Your throat feels scratchy; Your joints feel achy; Your chest and head are congested.

Welcome to half of Baton Rouge!

Before you jump into that chilly car and make the trek to your local pharmacy to drain your wallet loading up on pills and syrups, a leading expert on natural cold and flu remedies suggests you first take a good look in your kitchen.

"The answers for those annoying winter cold and flu symptoms might be sitting right in your own cupboard or refrigerator… at a cost of only pennies," says Dr. Cass Ingram, author of The Cure is in the Cupboard and Natural Cures for Killer Germs.

Dr. Ingram says most homes are already equipped with a powerful array of germ-busting "hot" spices that have been used for centuries to knock out a wide variety of cold weather ailments such as influenza, bronchitis, sinus troubles, and even common cold symptoms.

"Why spend additional money to buy cold and flu prevention when it's already right in your own home?" says Dr. Ingram.

Here are some of Dr. Ingram's cold and flu busting remedies:

Sore throats: clove and cinnamon stick tea with raw honey

Intestinal flu and upset stomach: fresh ginger root tea

Colds and congestion: the hottest spice in your cupboard -- thyme, oregano or cumin

Sinus trouble: hot spices that also drain like horseradish and/or oregano

Flu: raw honey with fresh lemon five times daily plus hot organic chicken soup with thyme and oregano

Steam remedy for cold and flu: boil a pot of garlic and onions and breathe; then add to soup and consume