The best thing about Make it Mondays is the project we take on. I’m a little obsessed with watching ASMR reels on Instagram and love seeing fridge and pantry organization and stock ups! I’ve added a few clear drawers to our fridge and both Jorge and I have been snacking on healthier items with the ready to eat fresh fruit and snacks that are ready for us to just grab and go! We love having white grapes, cherry tomatoes and string cheese all ready to go in drawers. The other project I saw that I really wanted to implement in our own kitchen was the spice drawers. We had our spices in a narrow pull out near the stove, but we have so many spices that we couldn’t easily access all of them and had to search three different areas to find what we were looking for. It was definitely time to do something about this as we are looking to clear out our pantries before moving, eat healthier during this pregnancy and save time by meal prepping.
Sometimes DIY projects are not terribly difficult to make happen, they just take a little planning, time and follow through. This is one of those projects. We have a drawer across from the stove that is deep enough for spice jars and was only being used for dish towels, a scale and other miscellaneous items. It was time to get all of our spices together and allow for easy access so cooking, meal prep and more is less time consuming and more appealing.
For this easy organization DIY, it was more about patience than anything else for me. I knew I wanted specific spice jars (click the link to pick up the ones I got!) to keep everything uniform and, let’s face it, looking pretty. I had asked for a specific spice jar set for Christmas and this was the longest part of waiting. These jars were perfect for our set up because they have labels that run down the side, but also another set for the lids. With our constant moving, having options on viewing what is actually in the jars was important.
My original idea was to insert wood dowels into the drawer so that I’d see the jars laid out in the jars, but it turns out we had way too many jars for that. Thankfully, they fit perfectly in the drawer standing up. I was able to place ALL of our spices in one drawer. Jorge and I talked about either putting our most used spices up front and the rest behind, or just going in alphabetical order. With the wide variety of spices we keep on hand, alphabetical just seemed more efficient and practical for our spice drawer.
Once we got everything set up and jars washed, it was really just filling up the jars. I emptied, then recycled, all of the store bought seasonings into the glass jars. Next up were the seasonings we grew in our gardens here at Tin Box. Some were grown outside and others inside in one of our Aerogarden machines. We have one larger machine and another smaller one. We grow as many herbs as possible and dry them in our home. The dehydrator runs in my office and is like having a relaxing sound machine going most of the time! Finally I mixed a few of our our seasoning mixes. I can’t remember the last time I bought Taco seasoning and our chicken seasoning is seriously the best!
After all jars were filled, I simply arranged in alphabetical order and filled the drawer. It was so satisfying to have all of our seasonings in one place! There is still room for another row of jars and a few extras along the side too! Sometimes smaller projects like this DIY have big impacts on your day-to-day.
Have questions on anything you read today? Don’t be afraid to ask, I love to help! You will see links throughout my posts. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As always, thank you for reading and joining us on this journey!
Simply, Beth