Is your spice pass its prime?

Are your spices pass their prime? Cleaned out the spice drawer today. Found it hard to figure out which spices were no longer fresh. And at $4-5 a jar, I wasn't tossing alot out until I figured out what was still good. Sharing my research on how to figure out what's worth keeping.

1. Check the bottles for "Best Used by" date.

2. If you have McCormick spices, go online and use McCormick's Fresh Tester. Enter the code found on the spice jar's bottom to discuss how fresh the jar. (sad for me - my double fine dried mustard is older my marriage by 8 years!)

3. If you have Spice Islands, Durkee, Tones, Dec A Cake and Trader Choices spices, you just need to know the life of spices and how how to decode the series of black numbers and letters (not the UPC code) printed on the bottom or side or the spice container. The first number indicates the year of the decade the spice was produced. The second letter refers to the month (e.g., A - January, B - February; C-March, etc.)

General Guidelines for the Life of Spices - Spice Freshness
Ground Spices : 2-3 yrs
Whole Spices: 3-4 yrs
Seasoning Blends: 1- 2 yrs
Herbs: 1-3 yrs
Extracts: 4 yrs