There are certain spices that I must have for cooking. I prefer garlic salt to garlic powder, but I like the style that contains coarse salt and some parsley. It is lower in sodium than most other types of garlic salt, and it tastes better. Of course, there are several other spices I keep on hand as well. I recently tried buying spices at Aldi, and I like what they have to offer. The jars are fairly large and only cost around a buck. They have a version of the garlic salt I like too. I enjoy their steak seasoning as well.
We have a local Italian specialty grocer that sells a very large variety of the Spice Supreme brand of spices. I used to avoid them for many years because of how cheap they were, assuming they were old or not of good quality, but I've changed my mind in recent years - many of them are quite good, and just about all of them only cost around $1-$2 a bottle. I've mentioned on here in other threads, but I'm a big fan of their garlic & pepper seasoning blend- it's got the right ratios of all the ingredients and they are all ground to the same size so they flow out evenly. Other brands I've tried have coarse pepper, and finely ground garlic, causing some ingredients to settle to the bottom and others to rise to the top, so they don't pour out evenly. Also, when you need to make a recipe that calls for a large amount of a given spice, such as a big pot of chili, it kind of sucks paying like $6-$7 a bottle for some "gourmet" brand version of the chili powder, when you're gonna end up needing like two or three bottles of it at least. Another situation would be if I'm doing a big BBQ and need to season several chickens and other cuts of meat - one bottle of McCormick BBQ seasoning isn't gonna cut it, but I would hate to blow like $15-$20 on several bottles of it. Another good place to check is your local food distributors - that the restaurants use. Some allow the general public in as well, such as Gordon Food Service (GFS). They have really large bottles of spices for only about $7 each. That may sound like a lot, but the containers are about the size of a 1/4 gallon carton of milk. I would also suggest checkout out any specialty stores such as middle eastern grocers, as they too sell large bags of spices very inexpensively. I picked up a 2 lb bag of chili powder at one near me for like $3.
I usually buy mine from a natural food store that sells them in bulk after reading a tip about it somewhere online. I thought to myself, organic spices cheaper than the commercial stuff at the supermarket? Sign me up for that. It also meant I could branch out and use spices that are usually prohibitively expensive, like cardamom, as long as I keep my amounts small.
We don't have any real Indian stores around here where I live so I have to make do with buying them from my local supermarket. They are perfectly good quality but they just do not have the selection that I would like to have.
I have never thought to shop for mine anywhere else other than my local supermarket. I just get them from wherever I'm doing the shopping at the time. It's never occurred to me to even look at them in a health store, because I have it in my head that they're likely to be more expensive. Maybe it's time for me to do a little research, rather than making assumptions
I like coarse garlic salt and prefer it over white or seasoning salt. A few years ago, my area got aLog In that carries a wide selection of seasonings, spices and gifts for the person that really likes to cook. While these are not exactly cheap, the quality is incredible and can create a number of recipes for the at-home chef.
I haven't tried Aldi's spices. I should probably do that as some spices I just purchase at whatever grocery store I choose to shop at when I purchase them. Others I like to get online. In bulk. Cinnamon is something I use quite a lot of that I find I get a better deal on that way. Better quality, too, than I can afford in the grocery stores. I also buy cloves, pickling spices, curing salts and caraway seed online for the same reasons. I have no doubt that my online list will continue to grow in the future.
There's a spice shop I've been dying to go splurging all up inside of in my city but the prices are sickening. I get it. I understand quality costs but I'm already frustrated with simple McCormick pricing. This place took it to a whole different level.
I just buy mine from Tesco, they stock everything I need, the prices are reasonable and the use-by dates are good. The spices sold at the local Indian grocer always look tempting but the packets are far too large for me to use up in time.
I usually usually buy in the outdoor markets because the quality of the products are always better (at least that's the impression I have ) and the prices more inviting to my pocket.
I usually buy spice at the produce markets where I will be able to get vegetables and most spices in their natural, unprocessed state. The only spice that I may need to get in a packaged state is the curry powder which I usually purchase in the supermarket.
I don't buy spices anymore because they grow on my backyard. From Italian to Indian spices, I have it all. I love the taste of fresh herbs better so I decided to have them on my garden.
I buy my spices at my local super market if I don't find what I want there I will go to any of our outdoor markets where most spices are fresh. My outdoor market is quite far from where I live so I rarely go to it even though I prefer their spices and food. My local super market is only 10 minutes away so it's more convinient as I can go walking.
I don't buy them anymore because I have a Garden. The only spice I buy on groceries is curry powder but most them are thriving on my backyard and on my container garden at the balcony deck.
I mostly buy the spices in the market where you can see that buying spices and other raw food is easy. As you can see that there are times when the spices are cheap. And some of the expensive shop have it at premium prices. Local markets are lot better on that part. These days also many online shops are selling them.
I buy all my spices from our local grocers and make my own mixes at home. In India, we use a lot of red chilli peppers, black peppers, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, cloves etc. and I buy them every month. Other than that, I use garlic and ginger too in my cooking but these we get fresh all year around and can be bought from our green grocers any time. Other stuff such as oregano, thyme etc. have to be bought from certain supermarkets only.
Except for garlic, onion, ginger, and red chili pepper, I buy most spices from a supermarket chain which offers fresh, dried, or powdered spices including those that don't grow naturally in our country. I don't feel safe buying powdered spices at the dry goods section of the local market as the vendors don't seem to be concerned about expiration dates and proper storage. On the other hand, the supermarket chain is quite strict about packaging and labeling. They also sell spices that can't be found in the public market.
I buy cheap spices and find them at Walgreens, CVS and Don Quiote. I love garlic salt too, and Don Quiote got them on sale quiet frequently all yr. through, so it goes for 1.79 on sale for 9.3 oz or 263 g. Walgreens and CVS has sales or in store specials on herbs. I only but herbs and spices on sale at grocery stores or CVS and Walgreens or Don Quiote. Safeway has spices on sale too. All have their ads online too...save money buying on sales.
