Well, the beauty of a high speed quality blender is how well it can handle fresh ingredients and whole grains, seeds and spices.
Any spice blends are pre-ground and fruit concentrates are not fresh, and boullions?...all are full of salts and sugars that you have no knowledge of the ingredients. Listed ingredients are not what is involved in processing. Sort of defeats the purpose of fresh blender foods.
If you like the convenience of spice blends and want help with a certain soup spice blend i would suggest you make a post and we would be happy to help you make your own. Just a few whole seed spices with many pantry ingredients you already have, could combine to make a custom blend for your own version that is just what your family likes. And much cheaper to stock fresh whole seed spices.

thanks sleeve,

i just got on the Penzey's email list and they are sending me a catalog, so that should help and they are in Philly and i am in suburb so i could go there which is even better....

your right in your advice, i didn't think of it that way, just looking for an easy way....

thanks again!!

Oh, i'm all for easy. If we ever see green grass again, ill be making a bbq blend and a blender sauce from fresh seed spices...but i will make a big batch and it will not be that fresh since i'll put it in a container for the spring 1/2 dozen uses. Still better than something packaged.
Penzey has some good blends. Go for easy and eventually they can help you mix your own blends. Just watch out for added salts and sugars. Much better to control that later to taste.

i hear u about green grass....

we are in for another round on wednesday nite and all day thursday...they are calling for 6-12"
this is soooo depressing.... :( we had freezing rain/sleet/snow last week and we lost power for 3 & 1/2 days, that was brutal...
they are calling for snow first then rain, which u know is the worst....just praying we don't lose power again!!!

i need SPRING!!!!!!

i do like anything that's not packaged....

when u do your spice blends, what do u store it in???
how do u decide if it goes in frig/freezer or cabinet??

We are getting at least a foot starting late tonight...snow day tomorrow.
On top of an existing foot or more so our driveway is getting very narrow!

I ground some spices last night for an Adobo chicken dish. Made a big dutch oven version to have storm leftovers. The spice mix was a blend i just do by eye, about 3/4 cup total, then divided it and added smoked paprika and more dried chilis for some pork tips i need to roast/braise for pulled pork. I get storm anxiety about loosing power, so i need some things already roasting or resting when it hits. I'll start some bread tonight.

I do save and re-wash old spice containers. But mostly use the French style working glass jars. I've had some since college and Costco has them now so i am stocked up. I make my own mustards, mayo and cocktail/ketchup style sauces so they are the most handy.
Wide tops and snap-on lids. Great for salad dressings and sauces. I use ball jars for grains and seeds. The French jars are great that you can use a sharpie to label the tops and comes right off with a damp edge of a cloth with a bit of BarKeepersFriend powder.

Penzeys has whole spices. I was given some spice mixes as a gift and never used them.
I'm looking at one right now and it says salt, sugar, black pepper as the first three ingredients for a spice rub. Then paprika, nutmeg, sage, cayenne and red pepper.
I have all that and so much better fresh ground.

I just got this new batch of jars last week.

If you want to use spice blends, Penzey's and the Spice House have many very good salt free blends (and most of them are also sugar free - sugar seems to come up mainly in BBQ blends). There was a thread recently where people mentioned a number of them. Usually I use the whole spices and prepare what I want for a particular dish, but the blends are nice on occasions when I'm in a hurry.

The Spice House had lower prices and I don't detect any quality difference between them an Penzey's. Penzey's seems to start with higher prices and then have sales or coupons and free samples.

sprtphntc - I think you should make the trip to Penzeys just to smell the spices/blends. They have a pint size jar of each of the products in front of the display. You can just open up the jar, take a wif and imagine all the good things you can do with that particular item.

Teresa

thanks everyone for the great advice....

i do have the "working jars" so that's helpful....

Teresa, i think i will make a trip when the weather gets better...we just can's seem to shake all this snow...
more tonite, 1-3" , so city parking will be a bear....

thanks again everyone for all the valuable advice, i am not going to buy the "blenditup spices"....

stay warm :)