You poor thing!

Here's how long properly stored herbs and spices should last:

  • ground spices 2-3 years
  • whole spices 3-4 years
  • herbs 1-3 years
  • seeds 3-4 years
  • seasoning blends 1-2 years
  • extracts 4 years

Depending on your tastes/willingness to accept that sometimes you won't have the right condiment/flavouring, I'd recommend only keeping the bare minimum of dried herbs and ground spices.

Freshly plucked basil is exquisite, not only for flavour, but also for aroma. Similarly fresh thyme and coriander.

Freshly ground spices only need at best a coffee grinder, and a pestle and mortar will work. Again, the flavour is incomparable to the dull lifeless flavours that characterise ready ground spices.

IMHO you don't need a vast array of spices & herbs - keep to a few simple things that you can keep fresh.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.