Storing spices in bulk? I.e putting them in containers, on shelves etc?

dekaspace1

I bulk buy spices from Asian supermarkets as they are cheaper than regular supermarkets often by a long shot but often means I may have 2/3kg bags of each item and means I have 1 cupboard in my kitchen that is purely for spices, stock cubes, and tea/coffee and I have 4 more cupboards in the kitchen but they are all cluttered i.e just a free for all.

I really want to organise this and I know people used to have spice racks.

I was thinking of getting large containers, labelling them and putting up a shelf to put them on just worried even in containers they won't be as dry

And to save space maybe smaller containers so I can easily fit all the spices onto 1 shelf without having stacks of containers on top of each other. then taping whats left in the packets and putting them into my under counter cupboard where I currently store pasta and potatoes and just take out when needed

My sideboards are already packed with electrical devices so the wall is only real space I can store things..

Brie

I decided eventually that bulk buying spices and herbs was a false economy as many of them have lost their oomph after a year or two.  But if you do use a lot of spices you may still be ok to buy the big bags, fill one spice jar with each and then pack the rest away.  Or even find a like minded friend and split the purchases to save both money and space.  

Only thing we have in a large jar is peppercorns as they keep well but also get used quickly in our house.  Other herbs that we use in volume like rosemary or thyme we can pick from the garden.

Spoonie_Turtle

dekaspace1 said:

I was thinking of getting large containers, labelling them and putting up a shelf to put them on just worried even in containers they won't be as dry.

Could you put the bags they're already in inside such containers?
They'd need to be airtight so should stay dry anyway (or put some silica gel packets in it you need to make extra sure) and ideally protected from light, so either inside a dark opaque bag or lining the containers with dark tissue or plastic.

Or decanting a little at a time into smaller containers kept in a spice rack as you mention for ease of use, but also still keeping the large bags of an airtight container would be good for keeping them fresh.

itsthelittlethings

I buy them in the larger bags (think they’re 50g although it may vary slightly). Any bigger than that and I think the cost saving is going to be offset by your spices going off, unless you use a lot more spices than me. I just keep mine in a collapsible plastic crate in a cupboard.

Pollycat

OP
I'd put this thread on the Old Style board.

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this to the Old Style board

PipneyJane

dekaspace1 said:

I bulk buy spices from Asian supermarkets as they are cheaper than regular supermarkets often by a long shot but often means I may have 2/3kg bags of each item and means I have 1 cupboard in my kitchen that is purely for spices, stock cubes, and tea/coffee and I have 4 more cupboards in the kitchen but they are all cluttered i.e just a free for all.

I really want to organise this and I know people used to have spice racks.

I was thinking of getting large containers, labelling them and putting up a shelf to put them on just worried even in containers they won't be as dry

And to save space maybe smaller containers so I can easily fit all the spices onto 1 shelf without having stacks of containers on top of each other. then taping whats left in the packets and putting them into my under counter cupboard where I currently store pasta and potatoes and just take out when needed

My sideboards are already packed with electrical devices so the wall is only real space I can store things..

A few things to consider:-

1. Containers need to be airtight or the spices’ volatile oils, which deliver the taste, will evaporate.
2. Spices have to be stored in the dark or they will be tasteless dust. Light causes the volatile oils in spices to degrade.
3. Just because you don’t have a drawer for your spice jars, doesn’t mean you can’t put them in a cardboard tray, pop it into a cupboard and use that like a drawer to access the ones at the back.

Having said the above, I buy my spices in 500g bags from the local Asian supermarket and they last for years, if not decades.  They’re stored in large Douwe Egbert jars, in a drawer in my pantry.

- Pip

dekaspace1

PipneyJane said:

dekaspace1 said:

I bulk buy spices from Asian supermarkets as they are cheaper than regular supermarkets often by a long shot but often means I may have 2/3kg bags of each item and means I have 1 cupboard in my kitchen that is purely for spices, stock cubes, and tea/coffee and I have 4 more cupboards in the kitchen but they are all cluttered i.e just a free for all.

I really want to organise this and I know people used to have spice racks.

I was thinking of getting large containers, labelling them and putting up a shelf to put them on just worried even in containers they won't be as dry

And to save space maybe smaller containers so I can easily fit all the spices onto 1 shelf without having stacks of containers on top of each other. then taping whats left in the packets and putting them into my under counter cupboard where I currently store pasta and potatoes and just take out when needed

My sideboards are already packed with electrical devices so the wall is only real space I can store things..

A few things to consider:-

1. Containers need to be airtight or the spices’ volatile oils, which deliver the taste, will evaporate.
2. Spices have to be stored in the dark or they will be tasteless dust. Light causes the volatile oils in spices to degrade.
3. Just because you don’t have a drawer for your spice jars, doesn’t mean you can’t put them in a cardboard tray, pop it into a cupboard and use that like a drawer to access the ones at the back.

Having said the above, I buy my spices in 500g bags from the local Asian supermarket and they last for years, if not decades.  They’re stored in large Douwe Egbert jars, in a drawer in my pantry.

- Pip

My reasoning is I currently have cluttered cupboards and everything is just thrown in so I could have tins in one cupboard, then in front of those a few packs of biscuits, next to that like a pile of powdered items like desserts, packet soups etc.

I want to be able to have things in neatly and spices can be kept in containers so wanted to not have clutter.

Pollycat

It sounds like you need to organise all of your cupboards, not just your spices.

dekaspace1

Pollycat said:

It sounds like you need to organise all of your cupboards, not just your spices.

Thats the problem, theres only so much room hence why I put things in the way I do.

Unless theres another way to seperate items without using a lot of different sized containers.

PipneyJane

dekaspace1 said:

Pollycat said:

It sounds like you need to organise all of your cupboards, not just your spices.

Thats the problem, theres only so much room hence why I put things in the way I do.

Unless theres another way to seperate items without using a lot of different sized containers.

I don’t know if you have the space, but we had a “temporary” kitchen for several years and used one of the deeper  Ivar bookcases from iKEA as our primary pantry and storage centre.  Because you can buy extra shelves, and locate them to the exact height you, it was a godsend.  We used fruit boxes from the supermarket as “drawers” (and, yes, my spices were stored in those drawers in their Douwe Egbert jars).

- Pip