Spice Storage

[NotGoodNotBad]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of keeping my spices in a chest with drawers, like this, or similar in wood (can't find the link just now).

I'm a bit concerned that they're not airtight, and spices may get damp or stale. Anyone use one for herbs or spices, and how do you get on with it?

It looks pretty but I can't see it being much good. They will go stale, and all the flavours will mix.
I keep mine in tupperware containers.

I use one of the stainless steel spice boxes with seven little bowls and an airtight lid. I got mine on Amazon but I expect you can get them most places. The drawers are very pretty though. Buy them, and keep something else in them.

Thing is I need something for my spices, not a nice item to put something else in .

Not much cupboard space so I'm wanting something pretty if it's to go on the worktop.

7 bowls not much help unfortunately - at the last count I had 15 commonly-used spices, plus half a dozen herbs and another half a dozen occasionally-used spices.

I have the same problem and am considering the magnetic strips from the Spicery- what do you think of those?

The magnetic strips look fine for small quantities, if you can reseal the bags. I'm in much the same position as NotGoodNotBad, with a huge range of spices I use regularly, and I buy in 500g or 1kg packs and store in tupperware to keep fresh.

Do you have a link Cant? I looked on the website but couldn't see magnetic strips.

I don't need 1kg packs (do you have 20 kids flatpack???) but I do use a range of things, and not usually in the little Schwartz-size jars.

I just bought a nice shallow basket and I chuck all the jars in there. I have to rummage a bit to find what I want, but it keeps them all neat and together.

I don't think spice racks are attractive if you have a variety of different brands/jars, and I have too many to decant into matching tins.

Drawers are a bad plan if you want to keep the flavour.

Ideally they need to be in the dark Si magnetic strips only if the lids aren't see through. We use jam jars in a drawer with the labels on the top. If I had to use the work top though I'd probably try to find some nice stackable containers that aren't clear.

Am wondering about the basket idea Cointreau. I've just put my nuts and seeds in a small basket on a cupboard shelf, and it's a great improvement on the previous heap.

NotGoodNotBad

I don't need 1kg packs (do you have 20 kids flatpack???) but I do use a range of things, and not usually in the little Schwartz-size jars.

LOL! No, I do a fair bit of spiced cooking - Indian, Moroccan, Mexican (well, tex/mex) and a fair bit of baking, too. But it's so much cheaper to buy in bulk. A kilo of cumin will last me a year. I would buy kilo packs of dried red chillies or ground cumin or ground coriander, and 500g packs of paprika, cayenne pepper, turmeric, ground cinnamon, etc. £2.99 for 500g of cinnamon in a packet, or £1.50 for 33g in a packet at the supermarket - it makes sense to buy in the bigger packets.

What about a couple of spice boxes like this?

Just a website I found with the picture I was looking for.

But it looks like each box contains 7 or 8 smaller sealed pots for spices.

Not seen those, thanks Flatpack.

Here were a couple of other things I've been pondering - mini chest of drawers and a pot arrangement like this. But the first is probably not airtight, and the second will collect grease and dirt which will be a nuisance when I clean the kitchen once every 3 years.

I have basket things on a rail that live under the wall units in the kitchen. Got them from Ikea. Spice jars are used in the baskets, and the bigger bags are kept in a tupperware box in the cupboard.

I've decided to make a magnetic spice rack to go on the back of the cupboard doors, how exciting! It will be something like this, but I've gone for square tins for maximum space efficiency.

Tins from here. The tins are fairly small (100ml), but most of my herbs etc. are in small jars of 100ml so these containers should actually take most things, and the big packs will probably get decanted into the spice rack, or else I'll have to get a few bigger tins.

Off to source magnets and metal backing...