DIY Spice Organization

Spicy.

I have a love/hate relationship with spices. I love to add them to food but I typically use my stand-bys, salt, pepper, Lowry's Seasoning Salt and then Jake will take some sort of Cajun seasoning and add it on top since he likes things a little spicier. So I wanted to get my spices under control when we moved into the new house so I created a spice drawer which actually expanded into a spice drawer and cabinet.

I also realized that I keep spices forever...do you really throw away the spices that you haven't used by their use-by date, or how do you even know? All my research says 2-3 years but honestly how much do you use something like All Spice? I just keep using mine but then one day I realized I had garlic powder that had turned a golden yellow and it is supposed to be a creamy white, guessing that wasn't the freshest thing I had in my spice drawer.

Anyway when we moved I wanted a better way to access my spices and hopefully to use them more so I purchased little jars from Libbey that are 4.5 ounces, clear and have these great little flat tops on them that I painted with chalk paint. I got mine on Amazon and they came 12 to a box for $20.99 plus free shipping because I am a Prime Member! Note: It took 3 coats of chalk paint on the glass, but they paint dries quickly and I was able to get three coats on with a foam brush in a few hours. Then I took a chalk pencil, like what you would find in the sewing section, and wrote on top what I was putting them. Now realizing that I use some spices very little I left them in their small containers and put them in little white baskets on their sides so I can still access them quickly. The larger containers of mixed seasonings or Jake's favorite Cajun seasonings I left in their shakers since we go through them quite quickly. I also have a shaker with cinnamon and sugar mixed together...why you might ask well for cinnamon toast of course...when was the last time I made cinnamon toast you might ask...well probably 3-4 years ago, but my mom has one in her pantry so I have one in mine is the simplest answer. And the final jar in there is the John Elway Steak Seasoning from Elway's Restaurant in Denver. It IS that good for me a KC Chiefs fan to buy a Denver Bronco's steak seasoning.

Please excuse that my drawer is missing it's front,
 it didn't know it was going to be on the internet today.

Did I misspell taco? Kidding but made you look!

Four staples in our house. Check out why I love the one on the left here.

Because my drawer wasn't big enough for all the large containers of seasonings and my collection of BBQ/Steak rubs I have collected from many places I had to expand up to the cabinet above the drawer. I used a simple basket (like all the baskets in my pantry) that I got from Wal-Mart and then I used a 6-pack beer container for the spices. This makes it really easy to take down and look at or take to the grill or outside during a party for people to use as they wish. I love this original Coors box because the bottles were short so the sides are shorter.

I'm obsessed with white baskets.

Who knew? If you aren't a drinker any glass bottled 6-pack box would work.