I've always just thrown the bulk bag into a giant resealable bowl in the freezer. Not only is round the least effective storage shape, it also meant creating a big mess whenever you went to refill the garlic, and without fail, you would be out of garlic and completely forgotten about it. In a fit of genius, I created an almost-fail-proof spice storage, card catalogue system. Yes, I'm a closeted library nerd.
How to Store your Spices like a Librarian
1. Gather old index card boxes and index cards (4"x6" works best, especially for the next step)
2. Buy a lot of sandwich size ziploc bags (surprise! They are pretty near the same width as your index cards!)
3. Label the index card and place inside the bag.
4. Pour extra spice behind index card in bag.
5. Squeeze out extra air, trying to distribute the spice up the height of the card, fold over excess bag and seal.
6. Stand up in index card box, in alphabetical order.
It's the most ridiculously easy how to, but works like you wouldn't believe. We have 25 different spices I like to keep on hand, and they fit in 2 index card holders. I also keep an extra index card holder on top of the fridge, so when we pour the last of one type of spice from the freezer into its mason jar in the cupboard, we put the bag and card into that card box, so when we go to make a Bulk Barn run, I just need to write down which cards are up there!
This is genious! I love the idea of using index cards to keep your spices categorized. You and I would be great IRL friends :) Heather
ReplyDeleteI love this! We've been working on buying more bulk spices too and I insist on organizing mine as well.
ReplyDeleteYou are brilliant!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCool! We reuse the McCormick glass bottles and buy the spices in bulk to refill them with. I do love the index card idea. Organization makes the heart happy!
ReplyDeletePft. I already had this idea essentially. Only I used recipes instead of spices. : P. Good idea!
ReplyDelete