Williams Chili Seasoning

Maybe 30 years ago I started using Williams Chili Seasoning when I make chili. During the winter, I could eat chili every day because there’s so much I can do with it besides a bowl of chili. I love it over a baked potato, topped with sour cream, chopped jalapenos and chopped red onions. I like to chop leftover chicken (or turkey), spread it in a flour tortilla, add chopped onions and chopped jalapenos, shredded cheese, fold it over and fry it in a skillet, then serve chili and cheese over that. Who doesn’t love a bowl of corn chips topped with chili and cheese? I like chili on a hamburger! This site has even more ideas for using leftover chili.

There are several chili recipes I like to make but for the chili powder/seasonings in a pot of chili, I always use Williams. I’ve always bought it in the packets but usually measure it out and save what’s leftover for the next time.

I think it was in Texas where I had a hard time finding Williams Chili Seasoning packets. Walmart has them here so I haven’t had any trouble finding them but I noticed the other day I only had a couple left. When we were in the grocery store yesterday, they had a lot of packets of Williams Chili Seasoning but they were a good bit more than they are at Walmart. I was telling Vince last night that I was surprised at how many there were in the store yesterday. He asked why I didn’t buy some because he remembered that I’ve complained in the past about not being able to get it. I reminded him that was in Texas and I didn’t buy it yesterday because it’s less at Walmart. He asked how much less so I went to the Walmart app and found that it was $1.12 per 1 oz. packet which was a good bit less than at the other store. I told him I need to get more next time I’m in Walmart. He asked if I had checked at Amazon but, for the most part, Amazon is not less than Walmart. I went to Amazon and found that they had these 18 oz. containers.

That’s 36 oz. for $37.50 so I was going to buy that. The price comes out to $1.04 per ounce. That’s less than Walmart so I was going to order that.

Then I noticed they had 1 – 18 oz. container for $16.95 so that comes out to 94 cents per ounce. I ended up ordering two of those. It doesn’t bother me to have that much chili seasoning on hand. I’ll store in the pantry where it stays dark and cool and it will be fine. I buy all the spices I can in these large containers and usually buy three or four containers at a time of the ones I use often.

Before anyone asks, the big containers are black pepper and we use a lot of black pepper. I saved an empty 18 oz. container and refill it. The 5 pound containers will last us less than a year. At Sam’s, sometimes the pepper is less per ounce to buy it in the 18 oz. containers and sometimes it’s less to buy it in the 5 pound containers so I always have to do the math.

You can see that I do buy plain chili powder too because for some things, I want just the plain.

I spent more time writing this post than figuring out the savings but, it’s 18 cents per ounce. Buy purchasing the container vs. 18 packets, I saved $3.24 and by buying two containers, I saved $6.48. Not a huge savings. Not going to break the bank or increase our bank account much but it adds up.

I do prefer being able to use 1 tablespoon, or 2 tablespoons vs. using half a packet and saving the rest so the convenience matters too. Plus, I love finding the “deals”, doing the math and knowing I got it for the best price available at the time.

Now I’m hungry for chili so I just took ground beef out to defrost and I’m going to make a big pot today.

That’s some cold temps for us and that’s when chili is the best! Thursday night it will be -11 and the high Friday will be 3 degrees. Brrrr .. I hope little Oscar is fast about doing his business outside.