I've been lucky enough to live alongside bay trees for decades now but on god I've never met a plant that stores worse than bay. Completely different animal. You put it in a cabinet for one week and it looses half its flavor. One month and it dries up into a crunchy little nothing. Anyone who tries to sell you a bay leaf in a little plastic jar that has been in Walmart for half a year is complicit in pushing those recipe blog ingredient lists.
If you don't have fresh bay around (and who WOULD) just use a little greek oregano or thyme. But ideally, if you live in zone 8 to 10, plant a bay laurel because they are just wonderful trees and are a truly useful addition to any garden. Also they make SO MANY BAY LEAVES. You'll never want for it again.
being able to go outside and grab a flavor is one of the best parts of my life
Okay maybe this is a US thing or a skill issue but dried, cheap, grocery-store bay leaves do absolutely taste and smell like something and their presence in a broth is very detectable. Maybe ones that have been in your cupboard, open but unused, for several years lose their potency but people are being insane hipsters about this posting like "well unless you get artisanal hand-picked fresh bay leaves from the farmer's market where I barter my kombucha mother mock-dashi flakes"
actually I think this IS a US thing, or at least a regional thing. if bay isn't a staple seasoning for you, the ones in your pantry are probably older and staler; similarly, if it's not a staple seasoning in your area, the ones at the grocery store probably have slower turnover and are more stale. where i live, bay is a standard seasoning in basically anything you cook in a pressure cooker, most importantly beans, and most households are cooking beans 2-4 times a week, which means people actually go through bay leaves at a fast enough clip that if you buy some at the store they weren't sitting for months in inventory
