Over the weekend we finally got around to sorting through all of our spices and putting the most used ones in a new stainless steel spice racks mounted on the wall. We discovered in this process large quantities of spices that we bought a long time thinking we would use them again and again but instead they got stale and lost their potency in the back of the cupboard. So while I am all for buying some items in bulk, I don’t think that spices are a smart item to buy in mass bulk form. From now on we will be buying small quantities of spices at a time to ensure that we don’t waste money and end up throwing what were once wonderful gems or aromas away.
Good tip – that happens to me too. The only problem is you can buy spices at Costco that are 10x the quantity and very often also cost less than spices sold at the grocery store.
We tend to get our spices at a local natural food store or at the bulk burn. This way we totally control the quantity we purchase but we get a great price compared to buying bottled spices.
I think it just depends on how often you use the spice. If it something you use daily than you can buy it in bulk because you will go through it quickly. We find buying whole spices works the best and last the longest. Until the are crushed they stay fresh. We just crush them ourselves in our mortar.
We need to find a place that sells whole spices. We have a great mortar (a coffee grinder dedicated to spices does the trick too) but never find whole spices. Where do you shop Miss T?