Remember the other day when I made those Canadian Living hamburger buns and wrote that I could not find sesame seeds to finish them off? Well that got me into the mood to get organized. I am not very good at being organized at all but I had stuff everywhere and had no idea where anything was. I just could not take it anymore!
The worst are my herbs and spices. They were in five different areas of my kitchen! Actually, some were in my dining room in a jar! I do like to compartmentalize things so that drove me crazy. I wish I had a walk-in pantry where I could put everything together but there are only so many shelves in a kitchen and I have a ton of herbs and spices.
I started with this part of my kitchen and took out everything and tried to get focused.
A friend on Twitter told me they used a drawer for their spices. All mine were drawers were packed with kitchen gadgets except this long one by the stove that was the only one that could hold my parchment paper. I found another home for it on my little kitchen island and filled it with the small jars of spices. Worked like a charm!
I can not possibly have jars for all my spices so I keep a lot of them in their little bags in baskets on my top shelf. On the middle shelf are the larger spice jars with all the new East Indian spices I recently purchased, along with my chilli powder, cinnamon, cloves…
I would love to use the bottoms shelf for more spices but it is dedicated to snacks for my husband. The guy only gets one shelf in my entire kitchen, it’s the least I can do!
I moved all my pantry items to the middle shelf with my boxed stocks and canned goods. My favourite change is the bottom shelf. I now have all my measuring cups and spoons on one shelf. Joy!
On the right you can see a bag for crafting. Food is now my craft so inside you will find all the attachments for my mixer, specialty gadgets and all my measuring cups in one spot.
At the back of the cupboard in that giant white spouted bowl are even more spices… sigh… Closer to getting stuff together but at least now my herbs and spices are in three areas, not five!
I have a small little built-in pantry in my kitchen underneath the shelving that holds my appliances. On the shelves I used to put all my ramekins and specialty dishes which were always falling down as soon as I pulled the shelf out. I moved them into my newly painted cupboards (see top middle) which gave me a ton of space.
I was also housing all my decorative baking supplies in popcorn buckets from the movies. I got everything out of there and pulled out some crafting organizing units that I had for beads. (I used to make jewellery.)
At the back of one shelf are all my dried beans and corn for popcorn. That was another thing I couldn’t find the other day and it turns out I had two packages of popcorn! So frustrating. I also put on the side my rose and orange blossom water and containers of popcorn flavouring from Kernels Popcorn that Reg got me for Christmas. Dill pickle… yum!!!
At the front you have chocolate, seeds, nuts, Jello, skim milk powder, shortening… All sorts of miscellaneous items including… Yes! Sesame seeds right on the top!
I rarely use my decorative baking supplies so they went at the back and in front you have all sorts of dried fruit and gelatine and my brown rice pie weights.
It isn’t perfect and now that I have gotten organized there have been many times I have not had any idea where stuff is but in general, it is much better. To be baking and just open the cupboard door and get to my spoons and cups… Totally worth it! I’m still trying to come up with a way to get all my spices in one place but that might take a little while longer. If you have any ideas on how to do so for an herb and spice freak like me, I would love to hear them!
Is it time to organize your kitchen?!
Today’s been a rough day. Something major is happening and I have no control over the outcome. Hopefully there will be good news to celebrate but until I get that phone call or email, I will continue to use what little energy I have in my kitchen to keep my mind from obsessing. The sun finally found us yesterday which felt like a positive shift. I hope I am right!
It’s always time to re-organize in my kitchen. You are a super foodie indeed, what an amazing spice selection you have. I think I’m one of those people who lives in an organized mess, where nothing seems to make sense and yet I know where everything is. Confuses the heck out of everyone else though.
I’m willing to bet that Martha Stewart will have some sort of do-it-yourself ideas and strategies for spice storage on her website. She is quite the creative and frugal lady. I think I may need some help in this area too, will have to check her out later.
I hope the sun shines strong for you and sending waves of positive energy your way. May you get the news you hope for!
Great organizing, Suzie! Yes, spices are a challenge. I don’t have nearly as many as you but I always get bottles. I keep them on a two-tier lazy susan which I can rotate quickly to find the ones I need. I hate having to dig through stuff to find the one spice I need!
Whatever the situation is, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you and sending good wishes for a super outcome.
I can’t wait to have a kitchen to organize! The thing is I’ll be sharing it with 3 other people, all who plan to cook for a living, so it needs to be organized in a way that makes sense to all 4 of us. :p I hope things are going well for you, sometimes all you need to get your life in order is a little organization!