Last night, I spent some time cleaning up and reorganizing my spice rack. I posted a picture on Twitter (I won’t lie, I was proud of my work), and suddenly I had a lot of questions about my method! Jessica “@monstacle” McLeod asked if I would post a tutorial, so here it is.
AHEM.
The main thing about spice racks is that most people do at least one of these three wrong things:
1. Keep old-ass spices around. Stored well, spices should last you about a year. I know, it sucks, because a jar of cloves is like $7 and there’s no way you can go through the whole thing in a year. But it’s just the cost of doing business. If you go out and get all-new spices RIGHT NOW, though, maybe you’ll remember to do it next January! New year, new spices, right? Also, if you plan this way, you can make a trip to an ethnic market and get better deals than you would at the supermarket.
2. Expose spices to heat. A lot of people keep their spices in the cabinet above the stove, next to the stove, or in magnetic tins stuck TO THE STOVE. Don’t do this. Heat causes them to go bad faster. My tins are stuck to the side of the fridge, which is only a couple of feet from the stove, but I don’t have a big kitchen, and I think this is fine. Above the stove is really the worst, because, you know, heat rises.
3. Expose spices to light. This is the one that drives me crazy. Light, just like heat, damages spices. And yet almost every single spice jar or spice rack you can buy is transparent. I guess if you’re keeping them in a cabinet, it’s fine? But even the pre-made magnetic ones: clear lids. Also, those aren’t cheap, and usually have about 12 jars.
So, here’s how I made my own magnetic spice rack and YOU CAN TOO!
First, order some tins. I got mine from Specialty Bottle, they’re the 8oz Deep Tins here. Order more than you think you’re going to need; they’re less than a dollar and you never know when you’re going to get some fancy salt as a present, or decide you want three kinds of paprika in your house. You can probably find about fifty other uses for them, too. So let’s say you order 35 of them (you might not want that many, but since I have 34 on my fridge [I forgot that the red pepper flakes were out on the counter when I started alphabetizing] I figure I’ll be honest). $42 so far, including shipping.
You also need some magnets. You’ll want the super-strong rare earth kind, because these tins can get heavy. The best price I’ve found is from this Etsy seller. I also use these to make my Hey Pais magnets, so I keep a lot of them around. I put four magnets on each tin, although you could probably get away with three. The sea salt ones get heavy, though, and I like to be on the safe side, so four it is. I’m just going to round up to 200 magnets, and again, you’ll find uses for the leftovers. These are STRONG, like hold up heavy greeting cards on the fridge strong. So that’s $50, you’ve spent $92 so far.
The other supplies you might already have:
E-6000 Industrial-Strength Craft Glue. I buy mine on Etsy, but you might find it cheaper somewhere else. You won’t need much, just a tiny tube will do it. You might already have some epoxy in your toolbox, though. You want something really, really strong. Let’s call this $5.
Labels. I use this removable correction tape because I like that you can easily take it off to clean the jars and then put fresh labels on. Also, your needs might change—like you might finish off that fancy salt and decide not to buy any more. You can probably use masking tape, or plain white labels, and soak them off if needed, I don’t know. I promoted mine from the office but let’s call this $5 too.
Then, all you need to do is glue magnets to the bottom of the jars. As I said, I put four on each tin, in a square pattern. Make sure to let them dry, at least an hour but ideally overnight, before you try to put them on your fridge.
Make your labels and put them on (one on the lid and one on the side).
Finally, fill your jars and hang them up! I put mine alphabetically, with salt and pepper off in the margin for quick grabbing. (That pepper is whole peppercorns, for refilling the pepper grinder, so it doesn’t really need to be accessed quickly. I didn’t really think about that at the time, so I might move it.) You’ll notice fancy salts mixed in with the spices, since I don’t use them every day. You’ll also notice cinnamon is missing, because we use it every morning in our oatmeal and I like having all the breakfast stuff in one spot on the counter.
So, now you have a nice organized spice rack, and you know where everything is, and you know when it goes bad! When you need to measure something, you have these nice wide jars that can accommodate any size spoon. Also, your guests are impressed. You spent about $100 (if you need 35 spice tins like I do), and you did it yourself, and it’s way better than any of those ones you can buy at the store.
If any of you do this, or have something like this, please share pictures!
