Spice it up!!

I love herbs and spices. You can take almost any meal and get two completely different styles from just changing the spice combinations while keeping the methods and main ingredients the same. This is great because it makes it easier to maintain variety but allows you to keep the minimal amount of ingredients on hand. But, getting the spices right can be daunting. Make a mistake and dinner might be inedible.

My favorite book on the matter is A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices, which I picked up at Savory Spice Shop I also buy all my spices from them because they're local and I can get there when I run out of something. I've since turned others on to Savory and they do ship all their inventory quickly and for a reasonable price. A good online resource is 3men the breakdown of spices is great. Another online spice shop is Penzeys. And finally Spice Advice is another great spice primer that is run by Tone Brother Brands, the makers of French's Mustard and Spice Island spices.

I keep most of spices in the pantry, in brown glass bottles to preserve flavor and color. Light, heat and moisture will kill most flavor. When adding spices to a hot pan put the spice in a measuring spoon or cup and then add to your dish this lessens the chance of moisture from the pan getting trapped into your storage container. I to keep seeds or whole spices. When I need ground spices, I use a coffee grinder dedicated to spices to grind that way we don't get coffee flavored spices.

Bargin Mecca (Went to Costco today)

I've loved the store before it became Costco. My affection began with Price Club and just got stronger when it turned into Costco. I can spend an afternoon just browsing the aisles. But I don't buy perishables at Costco because it would spoil before we could eat it all. Also, I can usually get produce cheaper at the farmers market. I buy bulk dairy, meats and canned goods. My strategy is simple if it's a staple item with a long shelf live packaged in manageable portions I'll buy it at Costco. I try only to buy staples at Costco because if we have a box of snickers in the house we'll eat the box. My main food staples from the warehouse store are

Dog Food
Cat Food
5 lbs block of Chedder
Milk
Beef
Pork
Chicken Breasts
Fish Fillets
Sausages
Baked Beans
Refried Beans
Tomatoes, Diced
Chicken Stock
Onions
Baking Supplies

Most of the fresh and frozen items I buy have to be repackaged for storage but taking an extra 30 minutes and repackaging is easy. Besides, if you include the time to repackage the items; I'm still ahead of the game by not going to the store weekly and I always have food that stores well on hand. To prepare for storage I use my second favorite kitchen tool my food sucker it works well with most things I freeze. I'm not sure how I can use the bulk buying power of Costco with the 100 mile diet but right now I've found most of the meat is local to Colorado at least. We're trying to decide if the salmon is something we can do without.