SPICE IT UP!

An important element to your food storage is to make sure you have enough spices to last you for a year supply. We don't know if we will ever need to live soley off of what is in our storage, but I do know if we ever needed to, I would need A LOT of spices to make my hundreds of pounds of wheat, pinto beans, rice, oats, pasta, etc. taste good! I LOVE to cook and LOVE buying new spices! The more spices and flavor, the better for me! So...what spices do we need in our food storage to make sure we have enough flavoring to make our food taste good? Besides being able to make our food storage food taste good, having a stocked pantry and food storage filled with a large variety of spices will make cooking and meal planning fun! If you have a good supply of spices in your pantry, you will be able to make nearly ALL recipes.

So...this is what I do. The spices I KNOW I go through quickly I buy at Costco in the BIG jars. This way, I know I will use the spice quickly and don't need to worry about the spices losing their flavor over time. Any of the spices I buy at Costco I always make sure I have a backup jar (for when I run out and to make sure I have my year supply). I buy my spices in three quantaties--MOST (the spices I use ALL the time and I make sure I have 2 or 3 extras of each thing), SOMETIMES (the spices I use a lot, but don't rotate through as quickly) and RARELY (spices I use only every now and then and I usually don't have a backup). Here are a list of the spices and flavorings I keep in my storage:

MOST (spices I use ALL of the time and keep in LARGE quantaties!):

*Montreal Seasoning (or Kirkland Steak Seasoning)--absolute favorite!!!

*Chili Powder (Costco)

*Granulated Garlic (Costco)

*Taco Seasoning (Costco)

*Pepper (Costco)

*Salt (I buy salt at Costco in the 25lb. bag for around $2.49--can't beat that!!!) (8 lbs. per person for a year supply)

*Garlic Spread (from Costco--I LOVE it in everything with an Italian flavor)

*Parsley (Costco)

*Basil (Costco)

*Lemon Pepper (Costco)

*Seasoning Salt (Costco)

*Lemon Juice (Costco)

*Lime Juice

*Vanilla

*Cinnamon (Costco)

*Soy Sauce (Costco)

*White Vinegar (Costco)

*Apple Cider Vinegar (Maceys)

*Baking Powder (Maceys Baking Case Lots)

*Baking Soda (Maceys Baking Case Lots)

*Beef and Chicken Base (from Costco--McCormick--I LOVE it, it's WAY cheaper than boulion cubes and tastes better!)

*Lipton Onion Soup Mix

*Yoshidas Sauce (from Costco and is great to have in case you need flavoring for your rice)

*Dehydrated Onions (cannery least expensive)

*Cornstarch (Case Lots)

*Cumin (my new favorite spice!!)

*Cocoa (Case Lots)

SOMETIMES (spices I use often but only buy in smaller quantaties):

*Allspice

*Nutmeg

*Dry Mustard

*Rosemary

*Salad Supreme

*Cayenne

*Red Pepper Flakes

*Curry Powder

*Ginger Powder

*Real Maple Syrup (kind of expensive, but worth it!)

*Cajun Seasoning

*Poppy Seeds

*Sesame Seeds

*Dill

*Sage

*Sesame Oil

RARELY (spices I use rarely and don't keep an extra of):

*Cream of Tartar

*Celery Salt

*Mollasas

*Coconut, orange, mint, peppermint, lemon, butter, almond extracts

*Paprika

The other day I went to Costco and spent around $50 and got TONS of the above spices to make sure I have enough spices in my food storage. Per oz. spices are the least expensive at Costco. If you don't want large quantaties like they sell, you can go to Harmons, Walmart or some Dollar Stores and buy the smaller sizes for only $1. This makes stocking up on spices reasonable and that way if you don't go through it before the spices lose their flavor, you won't feel sad about throwing it out. The really good seasonings like Montreal and Johnny's Seasoning Salt won't be found for $1 :(

Remember to think in 'meals' when you are buying items for your food storage. If one of your food storage meals is 'oatmeal' then you will need ALL of the ingredients (oats, raisins, CINNAMON, brown sugar, powdered milk, SALT, etc.) Spices are an important part of your food storage--so...have fun and spice it up!!