Do you ever catch yourself eying the mouth-watering choices of amazing spices at the grocery store? You know the ones....small, beautiful jar, fancy tag with flowing writing, and it typically costs more than the cut of meat you're going to put it on. I love using spices and marinades in my cooking. Luckily for me, I grabbed a few dozen bottles of marinade for free after coupon. Unfortunately, the spice blends don't tend to come down in price often.

The good news? With a dozen or so basic spices and a few pantry basics, it's possible to have a variety of amazing spice blends to choose from. Over at Eat From Your Pantry, there is a great post about seasoning blends - it's truly amazing how many different blends you can make with ingredients you probably have on hand already. Trust me - it's as easy as:

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Spice

Kansas City Style Rib Rub

Budget 101 - they have 164 different spice blend recipes!!

Taco Seasoning

Ranch Dressing Mix

Unless I stumble onto another freebie seasoning deal (which this is the right time of year for), I have plenty of resources to help me get the same flavorful punch for a lot less money. As for marinades, I haven't spent too much time learning how to make my own. In my defense, when they're plentiful and free, there is really no incentive to make my own. When the deals run out, I'll be posting marinade recipes, but until then - I'm resting on my laurels, or at least resting on a full stockpile that includes more than a dozen different marinades.