Where do you buy herbs and spices ?

Edwardia

Just finished tidying up the dried herbs and spices. I had to throw a few away because OH has a bad habit of putting the oldest at the back and opening new ones.

So what do you buy and where ? Do you buy refill packs ? Dry your own ? Can anyone beat dried parsley with a use-by date of October 2009 ?

I use small coloured cardboard can trays to store the jars and packets in so that when they get knocked over the shelf doesn't end up mucky. Generally, I buy Kania brand from Lidl and anything I can't get from Lidl I buy from ASDA. However, I have to resort to London for Ras Al Hanout, Sumac and Zaa'tar- just can't find them here.

For about six months of the year though I have enough herbs in my garden to use fresh which saves loads of money on supermarket prices. Lidl has the cheapest growing herbs I've found year round but when others do special offers they can beat Lidl on price.

cheltenhamgal

you can freeze fresh herbs, I had some mint just before Xmas which I put into ice cube trays, filled with water and froze. I then defrosted them and the mint was fine to use in a marinade for chicken. If you google, you will probably find lots more advice

Haffiana

Waitrose sell Sumac, Za'atar and Ras el Hanout. The spices I use in large quantities I buy from Asian or Chinese shops - far cheaper, often far better. I have to say that dried parsley is one herb I would never use - it tastes like old lawn clippings! I always use fresh for parsley, mint, basil and coriander (green), but I use them as principle ingredients in a lot of dishes. Again, I get massive bunches from ethnic shops; most are grown in Cyprus and beat my home grown hands down.

BB34

My local Mr T's has lots of herbs and spices in the ethnic foods section, sold in bags, rather than jars, that are an awful lot cheaper than the standard jars.
Hope this helps.

In_Martin_We_Trust

i dont know if cocktail onions count in this respect but i have seen some the locked fine unopened but were about 17 years past the date. same for a tin of grapefruit that looked fine but actually didnt taste that great.

blufish_2

I tend to get things from Asda, which is significantly cheaper than Sainsbury's or Waitrose (which usually charge upwards of about 90p for their own brand herbs and spices — absolute ripoff). Lidl's do a small selection of spices — paprika, oregano, all the basic stuff, fairly cheap as well. As Haffiana said ethnic or Asian shops are your best bet for a cheaper, wider selection.

delain

Last year I finally chucked oh's spices that he bought with him when he moved in.... Some were dated 2003, one 2002! Seriously, dont know why he wanted to bring years out of date spices lol

Tamsin_Temrin

I use plastic boxes that used to have crackers in - orange one from Jacobs for spices, green one that I think was Mr S for herbs, both nice and big and take loads.

For weird herbs/spices try ebay. That was the only place I could find ground cardamom. eg sumac - ebay number 400195170676 99p + 75p p&p for 50g (what do you use sumac for?)

Herbs/spices dont really go off if kept sealed, but they become less potent. Whole food shops sell loose herbs and if they look like they have a fast turnover then they probably have the best flavour, buy little and often.

If you are a rubbish cook like me, just buy own brand, and have a separate box for unopened herbs (hide in dry place) and scream blue murder if one is opened before the first is used up.

jessnjimmy

I've just had a big delivery of spices and herbs from healthysupplies.co.uk
Another good site is asiancookshop.com

I dont have any asian supermarkets near me and I love curries!!

Couldn't find fenugreek seeds or black onion seeds (kalonji) in any supermarket. I did a large order and had free delivery. So much cheaper than supermarkets.

Trouble is when you roast your own whole spices for curry your house continually smells like the local take-away lol:D

Linda

pineapple

If you are going to get those little jars then supermarket own label are usually cheaper. Then compare the price for the refill boxes.
But I get most of mine from Asian supermarkets in larger quantities and for a fraction of the price per gram.
Last year I dried some of my own herbs and also froze some of my own oregano (have yet to try it to see what it's like).

irinaE

For TT,use sumac to spice up fish or chicken..it is used a lot in arabic food,and its lovely. Tasty but not spicy