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 store them lying on their sides in a drawer; no stacking, no digging!
I’ve got a drawer full of standard-size spice jars, but then there’s an overflow tin in my pantry for things I buy in larger quantities.
I store my herbs and spices in empty starbucks coffee drink jars and ball canning jars.
I’m using the jars my spices come in right now, but want to switch to something else.
Great jars and great shelf! When can your Dad get to my house and do one for me???
I reuse lots of jars for spices but prefer the quarter pint masons. Unfortunately when I want to make small jars of jam to give away, all my quarter pints are full in my spice cabinet!
Love these things. I use Mason Jars with 2 lids now – one with holes and one to seal!
I store them in old store-bought spice containers but as my spice inventory expands I’m running out of jars to repurpose so my cabinets have become littered with stray baggies of this and that. It’s awful.
I use a mix of tins, jars, ziploc bgse in a cabinet in my kitchen. Thinking about getting metal tins and attaching hem to my fridge with magnets.
Currently, I have a tiered spice rack in the cupboard and most of my spices are in “Simply Organic” Jars, which are attractive, so I try to refill them by buying spices in bulk. I do have some in larger jars like bay leaves and peppercorns, and some of the containers don’t match, because my partner or my roommate don’t actually know that I want them all to look pretty. I try to keep them organized alphabetically, from back left to front right.
Right now I use everything from paper bags to my smallest jelly jars….these would be a most welcome addition!
I currently store spices in the jars they come in . . . I haven’t yet cultivated my own to store away, but this is definitely something to think about!
We have a few ways… either the original container, small glass or aluminum cylinders, or small ziploc bags (that can be kind of a mess). These little jars would work so much better.
I have been reusing store spice containers (and re-labeling them) for new spices or multiple containers for larger amounts. The spices would be much more user friendly in the Ball jar spice containers!
I LOVE these jars! I buy my dried spices in bulk if possible & use mason jars to store them. But even when buying from the bulk food aisle, I try to buy small amounts, so that I don’t have stale or old stuff in my cabinet.
Just bought a dehydrator so this would help with strorage!
I LOVE these, and covet them. Because right now most of my spices are still in their mismatched boring store containers.
We used to use random jars but then we ordered a bunch of jars from penzeys. We order big bags of spices to refill the jars and store the extra in the freezer. Our spice.. area is a bookshelf
These are so cool. Right now my storage consists of the bottles that my spices come in from stage store.
I haven’t had much luck growing herbs but when I have been successful they go in plastic baggies. Would love to use these jars instead.
Most of my spices are in their original containers- although many have at this point been refilled with stuff from bulk spices. Spices that I have excess of go into any jars I have lying around that happen to fit them, which could be anything from old apple sauce jars to the 4oz Ball jars. It’s kind of mismatchy, but it mostly works!
I use the jar they came in, then refill them with bulk spices from Winco 🙂
I reuse jars just like you do or the spice containers, these would really work. I will have to look for them, Thanks for the chance to win.
I keep my herbs/spices in the jars they come in, but I’d like to start buying them in bulk so these Ball jars would be perfect!
I’m a bit ashamed to say that I store my store bought spices in the containers they come in. For the herbs I grow & dry, I have glass jars. They aren’t the proper dark glass, but they are stored in a dark, cool place.
I use the jar they came in, then refill it with bulk spices from Winco 🙂
I leave most spices in their regular containers, but have some that are in baggies due to buying in bulk and I was eying these spice jars at Walmart over the weekend!
I have 1) a nice three-tier wire rack that hangs on the wall with assorted small jars, 2) a narrow shelf in the wall near the stove that wasn’t built for spices (shelves too few and way too far apart), but has some jars stacked in it anyway, 3) some space along one side of the stove-side cutting board/table that is beginning to be filled with assorted jars. But there’s always room for more, right? And with an expanded herb garden, these jars look like just the thing (and they will stack better in the above-mentioned built-in shelf, too).
I use regular Ball jars, some tiny little glass jars that were given to me (but that are impossible to get anything out of) and some old jam jars. These guys look great!
I have about 12 glass jars purchased at two different thrift stores.
I also use old mason jars, salsa jars, and the like. We have various plastic tubs that house the spices by category since we currently have to keep them up in a cabinet due to lack of space in our current kitchen.
I am horrified to admit @ present my spices remain jumbled in the bags I measured them in
We use baby food jars.
Sounds like a wonderful idea. I just started growing herbs and I want a better way to store and use them.
I love these, and I agree that they are more attractive than the quilted jars. I keep my herbs in random sized, shaped jars.
I really like these jars, although I would love them in a bigger size. I currently have multiple lazy Susans in my pantry to house smaller jars, and large containerson an upper shelf to refill the smaller jars.
My herb garden is doing really well this spring and I would love to actually dry and save them instead of just using them fresh. These would be a great option. Right now I mostly buy my herbs and spices from Penzy’s, so they come in uniform glass jars.
I am just starting a herb garden so these would be great!
I have some old white glass spice jars from the forties, the lids are rusty and hard to screw on. The bulk spices go in a tall pottery jar. I would love these little beauties.
I’ve got a drawer full of spices, plus a section of my walk-in pantry is dedicated to spices and flavorings, many in original containers, some in tupperware spice containers. These jars look perfect!
Finally, this is excellent. So glad they have come up with something else almost as useful as the jar!
I love these! I keep mine in quart-sized jars, primarily, because I can easily go through a 4 ounce jar of many herbs in a week! I would love the put these lids on the bigger jars! It would be awesome if we could just buy these lids as well, without the jars, but I can always find a use for 4 ounce jars.
That was my thought exactly. Just the lids would be awesome. I have jars coming out of my ears. I would love to just be able to put the lids on any size jar.
These look like the perfect size and I love the shaker element. I would definitely be interested in the Pinterest board. Thanks.
Usually the little 4 oz mason jars 🙂
I would love to try those lids. I dry a lot of my own herbs and therefore don’t really have a collection of lids that works like those do. Fingers crossed.
These jars ROCK! I reuse square’ish’ spice jars because they lay in the drawer I use, but these would find a better home!
Are you kidding? I’ve never seen these before. I feel my life is complete! I use some IKEA jars right now, but just push on tops. Not the greatest…
I mainly buy the small, cheap spice containers from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but these Ball jars look like they’d work much better. Would love to try them out!
I have a large drawer that is nice for storing herbs & spices lying down in the containers they came in but I believe these containers would sit low enough to fit in the drawer also. What a nice give-away!
I love your shelves! I recycle jars that other things come in for dried herbs and anything else I might buy bulk.