The week Scott and I got married (nearly four years ago now!), my dad cut a giant hole in my kitchen wall and inserted floor-to-ceiling spice rack into a few inches of unused space. This had long been the wedding present plan, though looking back on it covering the apartment with drywall dust a few days before the big day wasn’t one of my better laid plans.
Still, I’ll never regret the mess, because I LOVE this spice shelf. Not only did it give me a bounty of additional storage space, the shelves are perfectly spaced to hold the canning jars that house my herbs and spices. Truly, it was one of the best presents I’ve ever received.
For the longest time, I thought I was the only one using slightly past their prime mason jars for this purpose, but in recent years, I’ve discovered that I’m very far from alone. And this spring, Ball finally recognized the fact that many of us use their jars in this way and released a product designed expressly for spice storage.
Meet the Dry Herbs Jars
I appreciate the slight rim on the edge of the lid, which means they stack with a sense of security. And finally (though this has nothing directly to do with their utility as a spice jar), I love the look of the smooth-sided four ounce jar. Would that they’d kick those quilted quarter-pints to the curb and sell these by the dozen!
Disclosure: Ball has provided these Dry Herb Jars at no cost to me. However, I am unswayed by this gift and my opinions remain my own.
I use the ball jar salt & pepper shakers, but these are on my wish list. I think a set or two are to be purchased for my daughter and daughter-in-loves that grow their own herbs.
The herbs I harvest from my garden are stored in “found” odd jars. I would love a more orderly and classy look, which sure seems to be what Ball has come up with.
How do I store my herbs and spices? Very poorly. Because I buy almost all of my spices in bulk, I have a pull out drawer in one of the kitchen cabinets stuffed with plastic bags of spices (they never quite make it into my little spice jars.) I have vowed multiple times to straight out the mess, but it never seems to happen.
I store my cooking spices next to the stove in pull out slides, and my baking spices in my baking center in shelves in their original containers.
Obviously, I need these…I just use the containers they come in!
Some are stored the way they came, home dried pepper flakes are in neat little plug top glass jars, some are in Ball jars…a mess in my cabinet for sure so they are corralled into large tupperwares to keep them from falling out!
I reuse herb and spice bottles, small containers of glass, plastic, baggies; whatever I have on hand. The new Ball jars look marvelous.
I tried to DIY a magnetic spice rack, but it was a major fail since I couldn’t find a good adhesive to attach the magnets to the lids. :-/ bummer. So they’re back in their drawer in their regular containers. I’d love to grab a couple of these. I love Ball jars as storage! 🙂
I store my spices in a narrow (read too small) cabinet near my stove.
I store them in jars- sitting in old cake and loaf pans so I can slide a pan off the shelf for easy access! I think my 10 year old budding chef will go crazy for these jars- he’s already started drying his own herbs!
I reuse spice jars, use other random small jars and baggies waiting for jars to become available.
I currently store my spices in the half pint wide mouth canning jars. I was looking at these jars in the grocery store the other day and although I think they would be too small for my bulk spice purchases I was curious if the regular 4 0z. canning lids would fit on them. Like you, I’m not a fan of the quilted jars.
In jars of course!
I use old jars found at estate sales. These jars are great for smaller quantities.
Some are in jars, but most are in baggies because I buy them bulk in small amounts and don’t have room for 30 jars. So, if I win this terrific prize, I will have to figure out a new (and better) system.
This blog post reminds me I need to clean my spice cabinet. It’s one of those places in my house that, no matter how hard I try, just gets cluttered and messy. Some of my herbs are in plastic containers, some in plastic bags, some in jars. It’s a mess.
Amen about those little quilted jars!
We reuse the little plastic containers from spices long since used up. Baby food jars, old condiment jars, and even a few canning jars.
I store mine in little recycled jars. I have some VERY old spice jars, that were my grandma’s that I cherish, love those old labels. I also use mason jars, of course!
My spices and herbs are jammed in a cabinet. Some are in recycled glass jars, others are in baggies and others are in mason jars with the lid/ring combo. This is a great idea. I can’t wait to get some!
I use the spices I buy in their original packaging, and the ones I dry like oregano and rosemary, I find jars for it. It would be lovely to have uniform sizes.
Sold! I will be looking for these!
Currently I’m using a mix of refilled commercial containers and canning jars from 4oz to full pints (what can I say… I use a lot of dill and mustard seeds!)
I need these!! I buy all of my spices in bags, and need a better way to store them. Hopefully I can find these locally!
Debi
My herbs and spices are in a variety of jars and bottles that I like to call “whatever we could find at the time.” It seems like we are using increasing numbers of bulk herbs or ones we dry ourselves, or mixes that we make, and although I’ve bought some jars specifically for that purpose, there never seem to be enough, so we use what we can. The only exception to that is vanilla, which is made frequently and lives carefully in the dark in brown glass bottles.
I usually keep my herbs either hung or in an old (ugly) spice jar. I’ve been looking for these. They don’t carry them in my local Walmart and Ball is out of stock. Amazon is WAY over priced.
Some I keep in the storebought containers, some I put into re-purposed jars… the fact that these thing are all different shapes and sizes makes for a rather messy cabinet!
I have glass jars I purchased from Penzy’s. Some with spices in them and some extras. These Ball jars look like they would stack really nice and I love the shape of them.
we have them in little baggies
I have been currently using the glass jars that I buy the spices in, then refill from a larger bag of spices or buy what I need in bulk to get the right amount. For example, I use a lot – no, make that A LOT – of cumin, so I buy a big ol’ bag from a Mexican grocery store to fill up the spice jar as it empties. Due to the lack of spice space, I haven’t been using larger Ball jars for extra spice storage… but I do like these cute little jars. And yeah! They aren’t quilted! It would be nice to get both the smooth-sized jars and the shaker caps separately.
Our spice storage takes up 2 shelves in one of cupboards and is like a Hoarders episode. No container is the same, some have labels falling off. It’s bad. This would be a great start to reorganizing! I also love your spice shelf and agree that drywall dust is worth the mess in the end.
My spices are a source of frustration right now. For years they have been all thrown together in a box, and it takes far too long to fish out the one I need. Trying to devise a solution to fit my small kitchen. Your spice shelf is awesome!
I use various glass jars… But none with lovely shaker tops 😉
One things I’m bad about is re labeling the jars thinking I will remember it’s ground clove or is it allspice… Hmm. Mystery spices!
Right now, dried herbs from the garden are being stored in old chili sauce bottles and pickle jars. The canning jars I used to store them in have been diverted in hopes of getting a pressure canner and putting up chili, etc. I like using all the odd shaped vinagrette jars and such, since you can remember the shape of the jar for each specific herb/spice on a crowded shelf.
I have a shelf similar to yours, but not as deep. Thanks for the giveaway!
Like you, once my home-grown herbs are dried I put them in small jelly jars and recycled jars. The new herb jars are great.
I love to dry herbs that I grow in my garden, but right now they are stored in baggies, so I would love to have a set of these jars!
I’m terrible about storage of my herbs and spices. I leave them in their containers and in a cupboard next to the stove. Some of these are more than 18 years old! Yikes! This weekend I’ll be throwing some of those out!
In magnetic containers on the fridge, in jars on the counter, and the rest of the bounty is stored in a basket in a cupboard by the stove!
I store herbs in random shaped jars in a drawer.
We just moved and I was amazed at the quantity of spice jars and bags and random containers we have. Reused spice jars, mason jars, baggies, small brown bags-you name it and it’s got an herb or spice in it! Time to organize!
My herbs and slices are in Mason jars in my pantry.
Small jars re purposed is what I have mainly.
Right now my herbs are stored in little plastic shaker bottles. Not my favorite, but it works for now.
Most spices are in wall racks attached to the side of cupboards.
Some are hanging in the pot rack with the cast iron. Frequently used,
like salt and pepper, are on the shelf above the stove. Love the look
of these new jars!
I have a bunch of small jars in an Ikea wall cabinet – there’s got to be a better way!
I LOVE THESE. I store my spices in the cabinet near my stove.
My pantry shelf looks so much like yours! Mason jars of old, blue, new, with plastic, zinc, and some wire topped lids. Love them all!
Heavily used spices like salt & pepper, as well as other baking needs such as baking powder and homemade blends, I keep in mason jars. Other spices are generally kept in their original jars, but I’ve been thinking about moving all of my spices to mason jars, if only to make it easier to measure out. I think these jars may be just what I’ve been looking for.
I actually recently purchased a tiered shelf so I could see all of the spice jars I have in my cupboard. It makes things so much easier when you’re too short to see into the back without a stepladder!
I put mine in drawers, lying down label side up, in utensil trays. So I can see everything instantly!
I store mine in the jars they come in & use Tupperware bacon keepers to hold the assortment. Can take out a whole tray at once. Keep baking spices in one, cooking spices in two others.