Thursday, October 23, 2008

You Can't Use It If You Don't Know Where It Is...Or What It Is

Bulk spices from our food cooperative generally come in one pound foil bags. I use them to refill my spice jars and store the extra in the freezer. The problem is, when I run out of onion powder, I have to did through all the foil bags until I find it. This aggravates me to no end and sometimes results in multiple bags of the same spice being bought, which aggravates me even more. As an added bonus, they don't stack well and often fall out of the freezer at inopportune times. It's time for a change.

I've gathered up some one quart canning jars, some used canning lids (am I the only loon who doesn't throw these out?) and some canning rings. I like the canning jars because the color of what's in the jar will give me a clue that the foil bags couldn't. They also won't absorb the aromas of the spices. Is glass in the freezer a good idea? I'll leave that to each person to decide. I'm just not letting the younger kids touch them.

The goal is to get all of the spices from the foil bags, into the jars and back into the freezer. Ready, set, go!!

3 comments:

Chile said...

I thought you kept a freezer inventory. Wouldn't that help with preventing duplicate purchases?

I don't have room in my freezer for the spices, but I've put them in jars and used the handy attachment on my vacuum sealer to seal the jars. I'm hoping that the lack of oxygen will help keep the spices fresh. They're tucked away in a box in a cool closet, too, so they aren't being exposed to light, heat, or moisture.

Anonymous said...

I do keep a freezer inventory, for the chest freezer not the refigerator freezer where the spices live. (Can you see my head hanging in shame?) I like the vacuum sealer idea.

Chile said...

No shame! I have a horrible time keeping up with the fridge freezer inventory because it changes so rapidly.