Spice packs for the $2 a day Challenge

[Amaranth]

In past challenges, Dan's groups have provided participants with spice packs which included oil, garlic, herbs, and spices. And maybe people used their own salt and pepper that they already had (can't remember but it seems like they had this).

What do you think would be good herb and spice selections to provide to people and how much (g/ml) of each? Which ones do you think people would want most? And which would help the most in making it seem like there is more variety of food?

Herbs and spices are really helpful in making the same food seem really different. For example curried potatoes seem very different from parsley potatoes.

[RoseMeadow]

What would you think of having spice packets for particular cuisines? And if your group is large enough, you could have several different ones and people could sign up for their favorite? Maybe
Italian
Indian
Chinese
or even something more unusual if your group has a local favorite.

[Amaranth]

Here are some thoughts on a set of Italian ones.

For the Italian ones I would see if any anyone in the local area may be able to donate some of them fresh, but if not getting a bunch and sharing it between a lot of people would work, or getting them in bulk would work.

Dan, Do you usually assume that people will use the salt and pepper they already have or do you like to include that too?

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Basil--fresh would be best

Bay Leaf--a couple of dried leaves

Chives--fresh ones have a lot more flavor, but they compost pretty fast in the refrigerator so people would need to use them early in the week

Dill--fresh or dried leaves and also the seed

Fennel--the leaves and the seed

Garlic--one head per person is likely to be plenty

Mustard--Hard to know if finely ground or whole seed is best. Whole seed is more versatile, but not everyone may have a way to grind it.

Oregano--ground oregano is probably the most useful at this time of year

Parsley--fresh would be more nutritious and parsley has a surprising amount of nutrition/ If using fresh, flat leaf is best.

Olive oil--maybe one of the lighter tasting ones so it would be useful in more ways. How much do you think it would be good to give each person for the week?

Peperoncino--perhaps a couple of pickled ones per person

Rosemary--fresh would be nicest

Sage--fresh would be nice, but dried is good too

Sundried Tomatoes--a few of these in a dish give lots of flavor

Thyme--if someone has lemon thyme available, that would add a lemon flavor

Wine vinegar--good quality but need not be balsamic

Capers and Saffron are pretty traditional too, but probably are too high in cost for the challenge.
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Since I just now thought of this, it's too late for this year. For next year it might be worth getting participants together a few months in advance and showing them how to start windowsill herb gardens. Or we could do it as part of the week and it would start benefiting them in a couple of months.

[danfreak]

I love the idea of spice packs for different styles of food, previously we've just given out small cling-film (Saran-wrap) twists of just a few grams of dried herbs, mostly because they are cheap.

They included: basil, oregano, dried chilli, curry powder and powdered vegetable stock or stock cubes for making soup. I've assumed people had salt and pepper, but they really wouldn't be expensive to add. It would be great if groups could find fresh herbs to put in the spice packs, but at this time of year it might be difficult... The packs also contained about half a bulb of garlic each, and recycled plastic soda bottles, about a quarter filled with cooking oil, olive or sunflower, so I guess that was about 100-200ml, which should be plenty for one person for a week.

Giving seeds to grow herbs is a great idea though! Even if they won't be ready in time for the week, it's a good way to get people to think throughout the year and save money by growing for themselves.