Kitchen spice storage and dispensing

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gzt

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#205122 30-Oct-2016 19:11

I have 15+ spices in powder and seed form. Five or six are regularly used. The others vary.

Air tightness is important. At present I use small Tupperware type containers. The capacity I evolved towards is 100ml. These are ok, except it's a two handed operation to open and then measure the required quantity. This takes a bit of time in a hurry.

I've briefly looked at spice rack things in farmers, briscoes, warehouse. These are not close enough to airtight and some were so bad even spices would leak out in an angled rack. Also they tend to have silly external edges which will collect powdered spices. I need to look somewhere else!

Ideally I'm looking for a solution which is:

- close to airtight
- can be operated with one hand
- does not have silly external edges where powdered spices will gather

I'm curious to know what you are using for regular use spice storage and if it might come close to meeting these criteria.

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mrdodge

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#1661089 30-Oct-2016 21:18

I use small swing top bottles that are air tight , relatively easy to clean and cost effective - about 15 bucks for 10 bottles from the local $2 Shop. Can open one handed but you need to use a teaspoon in general if you want to measure the amounts accurately

Cheers

eracode

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#1661143 31-Oct-2016 03:10

We have recently gone through this exercise - looked widely and struggled to find anything great or what we really wanted. If you buy clear glass bottles, you have a labeling issue.

Your 'one-handed' criterion is a tough one and what we ended up doing doesn't meet that. We opted for a simple approach - we use MasterFoods herbs and spices in their original bottles, and sometimes buy spices from other producers and re-fill the MF bottles.

We bought two of these:

http://www.hsw.co.nz/kitchen/pantry-organisers/wall-mounted-spice-rack-280mm-white

from Howards Storage and mounted them on the rear wall of the pantry. These racks come in various sizes/lengths and in white or chrome.

Our 2 x 280 mm setup gives storage for 14 bottles.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

trig42

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#1661232 31-Oct-2016 09:29

We are going through this at the moment.

Have bought plastic containers for the big items (Sugars, Flours, Coconut etc.) and have a spice caddy from an Indian grocery store like this:

Have put the 'curry' spices in that one, and will get another for the 'italian' herbs/spices.

mdf

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#1661246 31-Oct-2016 09:50

trig42:

We are going through this at the moment.

Have bought plastic containers for the big items (Sugars, Flours, Coconut etc.) and have a spice caddy from an Indian grocery store like this:

Have put the 'curry' spices in that one, and will get another for the 'italian' herbs/spices.

That sticker is peeled up just enough to make it look like the first letter of the brand name is a "V". Caused me to do a double take!

mdf

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#1661248 31-Oct-2016 09:51

Responding to the OP, we use old baby food jars. Glass (so don't taint), seal well, and much cheaper (even if you throw the food away) than buying dedicated glass jars.

Can't really open them one handed though.

SepticSceptic

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#1661252 31-Oct-2016 10:05

Know the trouble it is to get a decent herb and spice rack - most commercial products are too small, dont hold enough containers ( 6 or 12 bottles, yeah right ..).

Have a kitchen drawer that has inserts that sort of look like this, but runs lengthwise:

Use 200ml plastic screwtop lids, labelled with a Brother labeller. 200ml is about right to get semi-bulk herbs and spices from Binn Inn, and the like. Supermarket prices for herbs and spices is horrifically marked up.

Or alternately, try something like this:

HP

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gzt

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#1661285 31-Oct-2016 10:53

mrdodge: I use small swing top bottles that are air tight , relatively easy to clean and cost effective - about 15 bucks for 10 bottles from the local $2 Shop. Can open one handed but you need to use a teaspoon in general if you want to measure the amounts accurately

This sounds interesting. I'm not sure what a swing top bottle is. Is it like the beer bottle type things?

Holding the measure with one hand and the container with the other would be an improvement.

gzt

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#1661294 31-Oct-2016 11:04

I ran across this thing on amazon. It actually dispenses a measure. There are a few comments around that it is not adequately air tight:

http://www.kitchenart.com/mobile/Product.aspx?id=37510

Maybe it's a possibility for the frequently used items.

The US$30 price is not unreasonable compared to average spice storage and rack costs. Stackable by the way.

gzt

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#1661300 31-Oct-2016 11:13

trig42:
We are going through this at the moment.

Have bought plastic containers for the big items (Sugars, Flours, Coconut etc.) and have a spice caddy from an Indian grocery store like this:

Have put the 'curry' spices in that one, and will get another for the 'italian' herbs/spices.

That seems very sensible for the top five or six frequently used. I find the flavours can get a bit mixed if they are stored together like that but I have not tried this particular method. It certainly qualifies as one hand operation with the measuring spoon.