Storing herbs & spices

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gypsychic

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For those that cook on the road with more than just salt & pepper, what do you store your herbs & spices in?

I've always cooked with lots of herbs and spices. They can make a so - so meal wonderful. As I'm loading up my van and realizing just how much a premium space really is, I'm trying to find different containers for items that I want to take but take up too much room in their original container. Buying spices in bulk and keeping them in smaller containers they will actually be fresher but what to put them in? The old camping trick of putting them in film canisters is more difficult to do as very few use actual film anymore. Any other ideas?
 
gypsychic said:
For those that cook on the road with more than just salt & pepper, what do you store your herbs & spices in?

I've always cooked with lots of herbs and spices. They can make a so - so meal wonderful. As I'm loading up my van and realizing just how much a premium space really is, I'm trying to find different containers for items that I want to take but take up too much room in their original container. Buying spices in bulk and keeping them in smaller containers they will actually be fresher but what to put them in? The old camping trick of putting them in film canisters is more difficult to do as very few use actual film anymore. Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

This is going to be a problem with me too! Right now I'm using Dollar Store glass containers that have a removable 'shaker' and plastic lids but my spice shelf has 30 containers of that size. For larger storage like bay leaves, chili powder, parsley etc. I use one of the dollar store glass containers that has the wire clamp ring and a rubber seal much like what used to be on mason jars. For in between I use the smallest size of mason jars, the little ones that you'd use for gift jams.

I'm going to have to carefully consider which of all of those I really, really need to take on the road with me but I know that the minute I leave out a spice, I'll be hunting for it again.

I worry about carrying so much glass around with me and need to start looking for something similar in plastic.

For short camping trips where I want to take just what I need, I have a collection of small plastic containers that come in 6 & 8 packs from the kitchen section of the dollar store. You can buy similar containers in the camping section of W/M but they're more expensive.
 
The problem with film canisters, aside from them being too small to hold any decent amount of spice is that they are not made with food grade plastic.

For short camping trips they would be okay if you've nothing else but if you're hitting the road full-time, not so much!
 
I'm a spice girl since before the Spice Girls. :p Even when we did a lot of weekend camping I brought the spice rack size of my primary spices. Over the years I've collected the standard spice jar size of just about everything I use when I could get them cheap. I fill them from my bulk containers, but I know the co-op I shop at sells out of bulk bins so I could essentially refill them that way on the road. I've been trying to figure out an out of the way place to carry the bigger containers on the stuff I use a lot of and then just keep the usuals in standard spice jars. I've seen a lot of different ways people do their spices in their builds---if you've got a blank space on a wall somewhere a spice rack could be attached. Some use the magnetic type racks. One of those shoe organizer things could be used too for spices and utensils or something. Room for spices is high on my priority list. :D
 
Almost There said:
The problem with film canisters, aside from them being too small to hold any decent amount of spice is that they are not made with food grade plastic.

For short camping trips they would be okay if you've nothing else but if you're hitting the road full-time, not so much!
Click to expand...


That's a good point, AT. I was really hoping you had come up with a solution already as I knew from your posts that you cook a lot and were planning to continue that on the road. Yes, my herb and spice collection is similar but I've scaled down over the past several years.

Would medicine bottles, the kind dispensed at the pharmacy, be food grade plastic? For some reason I highly doubt it given the quality of the plastic from the mail order pharms. I'll have to ask the next time I'm in a drug store.

Somehow food grade plastic made at the cheapest labor possible & sold at the dollar store I'd find suspect also. I don't have much faith in dollar store products that come in contact with anything I'm eating or drinking from. Maybe I'm overly cautious. I buy other things from dollar stores.

I think I'll stick to the glass jars I have now with an eye toward buying the metal magnet spice containers a little at a time. They are a decent size for me. I'll just have to make a cushioned container for my spice jars. I think I read a post from here about someone traveling with canning jars. Gotta look into that.
 
anewbiewannabe said:
I'm a spice girl since before the Spice Girls. :p Even when we did a lot of weekend camping I brought the spice rack size of my primary spices. Room for spices is high on my priority list. :D
Click to expand...

Glad I'm not the only one [emoji1]
 
Cry said:
Then there's these...
http://www.amazon.com/Qty-20-Plasti...lt_1&ref-refURL=http://www.cheaprvliving.com/

Or go to a dollar store and buy as many of the cheap spices you want for a dollar. Dump them out and try to get the same spices in the same bottles or wash them good for any odors...lol.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link.

Those are really tiny jars though, I just did the math and the ones' I'm using are 2.29 oz, those jars are 1 oz size.

The cheap spices at the dollar store are in glass jars...you can buy 3 or 4 of them empty at the same store.

I have to look not only at safety issues, but shelf space as well. Containers that are short and squat are going to take up more shelf space than the glass ones I have now. And stacking them isn't the answer because then you'd always be moving things to get to the one you want.

I'm probably going to run with the glass containers I have now and see if I have any breakage going down the road. Knowing me, I'll figure out that a rubber band or something wrapped around the jar will stop the clinking of glass on glass with every vibration... :)

Stuff will probably be packed in so tight into the pantry that it doesn't stand a chance of rattling... :D

And when we all get together we can go on a shared spice shopping trip..I always have a ziplock of left over spices that won't fit in the darn jars...sigh!!
 
Hate to admit it, but I can actually remember when 35mm film canisters were'nt plastic, they were metal with a screw top.

How about packing all your spices in something like a shoe box, with labels on the lids?

Regards
John
 
Optimistic Paranoid said:
Hate to admit it, but I can actually remember when 35mm film canisters were'nt plastic, they were metal with a screw top.

How about packing all your spices in something like a shoe box, with labels on the lids?

Regards
John
Click to expand...

That would work.

I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to put simple movable dividers in the shelves of the pantry so that stuff doesn't shift around when the shelf isn't full to the brim - like just before a major shopping trip...lol.
 
Optimistic Paranoid said:
Hate to admit it, but I can actually remember when 35mm film canisters were'nt plastic, they were metal with a screw top.

Regards
John
Click to expand...

I still have a couple of those metal film canisters floating around somewhere in my junk drawer, can't remember what's in them now---matches most likely. ;)

For storing spices in a pantry shelf a square basket of some kind would work---when not full stuff a sock in it. :p

Those rolls of padded drawer liner can be cut to all sizes to weave between glass bottles for travel, although, the rubberband idea sounds pretty good. :) The drawer liners would work between plates and such as well. Though, again, socks are necessary so would be a place to store socks---just make sure they're clean. ;)
 
Oh, all the shelves will have the non skid liner on them. Stuff still falls over if it's not packed in there.

I figure the rubber band idea is better than weaving the fabric because it can stay on each jar rather than having to try to get the containers back in between weaves.

All my spices are shelved in alphabetical order - not because I'm AR but because it means I can put my hands on the right jar mostly the first attempt.

Melamine doesn't really need to have liner between it. I have most of a set of it, enough for me to use anyways.

My good glass dinner set will be packed up and put in the trailer. The things I'm really going to miss are my glass mixing bowls and bakeware but with no oven it doesn't make any sense to do anything but pack them up. Eventually, they will either go to my one son who covets them or I'll be back using them in a tiny house or an off grid cabin.
 
Almost There said:
All my spices are shelved in alphabetical order - not because I'm AR but because it means I can put my hands on the right jar mostly the first attempt.
Click to expand...

I've got my lazy susan in alphabetical order too so I can just spin to the right letter to find what I want---helps me remember the alphabet too. :p I ended up with a couple duplicates when I didn't have it in order since I couldn't find the originals.

Yeah, the mixing bowls and baking stuff.... I hope the learning curve for solar ovens isn't too steep. I'll have to thin out a lot though since my daughter will not be settled in anywhere for the long haul for a while---big cities and tiny apartments for at least a few years. Trying to get the stuff that goes into storage down to fit the smallest unit size I can.

I'll be making what I can of my current kitchenware work for me rather than trying to replace it with more easily packed stuff so it will be a challenge, but I figure I ought to enjoy the stuff rather than pack it away.
 
gsfish said:
I'm not much of a cook but what about plastic bags? Advantages are they don't break like glass, light weight, their volume is next to nothing when near empty, most of the air can be evacuated by pressing with a towel on counter top and then sealing (isn't exposure to air a factor in freshness?). What little spices I use from bulk I put in repurposed spice bottle/shakers from the grocery (after using contents). I know that some people just have a problem with anything plastic from the get go. By the way, I got tired of my garlic powder chunking up on me and got some garlic granules at the co-op. So far they haven't been any problem. Am I the last to learn about this miracle product?

Guy
Click to expand...

No, but I use garlic powder for some things, minced garlic for others and then have garlic paste as well! I gave up on trying to keep fresh garlic on hand, the jar stuff works just as well and doesn't go funky.

Heaven help the person who doesn't like garlic and onion in their food. They'd starve in my house... :D

Using plastic bags for spices, when you've got as many as I and a couple others here have, would get messy real fast. I use ziplocs for storing dry goods in a basket on a shelf because I don't have enough room to store them neatly and the pack I want is ALWAYS on the bottom.

When we're cooking, we like to be able to put our hands on the right jar, asap. It's not like the cooking shows where someone has everything laid out for the chef.... :D :rolleyes:
 
Woohoo!!!! Another garlic lover! :D I just bought another large jar of minced garlic today. :D I will get a head of fresh garlic if I have something particular in mind, but the jarred stuff is handy for most everything.

I discovered that if I used the shaker top on the garlic it didn't seal as well and would become lumps. Sometimes I forget and end up with lumps again and use the back of a spoon to break them up. If I'm adding spices to something that's heating I pour them into a ramekin and then pour that into the dish so that I don't get steam into the bottles.

Some spices, like curry powder will actually eat the plastic bags if you leave it in there long enough. :( I had some given to me from a bulk purchase and didn't think to put it in something else. But yeah, trying to use spices in plastic bags would be awkward to season foods. I'd probably end up dropping an open bag and having quite the spicy cloud. :p For spices that don't see frequent use putting plastic wrap on before screwing the lid on will help keep them fresh longer.
 
I use (and reuse) the glass and plastic spice containers from supermarkets. Most vary from 1.5 oz to 8 oz. I have wooden spice racks on a couple cabinet doors, but have found small diameter or tall containers fall out if not jammed in, so have added some of those small bungee cords with the metal hook ends stretched between a couple screws to stabilize the containers.
http://www.amazon.com/Wenzel-Shock-...427377524&sr=8-3&keywords=small+stretch+cords
Found mine at HD or Lowes.
They can be adjusted for length by sliding the hooks down the cord and tying a knot as a stop.
Did the same along the side wall of my counter for small containers that I use regularly.
 
I prefer glass after that stainless. however most spices nowadays come in plastic, ah what can you do, damn throw away society. on a side note, on the film canisters what about the chemicals from the film itself, I wouldn't use film canisters myself. highdesertranger
 
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