going on.
 
I can't grow spices, but this is one reason why I grow a lot of herbs, including a large rosemary bush. Every fall, I dump the dried herbs in the kitchen, dry some from outside, and refill my jars. I freeze pureed basil in water and throw a cube in tomato sauces during the winter. I use fresh as much as I can, but for example, today we have 9 inches of snow on the ground! I'm not going out for some herbs! lol
 
www.beanilla.com for decent prices on beans. Spices can be a real stinger if you have to stock up in quantity. I shop the Mexican food aisle. Most contain cello packs of various spices at a good price. I also try to buy spices in bulk when ever I can. The trick is not to get carried away as you should really turn your spice/dried herb inventory every 6 months or less.
 
California Cook = The spice House is where I buy my online spices from and used for comparison today. I like their things.

Tomato powder - Interesting - I have to think about that.

I would probably have just tomato Tomato Paella as a meal. I made this one a while ago for Family.
 

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Adillo303 said:
California Cook = The spice House is where I buy my online spices from and used for comparison today. I like their things.

Tomato powder - Interesting - I have to think about that.

I would probably have just tomato Tomato Paella as a meal. I made this one a while ago for Family.
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WOW! That looks dee-lish!!! :clap:
 
buzzard767 said:
Maybe I'll just buy big bottles of stuff at Sam's Club. lol
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You may think you're saving, Buzz...but in the long run, if you don't use the spices or herbs quickly they'll lose flavour.

Try the ethni aisles in the supermarket. Badia is a brand name in the spanish aisle that carries almost all the same varieties as McCormick for about 1/4 the price.
 
I buy vanilla beans here. The quality has always been excellent.

You can get a sampler pack of 10 Tahitian and 10 Madagascar for $9.45, free shipping.

Use what you need, and before the rest dry out, make vanilla extract.
 
VeraBlue said:
You may think you're saving, Buzz...but in the long run, if you don't use the spices or herbs quickly they'll lose flavour.

Try the ethni aisles in the supermarket. Badia is a brand name in the spanish aisle that carries almost all the same varieties as McCormick for about 1/4 the price.
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So true, Vera. I can't tell you how many times I've had to throw out a more-than-half-full container of spices from Sam's.

I've never seen Badia products but then again, I've never looked for them. Thanks for this, Vera.
 
Like Vera, I find Badia spices much more reasonably priced.

The only thing I would add is when you get them home, transfer them to a jar or other freshness-saving container. Their cellophane packaging isn't good for long term storage.
 
Because of the short shelf life, we've started buying a lot of of less common dried herbs and spices in the small containers (on the right in the photo).

We buy only the frequently used items, such as oregano, basil, chili powder, etc., in the larger sizes. We date everything with an indelible Sharpie pen, and toss them when they're beyond a certain age, usually about a year after opening.

We also keep them in a drawer as light and kitchen heat will destroy flavors quite quickly. I sort them by name; anything starting with A, B, or C is in one group (that's about half of all spices for some reason) and D - Z in another group.

Because they're in a drawer, I write the first letter or two of the spice on top of the jar with a Sharpie or white-out to make finding what I want a bit easier. (DW writes the whole name, which is difficult to read.)
 

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SilverSage said:
Like Vera, I find Badia spices much more reasonably priced.

The only thing I would add is when you get them home, transfer them to a jar or other freshness-saving container. Their cellophane packaging isn't good for long term storage.
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I can find Badia is small jars now in addition to the small packages. Perhaps you can ask for those to be stocked??
 
buzzard767 said:
Maybe I'll just buy big bottles of stuff at Sam's Club. lol
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That's what I do. Even if I end up throwing some of it out, it's still way cheaper. Tell you what, though...If you store your spices in a cool dark place, they stay good a LOT longer than "they" say.
 
vb, i always check the ethnic food aisles first if i need spices and herbs. badia is good stuff, and like you said, 1/4 of the price.
i often stock up at the paterson market since they're even cheaper, and sometimes they have really fresh stuff (freshly dried? lol) in open bins so you can pick and choose the amounts you want. plus, they have hard to find things like culantro, or mexican canela.

andy, if you're in the neighborhood, check out the paterson market just off of crooks ave. it's a few blocks behind corrados.
 
Hi Buckey - Thank you. I am just discovering the things that are around in Paterson, even though I am in the next town over. I will definately look. I am probably going to the fish market Saturday.
 
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