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I noticed that Penzeys has a store a couple miles from my house. I'll need to check them out. Thanks!
Remember that Penzeys has an extensive on-line business. Anything in the store is on the website.
I buy a lot of spices and Penzeys generally is very reasonable when compared to the supermarket brands and unlike many of the ethnic stores spices, they are very fresh.
I like that you can buy nearly all of their spices is very small containers.
The Spice House in the Chicagoland area is also owned by the same family. While they offer good spices, I do NOT like their packaging as it generally is much flimsier and I don't like buying spices from bulk containers where people are sticking their hands in it.
We have an "Amish" store close to where we live (a discount grocery frequented by the Amish, run by either Menonite or more progressive Amish). I buy all my bulk foods and spices there - they have no-frills containers of all kinds of different spices, from star anise to thyme, at a fraction of what the grocery store costs. It's like a general store, with everything from work clothes (Amish) to flour and cereals in bulk.
So I want to make lemon-poppyseed-blueberry muffins today. I have a mix (sorry, no time for scratch baking! ) but it's lemon-blueberry and has no poppyseeds. Well, to me it's not a lemon muffin without poppyseeds, so I added those to my grocery list.
Well, so much for that. I checked the spice section at my local grocery store this morning and a 1.25-OUNCE jar of poppyseeds was $5.69!! Seriously?!! Needless to say I did not buy them -- I figured I would check amazon when I got home, and I did, and I can get A POUND for $11.99 (and there are some that are even cheaper than that, but I figured I'd go with a pound -- even the ORGANIC is almost 4 ounces for $4.79, about one-quarter the cost of my local grocery store).
Spices and seasonings have gone up steeply in price. In addition to that, many of the stores appear to think that spices are an item that they can mark up generously.
Maybe their hope is that you must have it, you don't buy it often, so you will bite the bullet and just pay for it.
Unfortunately, cheap spices are not worth the purchase price. Spices are things where quality counts and quality costs. There are places and ways to get quality spices and seasonings for less cost. Not cheap, but less than the little bottles at the supermarket. This is where the skill as a shopper can come into play for big savings.
So I want to make lemon-poppyseed-blueberry muffins today. I have a mix (sorry, no time for scratch baking! ) but it's lemon-blueberry and has no poppyseeds. Well, to me it's not a lemon muffin without poppyseeds, so I added those to my grocery list.
Well, so much for that. I checked the spice section at my local grocery store this morning and a 1.25-OUNCE jar of poppyseeds was $5.69!! Seriously?!! Needless to say I did not buy them -- I figured I would check amazon when I got home, and I did, and I can get A POUND for $11.99 (and there are some that are even cheaper than that, but I figured I'd go with a pound -- even the ORGANIC is almost 4 ounces for $4.79, about one-quarter the cost of my local grocery store).
/end rant ... I was just stunned at the cost!
Karen, you are not alone. There is a thread on here about overpriced food items that bug people and spices was mentioned. There is also a thread about overpriced spices and I am going to merge your new thread into the existing thread. I hope your muffins turn out yummy!
Spices and seasonings have gone up steeply in price. In addition to that, many of the stores appear to think that spices are an item that they can mark up generously.
Maybe their hope is that you must have it, you don't buy it often, so you will bite the bullet and just pay for it.
Unfortunately, cheap spices are not worth the purchase price. Spices are things where quality counts and quality costs. There are places and ways to get quality spices and seasonings for less cost. Not cheap, but less than the little bottles at the supermarket. This is where the skill as a shopper can come into play for big savings.
I do understand that some brands of spices taste better than others, but honestly, for most of mine I have bought expensive and I have bought cheap and I can virtually never tell the difference -- I don't think my palate is that sophisticated!
OK, others in the reincarnated part of this thread mentioned smaller markets and I've found that to be true. There is also a specialty foods supermarket near me that sells loose spices, which may be an option if you want to try something new without buying a whole lot.
Yesterday I noted that Spice Island brand Turkish bay leaves were $9.99 at Krogers! Yikes. I need some but figured I'd hold off until I get over to the Middle Eastern store I visit about once a month.
OK, others in the reincarnated part of this thread mentioned smaller markets and I've found that to be true. There is also a specialty foods supermarket near me that sells loose spices, which may be an option if you want to try something new without buying a whole lot.
Yesterday I noted that Spice Island brand Turkish bay leaves were $9.99 at Krogers! Yikes. I need some but figured I'd hold off until I get over to the Middle Eastern store I visit about once a month.
I also noticed it once with sesame seeds -- the odd thing about those was that the sesame seeds in the SPICE section were outrageously expensive, but the sesame seeds in the CHINESE section of the same grocery store were really cheap (and tasted fine!).
I also noticed it once with sesame seeds -- the odd thing about those was that the sesame seeds in the SPICE section were outrageously expensive, but the sesame seeds in the CHINESE section of the same grocery store were really cheap (and tasted fine!).
I'm not surprised!
I've seen black mustard seeds (something I use often) going for between $5-10 per ounce on some online spice vendor sites; and they're about impossible to find in a regular grocery store. However, a little Indian store near me sells a 6-oz bag for $1.99.
There is sadly not a significant Mexican/South American/Asian demographic where I live. However, we rock for Middle Eastern and Indian so I try to reserve the bulk of my spice/legume/hot sauce and oddball food purchases from them. A girlfriend and I do a roughly once-a-month trip to three different stores. Often we'll divide up bags of spices or whatever which makes it even cheaper.
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Cost of spices & related (e.g. poppyseeds)
) but it's lemon-blueberry and has no poppyseeds. Well, to me it's not a lemon muffin without poppyseeds, so I added those to my grocery list.
Needless to say I did not buy them -- I figured I would check amazon when I got home, and I did, and I can get A POUND for $11.99 (and there are some that are even cheaper than that, but I figured I'd go with a pound -- even the ORGANIC is almost 4 ounces for $4.79, about one-quarter the cost of my local grocery store).
