Kelly, over at The Scotdog's, posed this question the other day. She's trying to organize her spices to make them easy and convenient to use. Currently, she is trying out the "spice drawer" method. I hope this works out for her. I, however, cannot utilize the drawer method myself. I do not have a drawer big enough to hold all of the spices I use in my cooking.
So how do I store my spices? Well, it's quite simple, really.
I have a Lazy Susan on my kitchen counter, next to the stove. Here is where I keep my salt and pepper grinders, olive oil, kosher salt, signature spice blend, sugar, and a cookie jar filled with Splenda for Mr. Sister's morning coffee. These are the items we use every single day with or in almost every single meal.
In the cabinet above, I have a shelf dedicated to my bulk spices and to my other spices not used several times daily. The bulk spices are those that I use to make my signature spice blend and those that I use on a consistant basis. At last count, I had 12 of these "big boys". Next to those I store the smaller containers of herbs and spices on another Lazy Susan for easy access.
(please ignore the crumbs under and the stains on the Lazy Susan)
Is this the best system? Maybe, maybe not, but it works for me.
9 comments:
I had to go check out here drawer, I really like that idea!
I was just thinking about how disorganized mine are last night when I was searching for chili powder (never did find it :)
Mine are slowly taking over a whole cupboard I need to do an intervention and figure out something new :)
I don't think there is a perfect system for me! We were blessed with a corner cabinet with a large lazy Susan, so eventually my spices made their way there. SO FAR, that's been the best solution for me! It's great if I maintain organization, and still "ok" when I don't!
I buy the mega sized spices, too. Problem is, they don't fit in the lazy susan that I keep the rest of my spices in. I have them in the cabinet above the cooktop for now. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly burned myself on a lit burner reaching for one. I've also come close to dropping them into a pot of simmering food because I can't reach them very well. I'm sure there's a better solution, I just haven't found it yet!
I just use a little contraption that looks like a long set of stairs, so I can put lots of jars in an small area, and see all of them still.
Funny you should be discussing this topic, I too have been looking for a solution for storing my spices. I keep mine in the cupboard above my stove so every time I need one I have to climb onto a chair to search. I have so many that a small spinning lazy susan would not accommodate all the bottles. (Incidentally, I also include things like cake sprinkles and food colouring along with my collection). It is now getting so bad that some of it is now stored in the basement. I am considering buying a small cupboard for my spices and perhaps trying out Scotdog's method. My SIL suggested keeping those giant bottles in a bin in the basement and filling up smaller bottles of a uniform size for a drawer. Incidentally, I am starting to have the same problem with my recipe books so I am looking for a cupboard that I could store them in too.
I use a drawer! I heard (or read) somewhere that it wasn't good to keep your spices close to the stove, so I moved them. The drawer works fine for me! I like it better than the cupboard...because I'm a "dropper."
you and my husband would get along just fine! me, I use Mrs. Dash, that is about as creative as I can get!
I have an award for you on my blog :)
I hopped over from One Step At A Time to say congrats on your award!
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