The way people buy spices at bulk bins is completely backwards

I stood in the bulk aisle at WinCo yesterday watching this lady fill a bag with pre-ground cumin from the bin that costs $4.29 a pound. Meanwhile the whole cumin seeds were sitting right next to it at $2.15 a pound and you can just toast them in a dry pan for 3 minutes then crush them. She walked away with a bag worth maybe 50 cents of cumin that she paid like a dollar fifty for because of the markup on ground stuff. I do this with coriander too - buy the seeds for half the price and grind them myself in a cheap mortar I got for $8 at a garage sale. It tastes way fresher and I swear I save about $30 a year just on spices alone. Has anyone else figured out which bulk items are actually a scam and which ones are legit deals?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordan90323d ago

Wait, you're telling me I've been paying the lazy tax this whole time?

logan23623d agoTop Commenter

Laughing out loud because yeah, the lazy tax is totally a thing and it hits way harder than you'd think. Been there myself more times than I want to admit, like paying extra for pre-chopped veggies just so I don't have to wash a cutting board. It's basically the price we pay for not wanting to do the boring stuff, and it adds up faster than you'd expect. Kinda hurts to realize you've been handing over cash just to avoid ten minutes of work, but hey, convenience feels good in the moment right? Just try not to think about all the money you could've saved, it'll only make you mad lol.

garcia.tyler21d ago

Laughing at myself a bit here because I'm probably the king of lazy tax when it comes to spices. I'll pay extra for pre-minced garlic in a jar even though I know a head costs like 50 cents and takes 30 seconds to chop. But then I'm also the guy who will grind whole coriander seeds in a coffee grinder I found at a thrift store just to save maybe 15 cents per batch. It's like I pick and choose my battles based on pure whim instead of actual logic.