Like many of us on these boards, I use a lot of spices to "kick" things up. I was browsing at my local grocery when I stopped and actually looked at the bulk spices. WOW!!! What a money saver. I already have all the jars from buying the expensive stuff, they just need to be refilled. I filled my thyme jar to the top and it only cost me $0.60! If you haven't checked out the bulk section at your grocery, give it a shot. I know where I will be buying my spices from now on!

Two, bulk is where I do a lot of shopping - Nuts, seeds, bitter sweet chocolate, flax seeds, soy flour, natural peanut butter, flax oil. Between the bulk store and the Farm Boy in town we only hit the 'big grocery' stores for the cat food and the sales

Nat

My husband and I do the same thing! (refilling the spice jars). Also many grocery stores have an international/ethnic aisle where you can buy spices like cumin or cayenne for half the price of the mccormick spices. (often they are the Goya brand) and they taste great! Michelle

The only problem with bulk spices is that older spices lose their freshness and flavor, and bulk bins in general tend to have a lower turnover. Of course, this is just as true of that three-year-old bottle of coriander that's hiding in the back of your spice rack!

I went through my spice cabnit and threw away some that actually had belonged to my grandmother. Not only can spices lose thier taste, but some can even become dangerous when they get too old.

Be careful if you get spice mixes, as some have sugar. Some spices also have trace amount of carbs, but typicaly you need to use so little it's not important.

I know cinnimon has some carbs, but I love the stuff I also read in last months REaders Digest though that cinnimon was good for reducing blood sugar, so I guess it evens out. I know many diet products use it as a thermogenic. I managed to find some flaxseed oil with a touch of cinnimon oil added for taste. I can't wait to try it

I've bought my spices bulk for over 25 years, the trick is to buy them onlyu from stores that have the spices in small bins, you will get fresher spices, and also only buy in small quantities. I now keep them in those snack size zip lock bags, that I label then keep in a drawer in Alphabetical order ( yeah right, lol).For me it works far better than the jars.
Cheers Kathy

I buy bulk spices also. As a chef I use a lot of spices. But I always buy them in bulk from places like GFS food service. The spice turnover there is high. I make a lot of fresh sausage to and that means using tons of spices also at home. But beware spices have carbs!!!! 1 tbls of onion powder is 5.4 grams. Garlic powder is 6.11 grams. I am very carb sensitive so I have to keep track of it all. Over 22 grams a day and I can kiss ketosis goodbye