Spicy Enough For You?

Here are two things that just don't mix well.

1. Skyrocketing grocery and gas prices.
2. The need to replenish your spice cabinet.

Every now and again you'll see, either in the newspaper or on a morning television show, a story in which you are told that you should occasionally check the expiration date on your spices. Because their potency goes downhill after that date stamped on the bottom.

Here's my tip for you. Don't do it right now.

Not when complete strangers start conversations in Wal-mart with you with this: "They used to say that if you had to pay for your prescriptions, you couldn't afford to feed your kids. Now, if you have to pay for gas, you can barely afford to feed your family." A sweet old man passed me in the cleaning supplies aisle and told me that little tidbit last week.

He wasn't just whistling Dixie either. I had just filled up the gas tank in our van.

I made two trips to Wal-mart that day. And I never left the parking lot. My cart was so full with BIG necessary items that I just didn't have room to finish shopping. Dogfood took up the entire bottom shelf. A 9-roll package of Mega Charmin took up a great portion of the buggy space. Throw in several boxes of cereal and canned items and I was at maximum capacity. I went through the line, paid and took my stash out to the van. I considered going home and calling it a day, and returning to Wal-mart the next day.

Then I remembered what I'd shelled out for gas. I trudged back in there like a trooper and finished my shopping, but went through a different line to pay. It just would have been too embarrassing to go through the very same cashier's line. He was a young man, probably single. I'm sure the first time I went through he thought I was feeding an entire elementary school classroom for a week.

Some time in the following days, I heard that news report. The one about checking the expiration date on your spices.

Because I am diligent about such things, I turned over one jar of cilantro... and very quickly turned that thing right side up and placed it back inside the cupboard. On the shelf. And I shut the door. I was hiding the truth from myself. I was afraid all of cilantro's spicy friends were equally as outdated. I didn't check.

By all reports, the jar should have ended up in the trash. But I have maybe two recipes that call for cilantro, so the jar was still full. I paid four bucks for that thing... awhile back, evidently. I don't care how much less its strength is the next time I need it, I'll still use what's in that jar. I've never heard of anyone dying from eating impotent cilantro.

But just to be certain... have you?