The $0 Spice Storage Solution I Wish I’d Tried Years Ago

Lisa Freedman
Lisa FreedmanExecutive Lifestyle Director
Lisa Freedman is the Executive Lifestyle Director at The Kitchn. She has never met a cheese or a washi tape she didn't like. She lives in New York state with her husband and their pup, Millie.
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published May 21, 2022
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Credit: Lisa Freedman

If you spend any time with me in real life, you have likely heard me go on and on (and on) about my recent pantry makeover. I even wrote about said pantry makeover for this site. (You know, for those of you who aren’t lucky enough to get my in-person ramblings!) I can’t stop talking about this re-org and I can’t stop looking at it.

See, my snacks, dry ingredients, and spices were just such a mess all the time. The shelves weren’t working for me. I couldn’t quite line groceries up in a way that made them accessible. It was really hard to find things and I bought stuff that I already had way too often. So I did what any frustrated home cook would do: I took drastic measures! I turned the pantry into a display case for my dishes and I moved all my groceries to my newly emptied upper cabinets. I’m loving how it all turned out, but if I had to pick one specific thing as my favorite part of this makeover, it would have to be my new spice storage situation.

Credit: Lisa Freedman

I put my most-used spices in a drawer. (My lesser-used spices are in a cabinet and I can easily scan the shelf before I start cooking or go to the store.) Now, I can just pull out the drawer and find what I need at a glance. No digging around. No accidentally buying a third jar of cumin! And here’s the best part: No buying any special organizers.

While there are plenty of special inserts I could have added to the drawer to organize my spices, I decided to try the bare-bones approach first, just to see if I liked this new system. Turns out, I do. And I don’t even think I need to buy anything at all. As you can see, I have spices in all different sizes from all sorts of stores/brands. I simply Tetris-ed them into the drawer (labels facing up!) and that was enough. Despite having a little extra wiggle room, the jars stay put when I open and close the drawer and the system is working out wonderfully. I love the accessibility and I love that I didn’t have to buy a single thing!

How do you organize your spices? Tell us in the comments below.

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