From Making Stock to Cleaning Stock - Purging the Spices

While making my veggie stock, I took a bit of time to pull out all my spices and purge.  As the stock cooked down the vegetables cuttings, I pulled all the spices out of the cupboard and started the process.

I had so many different containers, that I decided to start with the general spices like salt and pepper. I combined the two containers of pepper I had after  I filled all the different pepper shakers in my kitchen.  Yes, I have different containers.  Some are just for cooking and are by the stove.  Others are pairs that I place on the table with matching dishes or are used when dining al fresco.  It was a good time to also fill the salts as well.

Combining the peppers into one container allowed me to get rid of two smaller containers, making some room in the cupboard.

Next, I began to look for expiration dates on each of the spice containers.  For some spices, this was an easy job.  They are usually printed on the bottom of the container.  I will confess that one was dated as expiring in 2005!  Yikes...   I did some research and found this:

"As seasoning makers like McCormick point out, spices do not actually spoil. ... Over time, spices will lose their potency and not flavor your food as intended. As a general rule, whole spices will stay fresh for about 4 years, ground spices for about 3 to 4 years and dried leafy herbs for 1 to 3 years."

It also pointed out that expired spices will not make you sick, but they will not flavor like they are intended to past their expiration date.

Because spices are expensive, I did find this interesting site that gives you some neat ideas of what to do with your expired spices if you want alternatives to throwing them away.

I did opt to throw mine away. However, I emptied the contents into the trash can and recycled the containers in our recycling bin.

Here's what was recycled:

And here's what made the cut:

I was not terribly upset by all the spices that went to the wayside as I now primarily cook with the Young Living Essential Oils Vitality line.  These oils are specially formulated to ingest, and they are great in recipes.  You can use this chart to help you when using essential oils in lieu of powdered spices.

My Vitality oils are kept in the wall cupboard above my spice cupboard.

Once you start using oils for recipes, it does become a bit hard to go back to general spices.  They add so much flavor with just a drop.  Once of our favs - one drop of Black Pepper Vitality oil added to the oil for cooking popcorn.  We cook popcorn the old fashioned way, on the stove, with organic vegetable oil.  The Black Pepper adds just a hint of spiciness to the popcorn.

After the purge, I put back the remaining spices in the cupboard, making sure that the expiration dates were clearly marked on the bottom of each container.  A simple Sharpie Marker makes it a breeze.

I also use the Sharpie to label the top so I don't have to fish around for a certain spice while cooking.

Gorgeous!  It's so streamlined and organized, and these are ready to go without the worry of expiration.

Because spices are expensive and it's so frustrating to have to purchase one spice that you may never use again, I did research and find that there are options for buying spices in smaller quantities.  If you are in a progressive urban area (not me) you may have access to an actual spice market or an ethnic area that sells small quantities of spices.

I did find the Atlantic Spice Company website but do not have any experience or opinion.  If you do, or know of other options, please share in the comments below.  I'm always looking for new options like this.

Another option could be to get with a friend and split the cost and contents of spices.  There are many options for containers on Amazon, OR the Dollar Tree always has small container options in their kitchen section.  You could use the old spice containers after you washed them out and removed the label as well.  Print or order some cute labels and you've got an affordable option.

The clean-up of spices also made its way to the island shelves which are right across from the spice cupboard.

(My spaghetti pig was made many years ago by my sweet father-in-law.  He's 101 this year!)

I keep my everyday Trader Joe's grinding spices here because I use them to cook on a pretty regular basis.  Our closest Trader Joe's is an hour and a half away, so my next trip will need to see a few more of these babies make it into the cart.

I hope this post inspires you to inspect and purge your spices.  

Let me know in the comments below if you have a spice or two that's older than 2005!