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Can we talk about matching spice jars?Half of me says “You should totally do that! It’s chic, pretty, and awesome.” The other half says “THAT IS THE STUPIDEST IDEA AND MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. WHY WOULD YOU MAKE MORE WORK FOR YOURSELF BEYOND THE JARS THEY COME IN?!” My brain literally yells that at me.
What does everyone else think? Does anyone in the real world have all their spices in matching jars? -Sarah
Since I moved out on my own, I’ve basically purchased a new jar of the same brand each time I need a spice I don’t already have on my rack – if I just ran out of something that’s there, I buy the bulk.
It’s matching spice jars for the ‘too indecisive to decide what sort of matching jars to buy’! (I have a goal that one day once I’ve got a kitchen that I’m actually decorating, I’ll buy ‘real’ matching jars and make ’em purdy.
Exactly this! None of my spice containers match, and I can’t commit yet to a specific vintage jar set because I don’t know what my house will eventually be. My husband and I were house sitting for six months, now we’re living in a camper, and this winter we’ll be living in a one bedroom apartment in someone’s horse barn. After that, HOPEfully we’ll build or buy a house, at which time I’ll find some matching jars to fit the house that we have.
I keep all of my spices in matching jars in a drawer in my kitchen. The tops have labels with big text and are color-coded. My cabinets don’t have doors, so I needed to figure out somewhere dark to put the spices,and the only usable option was a drawer. They keep for quite a while in the drawer! I buy most of my spices in bulk, now, which is much cheaper.
Here’s how I keep my spices! I’m eventually going to have them all have matching labels (why not?!) but balk at the idea of buying spice jars. My favourite are the tins at the bottom anyway (those won’t change)/ http://annabelvita.com/2012/05/15/a-few-things/
I think matching spice jars only make sense for people who use the spices frequently and can buy in bulk and refill the jars. So for all you Homies who only use a few spices frequently, how about a small spice rack of matching jars only for the spices you use a lot? Even just three jars can look cute together. And then store the infrequently used spices in their original containers in the cupboard. Basically, skip the store bought spice rack with all the spices you’ll never use, and make yourself a smaller version that makes sense for you.
The benefit is of course, for stacking, but as some commenters have mentioned, it’s important to keep them out of the light (which degrades the flavor of the spices). Matching tins might be a better plan. The other thing to watch out for is seal – a lot of spice tins and bottles don’t seal well. Without a good seal, your spices will go bad pretty quickly.
A lot of mine do match, because they come from the same brand or but them in Tupperware to keep them fresh. All my spices are stored in the back of the pantry so it wouldn’t be worth the effort but I do like when it happens by chance.
I have mine in magnetic containers ($3 a piece at Bed Bath & Beyond). They’re cute and stick to the fridge, so they’re kinda out of the way. I used to alphabetize them but they don’t ever stay the way. Still way easier than rifling through the spice cabinet, which is taller than me.
FYI, if you ever need more, Meijer sells them in packs of 3, for $7 (for all three). They are the exact same ones; I know, because we got half of ours from BB&B where we first found them, and the other half from Meijer, and we can’t tell the difference. But BB&B was very nice and let me return the ones that had the price stickers on the clear portion, meaning they left residue. 🙂
I plan on getting a vintage spice jar set when we finally settle into a house. The only problem is that I don’t want ones already labeled, since I’ll only keep frequently used spices in the jars. Too many vintage sets are labeled for spices that I rarely or never use. Same goes for canister sets…the vintage ones all say Flour, Sugar, Coffee, and Tea. I don’t make coffee, so I’d rather get blank ones to label myself (Flour, Bread Flour, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Powdered Sugar, Corn Meal, Rice, Oatmeal, etc).
Ours are just the pre-packaged bottles (or bag in case of my Turmeric), but I’d actually like to get uniform ones so I can do bulk and also because my pantry is so crazy that it’d be nice to have at least one thing that looks orderly.
Dudes! Clean baby food jars. If you’re crafty, chalkboard paint the tops. If you’re not, permanent markers work fine. I have a box full of cleaned out jars waiting to be filled with spices in my kitchen right now.
We got a matchy matchy spice rack for our wedding (5 years ago). Last year before moving I threw out any that were still sealed, because obviously I don’t use those, and I gave the spice rack away. But now I want matchy matchy spices again, hence the baby food jar plan.
Awesomeness is a world with baby food jars! Don’t have anymore myself but when I did I used them to store tons n tons of stuff. Just washed ’em n set them in the sunny window to get rid of odors and there they were. Just awesome, elegant jars. Too bad my kid grew up n took them for crafts n such. I loved them. But, not enough to have another baby!
My mom has one of those wooden racks that spins and has matching jars. She’s used it for years. It’s cute, but it takes up valuable counter space I don’t have to spare in my house so I’ve never bought one of my own. I keep spices that I buy in bulk in whatever kind of jar I happen to have free, and pre packaged spices and cooking condiments that don’t need refrigeration on a little shelf by the stove because I like the way they look all jumbled and brightly colored.
I have a severe lack of cabinet and drawer space in my kitchen, so everything is on display. I try to keep it uncluttered and minimalistic looking so I have matching spice jars, which I really enjoy. But on a similar note, does anyone have any ideas for a ridiculously easy DIY spice rack?
You could always try screwing the lids to the underside of your cabinet, like this: http://d12xzpun4kqsb2.cloudfront.net/gen/constrain/500/500/80/2012/04/10/13/46/7x/ph2jpijgow1azdx.jpg
I have matching jars – and they are a treasure.
I refill them from the buy by the oz jars at Whole Foods. They are fresher and since you can refill by whatever amount you want – you don’t end up with years old stale spices.
When my niece was just learning how to write – she got them for me and bought all the spices. She carefully wrote the name of each spice on the tag for the bags. We cut those into strips, that we taped to the front of the jars. So I have a sweet reminder of her gift from 6 years ago.
So, here’s why I (the food scientist) don’t do bulk spices (unless I go through them VERY quickly) or repackaging of spices in matching jars – There’s a lot that goes into the packaging of spices to improve shelf life AND food safety. By repackaging spices you run the risk of introducing different types of mold or other pathogens (aka they won’t last as long and in unusual rare cases you could totally give yourself food poisoning – especially if you live in humid climates). To avoid the whole mold/pathogen problem you should probably go through typical canning procedures before you place them in the new jars. If there isn’t a metal foil seal on the cap of the jar, air will also be able to more easily migrate in and out (and thus reducing the shelf life). So long story short – yes they’re cute, but I just buy all the same brand typically or if I go through something quickly (say cinnamon when I’m running large batches of something or doing test recipes at home) I’ll buy in bulk and go through it in about a week or two.
Wouldn’t the same issues you’re referring to crop up regardless of whether you buy the bottled spices or the ‘bulk’ (though I suppose you could be talking about while they’re in the bins). As soon as you open the jar you buy, the air is in so won’t they suffer the same exposure and degredation?
Buying in the original bottles isn’t as much of an issue (because you open and close them and they are not continuously exposed) and when you buy in bulk bins in general you do have this issue.
Matching doesn’t work for me, because I have some I keep in larger jars and use all the time (basil, tumeric, 3 different kinds of peppercorns) and some I use in small quantities (saffron, nutmeg), not to mention the many I can only buy in fairly large bags (rosebuds). I’m pretty sure there I have over 100 containers, and it’s a mess. My spices take up more space than baking supplies or canned goods. AAAARGHHHHH!
My next project, though, is to try something like this – attaching super strong magnets to lids of a few different sizes of jars, then alphabetizing them on a metal sheet:
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-a-wallmounted-magn-101525
I used to buy my spices in little plastic baggies and kept them in a drawer in alphabetical order.
Then came the infested dill. THOUSANDS of tiny bugs hatched within the bag of dill ATE their way out of the plastic baggie and infected over $100 of spices in the drawer.
Now I have tiny glass jars with labels on top which I pour the spices into (I’ve also switched the location that I purchase my spices from…)
…ew. That is terrifying. I’ve only seen food bugs so far twice, and I’m not eager to repeat the experience.
I have two sets of spices. The ones in my cabinet are in their own containers and one of those spinning things. However, I keep the frequently used spices on the counter in matching test tubes with a test tube holder. A little nerdy but very effective and a great conversation starter….
Buying matching spice jars is definitely the best kitchen thing I’ve ever done. I could never find anything when they were all mismatched, and cooking was frustrating.
I got jars like the ones above, but square so they fit together nicely. (These guys! http://www.sunburstbottle.com/glass-jars/spice/4oz-clear-glass-jar-sp4sqb) I labelled the top and sides for easy identifying, and keep them roughly alphabetical. In my old apartment, I had a drawer deep enough that I could keep them all tucked away and organized and that was amazing. In this apartment, they take up a block on a pantry shelf, and that works too.
It’s amazing, and after the initial hour or so of filling jars, refilling hardly takes any time at all. It makes me happy every time I use them, and I’m not even terribly OCD.
I’m with everyone else on the “spices in bags are cheaper” front, so I’m converting to magnetic spice jars cause I can just stick them on the hood of my stove where I can reach them, but they’re otherwise out of the way.
Several years ago I invested in some clear glass spice jar at BBB and three clear open boxes with a lip on one side (kind of like a crisper drawer). I filled each jar with spices from all my odd-shaped, space-hogging original containers, made my own labels (smaller than the jar lid) and then used fat cellophane tape to label the tops of the jars. I labeled each “drawer” Allspice to Cumin, Dill to Onion Powder, and Onion Salt to Turmeric. Everything fits well in my weird-shaped corner cupboard and I never grab the wrong container. I keep the leftovers in my pantry and only go there when I run out of something in my kitchen cupboard. It has saved me so much time in the long run and I can easily change the name or add a new spice if I want.
i have to confess, i want one of these. I am constantly knocking things over trying to get to spices at the back of my cupboard.
http://www.amazon.com/Swivel-Store-Organizer-Storage-System/dp/B005BY6HRU
I love my mismatched spice jars! I have a habit of buying those pretty little tea tins from thrift stores, and I use those. If they’re light enough, I attach magnetic strips to them and then stick em on the fridge. Yaay for pretty/handy fridge magnets! I also have a worse habit of hoarding neat looking bottles, so I paint them with chalkboard paint and store homemade spice mixes and hot sauce in them. I’m kind of spice obsessed.