Do you ever buy prepackaged spice mixes?

I always buy the taco seasonings when they're on sale and I've always felt a little icky about it, like I'm putting a little packet of sodium and MSG in my tacos. I think I'm definitely going to try this. You can buy big containers of spices for $1 a piece at our Dollar Store and while they may not be the greatest quality I'm sure they would work fine for something like this. Thanks for the great idea!

I buy season mixes for tacos, chili, enchiladas, Swedish meatballs and stew. It is cheaper to buy it prepackaged if you don't use it all the time. Taco seasoning especially is so cheap and it saves time to just buy the packets.

I just am too lazy and buy my own. much easier and they are not to bad. I like fresh herbs though too.

Usually I just add my own seasonings but I use the prepackaged for tacos, beef stew and chili. They are convenient but with any convenient food they are more expensive then making your own. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]

I do but mixes, I use such a little bit a time, that to buy all the spices separately would be a big waste.

Thanks for sharing this recipe! I do buy the mix as I never think to make my own. I do worry about what is in them. I buy the low sodium ones but still, I am sure I don't know half of the ingredients in there. Bad thing is, I make a lot of tacos, chili and enchiladas so this would be a good alternative to buying the packs.

yes I do buy prepackaged all the time, I do not know how to make my own.

In my country these prepackged spice mixes are very common and they are used by everyone and its a household name and i think that that westerners dont like it because of the side effects and we guys have never cared about it and since my country is a neighbour to china where these stuffs are made the mixes are pushed to our country also to be sold and yeah we do mix our own stuff also but its cheap for us if we buy it rather than making our own stuff in our house and its time consuming also... Happy Mylotting

Hi rocketj1! Yes, I do buy prepackaged spice mixes. It is very convenient for me because most of the time, the fresh spice ingredients are not completely available in the local market in my area. That is why, I opted for prepackages spice mixes. Take care and have a great day! lovelots..faith

Hi rocket, Yeh, I've used the mixes in a package. They taste really yummy. I've used them for Chili too and I do believe there is much more sodium in them. They always taste salty to me but good anyway, lol! It's probably much, much cheaper to buy all the spices in the long run, but I don't have the money to do that. The little packages will have to do for now. Mmmmmmm, and taco's, yummy!!!!

We have Asian prepackage spice mixes from where I come from. Those that you mention we don't have it here. I do buy prepackage spice mixes for cooking curry chicken, black pepper chicken and other curry mixes. Curry mixes are plenty abound in my state.

For certain things I'll buy the prepackaged, like tacos. I like to buy the spice mixes in the baking aisle too, like I have a great one for hamburgers, a nice broiled steak one that I like to put on my pot roast, and some of the Mrs. Dash kinds that go great on roast chicken or pork roasts. Sometimes I buy the bag n seasons from McCormick's like the pot roast and pork chop ones. Then there are times I will make my own, but rarely from a recipe. Sometimes I'll just grab whatever's in the cupboard, give it a whiff, and then a pinch or heavy dash onto whatever I'm cooking if I liked the smell of it. I mostly do that with pork roasts, some italian seasoning, some paprika, some celery salt, seasoned salt, and whatever else I have in the cupboard. Hubby loves when I do that.

Hi rocket, Thanks so much for the recipe. I love to mix my own sppices and make my own rubs and barbeque sauce. I don't mean to say my own, as in my recipe. I wish I had a better sense of what goes together well for different purposes. I'm certain that the sodium is much higher in the packages. Just take this recipe and compare it to the premaid packages. Do you do a lot of cooking? I mean, we all do a lot of cooking, but do you like to cook as a hobby ? Thanks again for the recipe. leenie

Yes, I will use the prepackaged mixes for certain things. Call me a lazy cook, but I'm not good with mixing spices. I may have a cupboard full of spices, but I can never seem to get the combinations right to get the flavour I want. Some people can just open the cupboard and add a pinch of this, a dash of that and create something amazing. Not me. I usually buy the prepackaged stuff when I want to create something with a Mexican flavour. Taco mix, fajita mix or sloppy joe mix are the ones I use most often. And not necessarily in those dishes. I usually end up using them on chicken or pork, when I have the meat to prepare and don't have a clue what to do with it. My daughter is allergic to tomatoes so barbecque sauces are out and plain is, well, just plain boring. A package of taco spice mixed with some cornmeal for breading or mixed with water and poured on top of the meat always gives it a nice flavour.

we make our own and it is much cheaper. It also tastes better because you can add and take away. I do not like the store bought, they are always too salty. I prefer more garlic and less salt. I dont actually measure, I eye ball the spices. When we go to the store, we will look at the packaged stuff just to see what is in them.

I do mix some. I also buy the taco seasoning and the spagettie sauce mix's fairly often. I like making my own because I know whats in them. I dont like too many chemicals, additives, or preservatives. Its cheaper for me to make them and I usualy have to buy two packs of any of the premixed.

I make my taco and chili seasoning. Aside from maybe the ratio of spices my taco is almost exactly what yours is. My chili seasoning is really similar too. 2 tbsp. chili powder 1 tbsp. seasoned salt 2 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. onion powder 1/2 tsp. garlic powder Mix all ingredients. Use about a tablespoon per pound of meat.

I don't really mix anything. I do buy taco seasoning mix and use it now and then. No recipes. Not much for recipes. Most everything I do either comes out of my head or off of a box.

Thanks for the site! I will check them out. Several years ago I bought a book called "Make A Mix" Cookbook. It has several recipes in it from taco seasoning mix to your own cake mix that you can do large batches of and use as you need. I have been making my own taco seasoning mix since then. It is very easy and actually much cheaper than buying the small foil packages. I love making my own!

I make a lot of my own seasoning blends, and I reuse spice jars to store them in. Not only is it cheaper to make your own, but you can easily adjust them to suit your tastes. Printing up nice labels, a basket of them makes a nice housewarming gift too.