One of my worst habits is just shoving things into cabinets! With all the super deals on spices and extracts with Harris Teeter I decided it was time to tackle my spice cabinet.
I’m ashamed to show you the “before”
Then I pulled everything out of the cabinet & wiped down the shelves.
WOW there was a LOT shoved in the cabinet!
Then I checked ALL the expiration dates (found a package of yeast from 2007!!!!) and all the in-date spices I combined. The problem with stockpiling is I may buy 3 Paprika and not realize I’ve already opened one- and then I open a 2nd…So I combined all the in-date, fresh spices into 1 single open container per spice.
Above is all the expired and condensed containers! How wasteful- that bothers me that I allowed that to happen. Never again!
Then I replaced all the open containers onto the first shelf, lesser used spices on the 2nd shelf and the top shelf is all my unopened spices and backups!
I’m pretty pleased with the final result! Now I just have to keep it up!
OK so why I am I posting my mess?
Take a lesson from my mess up- I probably tossed $15+ worth of product simply because I didn’t take the time to PROPERLY store and use my spices. Be sure to follow the first-in/first-out method (new items go BEHIND the older ones). Be sure to check expiration dates and don’t buy a bunch of spices you will never use (we don’t eat canjun foods so why did I have 2 bottles of canjun spices? Luckily they are still good and I know someone who LOVES canjun flavors so I will pass it on!)
WHOA!
My spice cabinet is the hardest to keep organized because I use so many on a regular basis. I wish I could find a system that would work. I keep my extra spices in the pantry so I have to look through my spices before I grab a new one. Good job on yours! 🙂
I should do that! I could move them to a cabinet in the pantry…avoid the opening of duplicates!
I have a small spice cabinet and its loaded we use a lot of different ones. Every time I fix it and my husband looks for one he knocks it all down and makes a mess and just shoves the stuff back in. I give up. I wish I had a walk in pantry where I could hang something over the door to keep them all neat.
Looks good! I am somewhat dorky and have mine alphabetized on a lazy susan. I find I buy fewer duplicates when they are alphabetical.