When I went to make my Valentine Heart Cookies from my last Blog post I realized I needed to give my spice/baking cabinet a little TLC.
Even though I consider myself organized maintenance is key to long term organization.
Since it was maintenance the hole process took me 15 minutes. It will take longer if this is your first time organizing the cabinet.
Keep reading for steps to organize your spice cabinet.
Step #1- Take everything out of the cabinet
Once you have everything out sort like items together. Check expiration dates on everything. I had 3 items I threw out- Cookie sprinkles that hardened and 2 spices that were old.
If you are organizing for the 1st time- take inventory of what you have and what you want to store in this cabinet. A couple call outs in my cabinet- The cute gingerbread boy cookie cutter that I bought after Christmas that never made it in the container and I had been storing my coffee filters and an instant coffee in this cabinet. I re-homed the coffee items and you may decide at this point that there are items that will work best somewhere else too.
Step #2- Clean and Container Solutions Time
If you don't currently have organization systems in your cabinet you will want to take measurements of your space and also look at the items that will be stored. What size is realistic for the amount of stuff that you want to contain. Once you decide on the containers the goal is to live within the amount of space you assigned for any grouping. If you like to buy in bulk or buy multiples consider creating a back stock area in a pantry, closet, another cabinet, etc.
Types of organizers- Spices if in a cabinet I like the stair stepped units and I put shorter bottles on the bottom and taller bottles on the back row. Alphabetize so they are easy to locate. If you have space and have favorites you use all the time a turntable/lazy-susan is great to be able to spin and grab.
Turn tables also work great for oils, extracts, misc.
Any basket or container that you are using make sure to label it. Labeling is key to make sure that everything gets put back in its home.
Step #3 Zone and Contain How I have my spice cabinet set up- Bottom Shelf- Everyday items-Oils and cooking sprays on a turntable and salt and pepper in a basket.
Middle Shelf - Cooking seasonings and spices Top Shelf- Baking - Cookie cutters and cookie decorating in baskets that are labeled and a an easy grab basket with baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, and extracts.