So lately, my life has been pretty uneventful. I haven't really done much cooking since it's either been humid, we've been grilling out, or we've been hitting the town with Eating Milwaukee (since my last post here we've reviewed Speed Queen BBQ and Barbiere's Italian Inn- a review which has not yet been published but is coming soon!) Over the weekend, however, I took a trip to one of my two favorite food-type stores in the entire world: Penzey's!
I went to Penzey's to pick up a few things and ended up with an entire bag full of spice-related goodies. Oh, that store never ceases to make me wish I had an unlimited cash flow and cabinet space (even though I, um, have an entire cabinet devoted to spices).
I went there for two specific reasons: 1- that I had a coupon from my last catalog for a free Northwoods, BBQ 3000 or Black/Red seasoning. 2- in the most recent catalog (which I suspect is never showing up at my house because it was due to arrive when the maintenance people switched around our mailboxes with the neighbors and right after that switch happened, we didn't get any mail), I read about a Beef Roast Seasoning that sounded a-MAZING! So of course, it was necessary to make a trip to Penzey's!
So, after browsing for about 1/2 hour, what did we emerge with?
Northwoods Fire (one of Andy's favorites, this jar was a replacement for the last one)
Black & Red Spice (because it smelled delicious, was one of the "free" options, and also because the Black & Red Chicken sounds tasty!)
Mustard Powder (because there was a recipe in the latest catalog, which I happened to pick up a copy at the store, for mac & cheese which called for mustard...)
Taco Seasoning (because who doesn't love a good taco seasoning?)
Chicago Steak Seasoning (self-explanatory! and also because we ran out of my favorite steak seasoning: the Rancher Steak Rub from Wildtree)
and
Man, life is good since I live really near Penzey's!
My goal for the next few years is to get rid of all of my spices that aren't Penzey's, Wildtree, The Spice House or from other specialty shops. I know McCormick's spices are not bad, but they just aren't as good! For example, in 2005 I started making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. I used my McCormick cinnamon. The pie was good, of course, it's pumpkin pie! The next year, I had gotten some Penzey's Cinnamon (in this case the China Tung Hing Cinnamon) and used that instead. China Tung Hing Cinnamon = much tastier pumpkin pie. Promise! Now to get ginger and cloves from Penzey's...
Other Penzey's favorites in our house include the Cajun Seasoning, Chili Powder, Cinnamon Sugar (great in applesauce!), Tandoori Seasoning, Sandwich Sprinkle and Tsardust Memories.
I realize that spices from places like the above are not the cheapest, so it may bring about the question "how is this frugal?" Well, splurging on good spices equals even better food. You may cut corners by buying bulk meats and freezing it, making more things from scratch, drinking Crystal Light or Kool-Aid (don't knock it...) instead of buying soda, some people use beans more often than meat (I'm not going to do that since I don't like beans, but I've read that it is good for the budget!), etc etc. There are a lot of ways to cut your food budget, but I think skimping on spices is a poor way to do so. For example, if you are pouring over the ads every week and see a good deal on chicken and buy a bunch of it to freeze, when the time comes to eat said chicken, a cabinet full of good spices equals a lot of choices for making a delicious marinade.
A lot of spice specialty shops also have multiple sizes of their spices. With very few exceptions, I buy the smallest jar possible of a spice before I know if I am going to love it or not. I can always buy more if it turns out that it is the Best. Spice. Ever.
One of the problems with buying higher end spices is that it gets seriously addicting and then you are devoting an entire cabinet to spices. Not that I would know...
So I highly encourage you to find a specialty spice shop in your area and go there for your spice purchases from now on. If this is old news and you already do this, where do you shop and what are some of your favorite spices?
Coming soon- a post on the importance of good olive oil. It makes a difference, really!
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