I just won’t pay several dollars for a tiny bottle of mixed spices or seasoned salt.  Not when it’s so easy to make your own, which will be a lot more flavor-able and smell wonderfully fresh compared to something made and jarred weeks or months ago.

There are all kinds of spice seasonings and mixes you can make at home. Do a Google search.

Find a combination that you absolutely love and make it your house seasoning…the one you use in and on just about everything .  For instance, Paula Deen uses a mix of salt with some black pepper and garlic salt.

Here’s mine:         Fox Pine House Seasoning

1/2 cup salt- kosher or sea salt
1/4 c granulated garlic
1/4 c celery salt, ground celery seed or even whole celery seed
2 tsp smoked paprika

I love the warm and depth of flavor cumin adds.  I also love the smokiness of the smoked paprika.   I use it on just about everything, so why not in my regular seasoned salt mix?  This seasoning gets rubbed into meat or chicken before I brown it, into every pot of stew, a sprinkle on steamed veggies, nearly all the soups i make.  I make a large jar full at once, but clearly you can reduce amounts and make s smaller batch.  If you don’t want any smoky flavor, use sweet paprika, or leave it out altogether.  Want something with a sweeter flavor?  Add something like coriander or cardamon. Like fresh cracked pepper ? Add it in.  Play with measurements and combination until you find yours.

I think celery salt is very underrated, and under used.  It adds flavor making people think “What’s in here” without recognizing it as celery. Since I discovered it, it is a favorite to use.  If you don’t want it in the mix, make your own celery salt and use more sparingly.

There are plenty of mixes you can make yourself – I make my own Taco Seasoning too, from a variation commonly found on line:

6 tsp. chili powder
3 tsp. onion powder
5 tsp. cumin
3 tsp. garlic powder
5 tsp. smoked paprika                                                                                                                                         1 tsp Santa Fe Chili powder

My family doesn’t like taco’s too spice, but if you like it with more kick, add more chili powder (or a variety – I always have plain chili, smoky Ancho chili and Chipotle chili powders in my spice cabinet).

You can find recipes mixes for herbs (Italian seasoning), lemon -pepper salt, no salt seasonings, etc all on line.  So next time you pick up a bottle that’s 2 oz and $5, look at the ingredients.  Bet you have most of them already in your pantry.