Everyone who cooks a meal or two at home each week, knows the importance of a good spice organization system. Whether it’s in a cabinet or drawer, organized spice containers is a must!
A few years ago, I loathed my system for organizing my spices. I was using the traditional spice rack risers and hated it!
Jars were falling and flying.
Every container was a different size.
Cumin and Garlic jars had to be moved to get to the Onion Powder!
And it took up an entire shelf in a good sized cabinet.
Something had to change!
- This Post Contains Affiliate LInks. Any item you purchase through these links affords me a small commission.
Spice Organization Take 2
In the summer of 2019, I think, I was scrolling Facebook and found that someone near me was selling a set of Spice Drawer Risers. Sold to the lady in the black Kia van!
A day later, I arranged for a porch pick up and have never turned back on keeping my spice organization confined to a drawer and not a cabinet. I also had to order these jars to fill the drawer!
Access to each spice without moving 3 out of the way really is a time saver for someone who uses a spice or two every single day.
There’s no longer a tiny 10 year old jar of nutmeg hiding behind the giant container of Cajun Seasoning!
Can we talk about how the discrepancy between how much Cajun Seasoning is necessary in one dish vs the size of the average Cajun Seasoning container? I’m a weakling, clearly!
I loved this setup, but when we moved from Huntsville, AL to Auburn, AL my drawer space just wasn’t the same.
In the rental house, the old drawer setup worked fine.
The kitchen in the new house has minimal drawer space.
With all these kids to feed – and now their friends who show up at random – double ovens were one of my big, new house splurges!
Unfortunately, double ovens took away prime cabinet and drawer real estate.
After living with this overfilled, cluttered spice drawer for a few months, I began to look for other options for spice storage in this kitchen layout.
Then one day, one of my organizer friends posted these spice jars on her Instagram feed.
Immediately, I was smitten and curious.
I measured my drawer depth and within seconds, these spice jars were in my cart!
Spice Drawer Organization Updated
Once the jars arrived, I spent a Saturday afternoon transferring spices from the original square jars to the squatty round jars.
It was a seeming all day affair as I attempted to cook dinner and referee a game of Risk between shaking spices from one jar to another.
The one issue I have with this set up is that the jars don’t completely fill the drawer so they move around when the drawer opens and closes.
My short term issue was to put a piece of drawer liner and a wooden drawer divider in the back of the drawer to create a better boundary and minimize shift!
At some point, I’m going to put museum putty on the bottom of the jars to keep them in place.
Overall, I love this set up. I love the wide mouths on these squatty glass jars. It’s easy to use a measuring spoon in the jars or to just dump my favorite spices in my favorite easy dishes!
Spice Organization Details
Do Spices Expire? That’s a big question with which many of us wrestle!
If expiration dates are a source of stress for you, an expiration date could easily be written on the bottom of these jars with a sharpie marker.
Another issue is what about those spices that we don’t use very often?
I don’t like the taste of curry. I’ve tried it in several different dishes and I just can’t wrap my tastebuds around it! So do I keep it in my drawer or buy some if I ever decide to give it another try?
In the case of curry, I will definitely adhere to the expiration date – just because it’s an excuse not to keep it!
For other spices, I will keep my not frequently used ones as long as space allows.
The thing about us, and I’d assume about some of you, is that you change the way you eat often. (read: diet).
Are we eating Low-Carb this week? Are we eating Weight Watchers style? Am I eating like the glutton that I am deep down and putting whatever I want in my mouth?
Depending on how we’re eating, we will use spices that are not our normal, most used ones.
So the point of all this is that I’m not going to tell you to get rid of a spice and I’m not going to tell you to keep a spice! How’s that for ambiguity?
What do you do for Spice Organization? A drawer? A shelf? A bin in your pantry? (The R in PantRy is very important!)
Other Posts You May Enjoy
Amazing Pantry Organization Ideas
Want More Yellow Cottage Living?
Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | LikeToKnow.It
Leave a Reply