August 27, 2010
DONE! Organize Spice Cabinet
A couple times a year I sort through my spice cabinet, discarding almost empty bottles and old spices. The shelf life of spices is typically about 6 months, I buy Penzeys spices – they are fresh whole and ground, so I find that they have at least a year for the shelf life. Penzeys recommends that if your spices smell strong and spicy or herby, use it. If not, toss it.
If you haven’t looked at Penzeys, you should join their mailing list and request a catalog – they feature great recipes. My three favorite Penzeys products? Double Strength Vanilla, Penzeys Cinnamon Blend, and Shallot Pepper.
My spice cabinet is set up in a way that really works for my cooking and baking style, so today’s task isn’t about organizing the spices, but rather just re-sorting what I have in place.
Here’s the spice cabinet:
Oh, did you want to look inside?
I took everything out – the best way (in my opinion) to organize anything.
I took out any empty and almost empty jars – I’ll remove the labels and wash these and reuse for bulk spices and for homemade spice mixtures.
Then I was ready to put everything away in its place.
On the bottom shelf I put the two-tiered turntable with cooking spices. To be able to easily access spices, I alphabetize them.
The next shelf is for baking spices and extracts.
The top two shelves are for baking soda, powder, empty canning and spice jars and any other stragglers.
Much better. Another item DONE! on my list.
How do you organize your spices?
Allison Shops Says
And I thought I was organized! My spices just stay in the lower cabinet pull-out next to the range. DH does most of the cooking. But the rest of my house is organized!
I wanted to let you know about Atticmag’s new linky party – Giveaway Friday! It’s a convenient place for bloggers to link their giveaways each week. We’ve kicked it off with a fantastic giveaway of our own. Five lucky winners will win material to do a backsplash in their homes. Hope to see you there!
Allison
Atticmag
Kansas Amy Says
I wish I was at your house cooking! Love the organization of your spices. I’ve been wanting to check Penzeys out for some time now. I will do that soon! Great job!!
Handy Man, Crafty Woman Says
How funny, I just organized my spices recently. I just put mine into a smallish plastic bin in a cabinet. I put small labels on top, because I pull out the spices and look down on them that way.
Looks great!
sara325 Says
Great tips! Any thoughts on how to get other family members to maintain the organization? 🙂