ottawa foodies

I will be the first to admit I could not organize the life of a gnat. My spice drawers, shelves and space in the cupboard is a disaster. How the heck does one organize 50+ different spices? Maybe even closer to 100. I have lost count other than many tiny bags of green, white, yellow, red etc. Have tried little jars from Ikrappa but they never hold enough to be useful.

I use jam jars in various sizes. I put a label of plastic/waterproof medical tape on both the lid and the side of the jar. The tape peels off easily and the jars go in the dishwasher. When I take the label off the empty jar, I put it on a sheet of paper that is stuck on the fridge. It becomes my shopping list.

If I don't do this I end up with 30 bags of cumin when I don't need it and none when I do

I am not an organized person by nature, but I am really organized in the kitchen since I HATE rummaging for things.

My 100+ spices are kept in drawers in those sort of stair-step inserts--in alphabetical order. Oversize items (big jars of cumin seed, coriander, vanilla, etc.) are tossed in the deeper drawer at the bottom. Some are labelled, others are not, and some are mislabelled (of course the bottle that SAYS "garam masala" contains Szechuan pepper--what else would it be?). [Only one noteworthy goof along those lines...the Szechuan pepper is just plain nasty in chicken curry, in case you were wondering.]

The spice drawers are part of the official house tour--people go "Wow...and they are alphabetized!"

Mark you need to post a pic for inspiration!

As you wish, Krusty. I am a better spice-organizer than a photographer!

Mason jars of various sizes work well, along with a shelves sized for each jar. You can get 125, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 ml jars depending on how much of each spice you have.

Give up now. Its a hopeless pursuit. I've tried to be better organized, but between wife and I and various jar/canister systems, bulk barn etc it all goes down hill. I think you are born with the ability to organize spices, or not. There is no cure.

Krusty, I am tempted to volunteer myself up to you to complete this task. Organized/alphabetized? Done.
I wonder if there's a big need for this spice service out there? :)
p.s. Will also (need to) do your bookshelves while I'm there.

I stopped in to Dollarama this eve and $10 got me 30 little jars. This will be the start of getting my working level spices into a single drawer and then the larger packs from bulk barn can go further away only to be hauled out to replenish the jars once every month or so.

Ironically the motivator is this being the perfect sausage/charcuterie weather (plus some time off work) has me making....

today:

12# mennonite farmers sausage which will go into the smoker tomorrow
5# spicy italian sausage
5# block of cheddar
8# bacon curing
3 pork hocks curing
2 pork bellies basted in a pancetta cure

tomorrow:

sopresetta salami
hunter's sausage (fermented)
hungarian salami
calbrese salami
pepperettes

My bookshelf is actually perfectly organized! Go figure as it is about the only thing in my life that is ;)

whoa, wait a minute, Krusty... did you say Mennonite farmers sausage?? you got the recipe?

I use a pile of old tupperware containers called "modular mates". They're great because they come in a bunch of different heights and widths and I can completely max out the space that's available by stacking them in different ways. Also I don't arrange them alphabetically, but group them according to how I use them; baking stuff together, Indian spices together, etc.

I second organicgirl with a recipe request. How about the pepperetes.

I do lots of Indian dishes so I run a masala dabba (actually 2).

The inner and outer covers keep the spices fresh for some time.

No rooting around for the individual spices.

If this can work in millions and millions of Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan homes, it can work in mine.

.... and ya gotta love the name .... Masala Dabba !!

Have you thought of something like this?

www.etsy.com/shop/GneissSpice

I thought I liked my spice jars but do not have enough and have been having difficulty finding more. Now wouldn't you just smile every time you opened up that drawer if you were seeing this?

To those who are looking for a cheaper alternative to expensive spice jars, you can order these at speciality bottles for just 68 cents a pop (spices not included). www.specialtybottle.com
I think these look more modern and stylish than the round bottles (www.facebook.com) and could probably do well attached to the inside of a cupboard with magnets. I do want to find out if they are air tight (and what stickers were used for the labelling). It they aren't I am far less interested in this.

This link shows how to make a Framed Magnetic Chalkboard Spice Rack. Not sure if the chalkboard aspect would be useful or not. Especially if each bottle is labelled like what is pictured. www.addicted2decorating.com

Another option is rolls of chalkboard paper, which I am told can be found at Michaels. Use regular old chalk and sharpen the end to make writing easier! Alternately if you want the look without the chalk coming off you could use a white gel pen to write on it.

www.amazon.com

This is my spice drawer (or was). There are also other spices in larger quantities elsewhere. What is new for me, is the small wooden dowels between rows. They were obtained at the Dollar Store and though I wish they were longer to be able to span the entire width of the drawer, when centred, they cover enough to still keep the rows in order. I have not glued or tacked them in place as it doesn't seem necessacary and we're renting. This has been keeping things from getting chaotic in there and for $1 and no real work involved it was a very decent solution.
Too bad my p-touch still had tape when I was doing this but the green tape is functional.

For really small amounts of spices, I have also used empty jam/honey jars from hotel breakfast.

Someone else recommended using empty tic tac containers...

Okay. I just had a brilliant idea.

Magnetic spice jars. Right. We like that idea. However, putting them all on the refrigerator isn't always going to work. In fact, it may be the worst place to put them depending on the arrangement of your kitchen.

Go to Lee Valley and get some magnetic paint. Yeah. MAGNETIC PAINT! It has iron filings suspended in it. Paint an area near your work surface, then paint over it with the colour that matches your kitchen (if you have any left). BOOM! Instant spice rack wherever works best. You aren't taking up valuable drawer or cupboard door space and everything is right where you need it and can see it.

I love my old-school spice rack. My dad made it some 30 years ago when my parents were first married and I stole it when he made a bigger one. I LOVE IT. The only downside is that now it's too small for me too, but that's nothing my carpenter girlfriend can't fix. Bottles are either the ones the spices came in or dollarama bottles. I don't have a picture, but it's somewhat like this, times 40.

www.google.ca,r:61,s:0,i:271