The Best Herbs & Spices for when You're Eating on a Budget - Including Indoor Herb Gardening Tips

The Best Herbs & Spices for when You're Eating on a Budget - Including Indoor Herb Gardening Tips
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Introduction

You probably have some spices getting bland and stale in your cupboard. You spent $6 on a bottle of Caribbean jerk seasoning and haven’t been in the island mood for the last five years. Time to throw it out.

To keep from tossing lots of expensive little jars, here’s a guide to a basic budget spice cupboard. Here are five of the most versatile and useful herbs and spices, including tips on indoor herb gardening, standard uses and a popularity rating based on the number of Allrecipes listings for each ingredient. Why Allrecipes? It’s my favorite recipe website and I needed an extremely scientific measure of herb popularity.

Of course, every cuisine calls for different spices and if you’re a gourmet Thai chef, this list may not apply (but if you’re a gourmet Thai chef, you probably aren’t reading a guide to stocking a minimalist spice cupboard).

I focus on individual herbs because I think some blends can be a waste of money. Whether you use fresh or powdered garlic, you likely have salt in the house, so you don’t need garlic salt. But if you make a lot of spicy food, you might find you’ll use plenty of curry powder, but not enough to buy the 11 ingredients in McMormick’s curry powder.

Basil

Popularity: 1,836 recipes

Standard uses: Basil has a strong flavor that chefs like enough to make pesto sauces, which are often nothing more than basil with some garlic and olive oil. Other uses for the fresh leaves include salads, Thai curries and sandwiches. Dried basil has many other uses in sauces, herb batters, breads and even desserts.

Grow your own: Moderately easy. Basil will grow inside or outside, but needs plenty of sunlight inside and may not grow very quickly. Outdoor basil must be replanted each year after the last chance of frost.

Cinnamon

Popularity: 4,167 recipes

Standard uses: Cinnamon bark is ground as a spice, mainly in drinks and desserts, but it is also used in spice mixes and many flavorful recipes. If you don’t use a lot of cinnamon every day, you should consider buying cinnamon sticks and grating them with a fine grater. It will stay fresher and last longer.

Grow your own: Probably not. Cinnamon is a 40-foot tropical tree mainly grown in Sri Lanka.

Oregano

Popularity: 1,550 recipes

Standard uses: Like basil, oregano shows up in a wide variety of soups, sauces, casseroles, marinades and more. I often make a cheap, bland spaghetti sauce delicious with some garlic and fresh oregano.

Grow your own**:** Very easy. Oregano grows quickly and easily inside or out. It’s not especially temperamental about sun or water.

Parsley

Popularity: 2,837 recipes

Standard uses: To be fair, many of the nearly 3,000 parsley recipes just call for one fresh sprig for garnish. Most garnish parsley is curly parsley, and is the basis for tabbouleh and other salads, as well as gumbo and other dishes. There’s also flat parsley, which is generally interchangeable with cilantro in Mexican food and other recipes.

Grow your own: More difficult. Parsley has a long germination period and needs plenty of light and heat.

Thyme

Popularity: 1,248 recipes

Standard uses: Thyme is your oven’s best friend. It is the key to rubs and marinades for potatoes, pork, chicken and roasts. It also adds a nice flavor to soups, salads and other dishes.

Grow your own: Very easy. It’s pretty drought-tolerant and can grow in nearly any conditions. I bought a little thyme container and it’s taking over my window garden faster than I can use it.

Finally, read this story for tips on buying, storing and using all your herbs and spices.