Seasoning salt, Italian herbs and other ready-made mixtures often make cooking that much easier. After all, it’s handy to be able to cover five spices in one go, isn’t it? Some brands are so successful with their spice blends that it’s hard to imagine today’s supermarket offers without them. My tip is therefore: Do it yourself!

I always look at the ingredient list of spice blends that sound interesting to me. Sometimes I get new ideas, how to refine the next meal this way. We buy the most common spices and herbs in bulk from a local store and mix up what we need ourselves. Not only does this save you money, it also means less waste. Plus, mixing different spices together is fun – it doesn’t even require any special cooking skills.

One of our favorite blends? Seasoned salt.

We use:

• Coarse salt
• Peppercorns
• Garlic granules
• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Basil
• Thyme
• Savory

Depending on your taste, you can throw a pinch of chili flakes into the mix as well. Put it all in a grinder, give it a good shake, and your all-rounder spice blend is ready. We use this for everything from salads to baked potatoes and scrambled eggs.

Have fun experimenting!