Dry onion soup mix can be costly when buying in the box at the store. For my French dip sandwiches I use both packets in the box. That makes for an expensive dinner. Making you own mix is pretty inexpensive especially if you have a store that you can buy spices in bulk.

I have found I don't like a lot of the recipes out there for dry onion soup mix for two reasons. First, many call for beef bullion. Why would I put beef bullion in onion soup mix? The store version doesn't have it. But what the store version and beef bullion have in common is MSG. Well I don't want that in my mix anyway. And secondly, the homemade version has a lot more dried onions in it than the store version. So I've altered the recipe a little - less dried onion flakes and more onion powder because I still want the onion flavor. 

One way I save money on spices is to buy in bulk. We have two local stores that sell spices in bulk. I was given a bunch of Island Spice jars. I love the way they look, but they can be pricey. So I just refill them from what I can get in bulk. I was missing some jars so I have purchased those when they were on sale and I had a coupon and refill those when they are empty.

Buying in bulk will do two things for you. 1.) you don't have to pay for the container and 2.) if you need just a small amount of a spice that you don't regularly use, you can only buy what you need and not waste an entire container. One more tip I can give you on this is to take a marker with you to the store when you know you'll be buying bulk spice. Tie the bag with a knot instead of the twist tie they provide and write the number on the bag. Then you won't pay for the weight of the twist tie.

This post is part of our Outside the Box Mondays series.  Please check out our other ideas on how to save money.

 

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