Homemade Spice Blends and Mixes

One way I save a little money and minimize our consumption of preservatives is to make our own seasoning and mixes!

These are very quick to make especially if you have a  well-stocked spice collection.

Some of our favorites and the mixes I have on hand right now:

1. Rotisserie-Style Chicken Seasoning. I almost always use this when cooking a whole chicken. I triple or quadruple the spice blend recipe and have it on hand to save me time later!

2. Israeli Spice Rub. This is one of our very favorites--a little spicy. Good for chicken breasts  and even chicken legs. I've also used it on a turkey breast and want to try it on fish.

3. Ranch Dressing Mix. I've only used this in a recipe so I can't vouch yet for how it would taste as a dressing. But we really liked it in a  recipe. I did whir mine in my coffee grinder for a powdered consistency.

4. Onion Soup Mix. I've used this in both casserole recipes and as a dip. It's very good. The turmeric does make the dip rather yellow so if that bothers you, it can be omitted; I didn't notice any extra flavor from it.

5. Taco Seasoning. Simple and easy! I was using a recipe that was good but about a mile long. This is much easier with only a few ingredients!

These take minutes to mix and are easy to store in Mason jars--mostly pint or half-pint. I keep lids from mayo (and honey) jars to use on my jars for storage. The lids aren't exactly aesthetically pleasing but I'm ok with that! Baby food jars can be used to store small amounts of mixes as well.

I like to keep my spice blends in the freezer for freshness but if you're going to use them pretty fast, they should be fine in your cabinet.

These mixes are so handy to have all made up and ready to use!

Do you make any homemade mixes?