If you have a health food store in your vicinity try buying your spices there. Ours has a wall of jars with every spice you can imagine. As an example, bay leaves were about $6 in the grocery store but only 60 cents in the health food store because they buy by the ounce and the spices don't go stale before you can use them because you buy just what you need. I buy vanilla beans there and make my own vanilla with them.