Spice Storage Ideas

[Anna N]

 We have had a couple of topics before on this subject but most of them are now quite old and the links are no longer operating. Further, life has moved on and perhaps there are more interesting and efficient ways of storing a very large spice collection. 

 

 My spice storage is still the bane of my life. Despite many efforts to inventory it, tidy it up, find a new spot for it, find new containers for it I end up very often abandoning any idea of making a recipe simply because finding the spice might take me longer than making the damn recipe

 

 This was brought to mind this morning because I was forced by circumstances to order spices from a rather expensive source and they arrived like this:

 

 It occurred to me that this was a whole lot smarter than the normal round jar/bottle. But of course finding such containers would be very challenging and buying all my spices this way would put me into bankruptcy. 

 

 So is there anything new in the way of space storage that you know?  Are you frustrated? Have you come up with any brilliant solutions  that the rest of us have missed?  

Edited March 25, 2018 by Anna N
To add two photographs (log)

[suzilightning]

ohhhhhh......like that.

I have a small spice rack above the baking area of the kitchen for the spices I usually use - cinnamon, vanilla beans, vanilla extract, cloves, nutmegs with a grater among others as well as some other things like baking powder and baking soda.

I also have a pull out rack between the oven and fridge that has my usual suspects there.....

my dried mushrooms are in similar containers in the cupboards right above my small prep area.

[lindag]

My spices, which are mostly Penney’s 1/2 cup and a few 1/4 cup jars, are stored in a corner carousel cabinet or, for the most fragile and oft-used, in a closed bin in the fridge door (which I believe was originally intended for fresh fruit).

[paulraphael]

All in the freezer. When my freezer had shelves in the door, I put the bottles there. Now we have drawer-style freezers. I found plastic organization bins (Container store?) that fit the bottles fairly well, though not as convenient as the door shelves. between buying whole spices whenever possible and keeping them in cold storage, they stay much fresher. I alsways have a small mortar/pestle and microplane handy. 

[rotuts]

Im extremely fortunate that I have a chamber vac sealer w an oil pimp.

 

they bags are very cheap , and can be trimmed down etc.

 

I know very few people have something so fundamentally food-changing.

 

about a year ago , I realized I could get the herbs / spiced I wanted 

 

abd re-rebag them in these bags.  I would open one when I needed something  

 

and the reseal that same bag , as the ones I made are much taller than wide.  on purpose for this.

 

Ive wasted lots of herbs and spices over time as they get old , but I got a phenomenal deal buying So Much !

 

Idiot I am , for sure.   cheap is not the same as frugal.

 

I also love jarred flavorings , indian from Patak , curry tubs from here and there

 

you get the point.

 

Ive thrown out much of the stuff from the Last Century.

 

when I get a new jar of paste or what not that I know I will only occasionally use

 

I scoop it out , into a self made taller bag.

 

as there might be a smear of the stuff at the top of that bag , I put that bag in a larger taller bag

 

then seal the second bag , effectively.  I open the first bag , take out what I need from the first bag , and reseal the second bag.

 

this is for occasional stuff,

 

the herbs and spices I freeze , as I do the various pastes.

 

it seems like a lot of work , and I hope you get the idea

 

but any hobby is work , but this one is easy and I now, once I get all the new stuff done

 

won't have much to ever through away.

 

as I see before , Im blessed I was able to invest in a chamber vac sealer w an oil pump

 

this use is just an interesting aside , to me at least.

 

it paid for itself over and over again wi9th all the SV I do on the items I know i will use

 

and now I only get them on deep sale.

 

I started the spice/herb thing over a year ago w Bell's Seasoning , in the little yellow box w Tom the Turkey on the Front.

 

I use a lot of it for the gravy I make for both chicken and turkey.

 

the  vine. '17 is still gong strong !

 

 

[ElsieD]

This is what I have.   The first two pull-outs are the same size and where the smaller jars go.  The spices are more or less in aphabetical order.  The third pull-out is wider and has three shelves rather than the four of the first two.  I use it for bigger jars and vinegars, soy sauce, and such.

Edited March 25, 2018 by ElsieD
Added picture (log)

[FauxPas]

I have very little cabinet space in this house so needed to find some solutions for spices. I have a couple of things that helped.

 

I bought one of these inexpensive little spice racks online and mounted it on the side of the end cabinet. It's good for commonly used items. .

 

And I bought an over-the-door storage unit from The Container Store's Elfa line. It holds a lot of stuff and can be customized with various-sized baskets. It sits on the pantry door, frees up a lot of shelf space and makes finding things easy. 

 

 

And if I need to put spices in jars, I picked up a couple of dozen of these glass jars with spice lids at a local spice company. They weren't very expensive, less than a dollar each. 

 

 

[FauxPas]

37 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

This is what I have.   The first two pull-outs are the same size and where the smaller jars go.  The spices are more or less in aphabetical order.  The third pull-out is wider and has three shelves rather than the four of the first two.  I use it for bigger jars and vinegars, soy sauce, and such.

 

 

Those are some beautiful pull-outs, @ElsieD! If I ever get around to replacing these cabinets (and they should really be replaced, they are so old), I would love to have a solution like yours. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

I have very little cabinet space in this house so needed to find some solutions for spices. I have a couple of things that helped.

 

I bought one of these inexpensive little spice racks online and mounted it on the side of the end cabinet. It's good for commonly used items. .

 

And I bought an over-the-door storage unit from The Container Store's Elfa line. It holds a lot of stuff and can be customized with various-sized baskets. It sits on the pantry door, frees up a lot of shelf space and makes finding things easy. 

 

 

 

I love the idea of door storage!

 

[FauxPas]

8 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I love the idea of door storage!

 

 

It works really well! Of course, you need a door near your kitchen for this option.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

It works really well! Of course, you need a door near your kitchen for this option.  

 

I was thinking the bedroom door...bathroom is too moist.

 

[FauxPas]

10 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I was thinking the bedroom door...bathroom is too moist.

 

 

You could put it over the door so it faces outward, I don't think it has to go on the inside. 

 

 

[rotuts]

so many wonderful systems

 

Im not trying to be flippant :

 

 

Penzey's Turkish Oregano , 8 0z / bag , divvied up 

 

and Bells ' , ' 17

 

and no , I have not done it right :  B '17 is in the freezer .

 

while TO for some reason is on the counter.

 

if you are able to slowly move in this direction ,

 

give it some thought

 

that bins said :

 

The Sirens are singing their song 

 

( they always do )

 

they are singing :  

 

"  F_C  , in your basement !  $ 200 , free delivery , to your very basement !  Right Now ! "

 

Ill wait for a sale.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My spice storage from the other thread...

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/15363-your-spice-cabinet/?do=findComment&comment=2142427

 

 

Except for the spices in the bedroom.

 

[Anna N]

 Well from what I see nothing much has changed in all the intervening years. @JoNorvelleWalker‘s link is ~15 years old!  

 

 Seems that efficient, affordable and compact spice storage has not caught the imagination of innovators. 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

 Well from what I see nothing much has changed in all the intervening years. @JoNorvelleWalker‘s link is ~15 years old!  

 

 Seems that efficient, affordable and compact spice storage has not caught the imagination of innovators. 

 

 

By my count the link is a month old to the day.

 

[rustwood]

We have been very happy with these cabinet organizers: 

 

 

We have 3 racks on one cabinet shelf with enough space left over for a line of the bulk spice shakers (e.g Costco red pepper).  It is easy to slide them part way out and grab what we need. Not all jars will fit side by side on the bottom, but I can usually make them fit.  The top half works well for most of our oddly shaped spice packages.

 

[Anna N]

20 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

By my count the link is a month old to the day.

 

 Sorry you are right. The post only gives the month so I went to the top and discovered that the thread was from 2003 but your post is certainly not that old. 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

so many wonderful systems

 

Im not trying to be flippant :

 

 

Penzey's Turkish Oregano , 8 0z / bag , divvied up 

 

and Bells ' , ' 17

 

and no , I have not done it right :  B '17 is in the freezer .

 

while TO for some reason is on the counter.

 

if you are able to slowly move in this direction ,

 

give it some thought

 

that bins said :

 

The Sirens are singing their song 

 

( they always do )

 

they are singing :  

 

"  F_C  , in your basement !  $ 200 , free delivery , to your very basement !  Right Now ! "

 

Ill wait for a sale.

Your system works fine for long-term storage but is extremely annoying for day to day use. I want to be able to easily scoop out a spoonful or so and not have to worry about resealing everything afterwards. Or for some things I want a shaker.  

 

I want something like an old-fashioned library card cabinet with tiny atmospherically sealed drawers. When my ship comes in I will forward my idea to Nathan M and hope that he can put it into production.  Would give him a rest from making books.   

[kayb]

I buy a lot of my spices from a local bulk store that packages them in half-cup and cup plastic containers similar to what you'd get soup in from the Chinese takeout place. They seal nicely, so I stack them in plastic bins from the dollar store and keep them in cabinets. I try to keep them generally categorized -- baking spices here, different chiles here, Indian spices here, Asian spices here....but I wind up thinking I'm out of something, buying more, and then finding a container of the first. I think I have three containers of ground sage, and my Szechuan peppercorns keep hiding from me.

 

Thinking about Anna's card catalog idea...I'd like to have something like one of those pill containers, but a dozen spaces wide by six deep or so, the containers big enough to hold a half-cup of spices. In a rack so you could stack them.

[Okanagancook]

My spices are such a mess I cannot face it.

some good ideas here

https://www.wayfair.ca/dining/sb0/spice-jars-spice-racks-c246764.html

[FauxPas]

27 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

My spices are such a mess I cannot face it.

 

Photo, perhaps?     

[Anna N]

48 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

My spices are such a mess I cannot face it.

some good ideas here

https://www.wayfair.ca/dining/sb0/spice-jars-spice-racks-c246764.html

Seems as if my library card cabinet is not a unique idea to me. Mind you it never is. As soon as I get a bright idea I discover somebody else had it long before I did!

Cabinet

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

Thinking about Anna's card catalog idea...I'd like to have something like one of those pill containers, but a dozen spaces wide by six deep or so, the containers big enough to hold a half-cup of spices. In a rack so you could stack them.

 Perhaps eG will be the innovators of new spice storage concepts. Perhaps we will all become wealthy.   

[Okanagancook]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

 

Photo, perhaps?     

You asked for it.

I have a drawer full in the prep area.

The pantry is the main storage area.

A cupboard with spice mixes and plain spices.  I do have an inventory of the spice mixes with reference to which cookbooks they are from.

Then all the spices mixed in with all the other 'stuff' in the pantry.  Last picture:  spices stuffed in behind the beans section.

And they all need dusting.

Edited March 26, 2018 by Okanagancook (log)