Now admit it... your spices.

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Started 2 years ago by Mid America Mom
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Mid America Mom
Member

Now that Christmas has past and Easter is approaching - family food gatherings are coming again.

This past Christmas we "went home" to visit. Opening the spice drawer I realized spices that I purchased, while living there for a short time a few years ago, are still there. And these were replacements for the 90% of the spices that I threw out (yes some looked as old as I). YIKES!

Why is it we have these storage solutions that work but fail to EDIT our spices?

We have had many successes on storing. Over my life we have had on the counter spice caddy, in a special drawer where they almost laid on the side, placed on a lazy susan in a upper kitchen cabinet, behind the stove on a shelf (not a good place- too hot), and these days a re purposed shoe box in a cabinet. I like the kids shoe box. I buy spices in bags now and too lazy to transfer them into something else so in the bag they remain. I have them "filed" by how often I use them.

But no matter what storage solution I have in place, I still do not edit. Anyone else struggle with this? What works for you?

Thanks!
Mid America Mom

Posted 2 years ago #
klutzgrrl
Member

I decluttered my spices last week. One expired three years ago.

I'm trying to keep it really minimal now - I use premix spice packets more, instead of trying to keep a gourmet kitchen's worth of individual spices, as well as things like garlic and pepper. Mine are on a high shelf near the stove, not ideal.

I tried buying a set of small flat tins that had magnetic bases, for vertical storage, but they were poor quality and not airtight. So no good solution yet.

Posted 2 years ago #
Laetitia in Australia
Member

We pretty much don't buy/have spices we don't use (although I think I have some saffron strands I bought with good intentions...). Ours are in Tupperware spice containers that have labels.

As we rent we have to find new places for them in each new abode. In this house we keep them in the microwave oven nook as the thought of putting the micro oven there conjures images of nasty accidents happening while trying to extract hot food.

In our last house they were in a cupboard above the stove. Some say that such a location is not good but I think we went through them faster than any warmth from the stove would deteriorate them.

Posted 2 years ago #
irishbell
Member

My spices have always been on turntables in a cupboard. If I have too much to fit on those, I look through and discard anything that is expired or I don't like. It's not a problem for me, but I'm not a real exotic cook, either.

Posted 2 years ago #
terriok
Member

I use the Dewey Decimal system to categorize my spices! HA! ;o)

Posted 2 years ago #
badkitti
Member

I bought a proper old fashioned spice rack a few years ago - here's how it used to look in my old house:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/badkitti/447351263/

Now its got less on it - as I work out what recipes I reuse I don't renew the spices that are hardly ever needed.

Posted 2 years ago #
Zora
Member

All my spices are neatly labeled and stored on two turntables in a cupboard a couple of steps away from the stove and its heat.

But they haven't been edited in years. It's hard to remember which I've replaced and which I haven't. Being an adventurous cook, and a cookbook editor, I have lots of spices. Items like za'atar and anatto and my current fave, amchoor (sour mango powder).

Do you spice editors out there put a date label on each jar when you fill it?

Posted 2 years ago #
Another Deb
Member

Marge Simpson at a church bazaar display: "Ohhh, look! A spice rack! Eight jars, some must be duplicates!"

Posted 2 years ago #
hazel
Member

I lined up all my spices on the counter and took a photo with my iPhone. Now I can refer to my pic and not accidentally buy duplicates.

Posted 2 years ago #
Mid America Mom
Member

Another Deb LOL.
Hazel- that is smart.

Posted 2 years ago #
terriok
Member

Smart idea!

Posted 2 years ago #
nws2002
Member

I keep mine in 2 clear plastic shoe boxes in a cabinet next to the stove. That way I can take the whole box out of the cabinet if I'm searching for a spice I use infrequently. I really need to purge through them though, considering I use at most 10 spices on a regular basis.

Hazel-that's a smart idea! I'm going to do that too, because I can never remember if I have this or that when I'm at the store.

Posted 2 years ago #
bandicoot
Member

i desperately need a system.
i use a lot of spice.
i go through phases with different spices.

i am looking for stainless steel or copper airtight containers, about 1/3 cup capacity and i am not having any luck.
i bought some IKEA magnetic containers, but they are far from airtight.

Posted 2 years ago #
bandicoot
Member

and another google just now took me to the masala dabba!
i just bought two of them and that is everything solved.
how did i not think of this before?
sometimes, you just have to type it out.

Posted 2 years ago #
badkitti
Member

I do love the system here - first long term non rented house and I'm signing up!

http://www.custommagneticspicerack.com/

I'd forgotten it was delicious-ed !

Posted 2 years ago #
HappyDogs
Member

My spices are in a big bin in the freezer. I got these itsy little beetles in my kitchen, went nuts trying to figure out where they were coming from. I was convinced the attic. Then an older lady at work who has lived here all her life said to check the cayenne pepper. Yup, that container was more beetle than pepper! Since then, all spices are in the freezer for bug control. No order whatsoever, but hey no beetles. (or beatles)

Posted 2 years ago #
themusiclivez
Member

HappyDogs - beatles in the cayenne??? Are the eggs in the cayenne when we buy it? That freaks me out!

I have way too many spices. Somehow we ended up with like 3 oregano bottles. Now my husband and I are extra careful about what we buy!

Posted 2 years ago #
themusiclivez
Member

*Haha I meant "beetles" not "beatles". I guess it would be a much bigger problem if The Beatles were in the cayenne!

Posted 2 years ago #
HappyDogs
Member

Hey themusiclivez, I found the name of that beetle! "Drugstore beetle"! http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/bciarett.html
It looks like it does come into your house via foodstuffs.

Posted 2 years ago #
chacha1
Member

I got two wire racks from World Market, each has three shallow rectangular "baskets" that holds five to six standard bottles of spices, and hung them on the wall. Easy to see, easy to use. (And, uh, yep ... that's at least 30 bottles of herbs/spices there.)

The great thing about these little racky things is they're small enough to hang almost anywhere on a kitchen wall. They could be on the wall between my main bank of upper & lower cabinets, if I didn't have a centerpiece hanging there.
:-)

Some seasonings still don't fit. A friend gave me some bulk curry and cumin powders which are in bigger jars in the cabinet along with the baking spices, saffron, Worcestershire, etc.

I solved the problem of spices getting old by using them lavishly. Only once have I made something (a spicy pork pot roast aka Wicked Witch of the Pig) and thought "I overdid it a little." Saved it with a can of pumpkin!

Posted 2 years ago #

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