Keep your spices up to date!

[iris lilies]

Yet another friend of ours has moved and left tons snd tons of spices. We picked out a few we would take,but given that several households have off loaded their spice cabinents onto us, we have little room.

[catherine]

Wow. I took spices up to Vermont, but didn't bring them back and now I've had to go to the Indian stores, our natural food store that sells bulk spices, or to Job Lot for inexpensive replacement spices. I tore the kitchen apart yesterday looking for cumin for my lentil soup, and wound up buying it (it was only $1).

[razz]

When I moved into my little house 4 years ago, I wanted to set up proper spice arrangement. DD! told me about an insert for a drawer that I bought. I got some new jars from Dollarama that sit in there perfectly and Bulb Barn will let me refill those little jars provided they are clean. The staff weigh the jars, I fill and then pay the difference in weight. It is working out very well.
When you are traveling between two places it does get more complicated though.

I use the one on the right https://www.kitchensource.com/spice-racks/d/drawerinserts/

[catherine]

When I moved into my little house 4 years ago, I wanted to set up proper spice arrangement. DD! told me about an insert for a drawer that I bought. I got some new jars from Dollarama that sit in there perfectly and Bulb Barn will let me refill those little jars provided they are clean. The staff weigh the jars, I fill and then pay the difference in weight. It is working out very well.
When you are traveling between two places it does get more complicated though.

I use the one on the right https://www.kitchensource.com/spice-racks/d/drawerinserts/

Nice, razz! When we did some basic remodeling in our kitchen, we changed from a cooktop to a range, so that gave us 6" of space next to the stove. So we put in something like this:

https://www.cabinetparts.com/p/revashelf-organizers-kitchen-organizers-RV432BF3C

Now that we've had a couple of years, DH found he HATES it and I LOVE it. So that means, he keeps spices in the wall cabinet and I continue to keep them in the rack. Talk about organizational mayhem! The only thing I can be sure of is all the "Indian" spices will be in "my" spot and all the "Italian" spices will be in his.

Why he prefers to go digging in the cabinet for the spice he wants rather than seeing them all lined up in alphabetical order is beyond me.

[iris lilies]

Well, ding ding ding thanks to razz! I will take more of my friend’s spices because we dont have many in Hermann. I do not have ANY Indian spaices there, but my friends didnt have anybod those either so they couldnt help me oit woth their offloads. But tones of peppers and fancy salts, yeah, they have those.

[CathyA]

catherine.....things next to my stove get hot. I'm wondering if your spices will get old quicker because of that heat?

[catherine]

catherine.....things next to my stove get hot. I'm wondering if your spices will get old quicker because of that heat?

That's a good point, Cathy. I hadn't thought about that.

I don't us my oven that much, though. Next time I do, I think I'll pull out the rack and see if the containers are warm.

[pinkytoe]

We buy small quantities in bulk and re-use the glass jars they originally came in years ago. I have them on small lazy Susans inside the cabinet as light and heat degrade their quality. Good idea to buy organic when you can (Frontier brand is good) as others are irradiated or so we are told. Not sure of that matters but sounds icky. When we moved, we did compost some of the bizarro ones that had been used once.

[Zoe Girl]

This reminds me of my former in laws. When we visited they had so many spices that were very old, and also duplicates from combining households. I wanted soooo much to clean them out but they didn't want that. One bonus to getting divorced was not having to look forward to cleaning out their home when it came time.

[iris lilies]

Another food item showing up as problematic in the moves of our friends: liquor. Our friend of the recent move probably has two or three dozen bottles of stuff. I told her I would take all vodka. But she doesn’t have Scotch, and she’s moving all of the red wine, So I can’t relieve her of much of the stuff.

We ended up with tons of liquor from other households who have moved and I poured it all down the sink, I just don’t use it and I don’t want it around taking up space. When I told my friend that she was horrified so she will not give me anything that I won’t promise to use, ha ha ha ha. But All of that liquor sitting around her empty house proved too big of a temptation for her handyman who is an alcoholic. So he loaded it up and took it to his home. That didn’t suit her either. She is now on the East Coast, but she got mad at him and told him to bring it back to her empty house.

This is all a lot of drama over crappy used bottles of various liquor ,who cares about that? she already has the good stuff (nice red wine ) with her. not worth arguing over.

[catherine]

My neighbor across the street (she's from York, England and her husband, now deceased, was from Haiti) moved last year to Austin to be closer to grandkids and the night before she left she gave DH and I the last of her liquor bottles. They were interesting--not your standard Myers or Jack Daniels. There was a particular Scottish liqueur that I wish I had written down the name of. I'll never remember what it was now, but I really liked it at the time.

I have no stockpile of alcohol in my house. If I feel like wine, or if company is coming, I'll run out and get some.

[HappyHiker]

Scottish liqueur that I wish I had written down the name of. Could it be Drambuie?

[catherine]

Scottish liqueur that I wish I had written down the name of. Could it be Drambuie?

Good guess, but no--I know all the fairly well-known Scottish liqueurs (My Scottish MIL often imbibed--sometimes too much--on Drambuie!)

Thanks for wagering a guess, though!

After doing a Google search, I'm thinking it may have been Glayva, because I think it started with a "G". https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/5237/glayva-liqueur

[iris lilies]

About liqeurs—They just sit around forever! That is why I don’t collect them.

In our big kitchen cabinet where we keep alcohol, paper and plastic eating utensils, and tall bottles of olive oil and vinegar, We have only two liqeurs, Crème de menthe and butter shots. DH discovered the joys of Butter Shots in his holiday eggnog recently, so I know that bottle will be used. I use crème de menthe in a dessert I make so that will eventually be used up.

I have a bottle of Rum because I used to make a great rum cake but now I can’t find my Bundt pan and I think I might’ve tossed it so now I have no use for that rum.

[rosarugosa]

Haha, I am enjoying the thread drift here! The other night I felt like a small whiskey before bed (fairly unusual, I'm usually just a wino) and DH said he would join me. As we perused the options in the cabinet, I proposed the Jameson, which had just about 2 shots in a 1.75 liter bottle, because then I could get rid of that big honking bottle that has been taking up space for years! I took note of other dusty bottles with small amounts and said we needed to work on drinking this stuff and clearing out those bottles from the liquor cabinet. So there we have the makings of a new decluttering project!
We have several bottles of vodka from my sister's move, because vodka is good stuff even though we almost never drink it. We have the obligatory bottles of stuff we bought for specific concoctions; I'm looking at you Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, and Creme de Cocoa!
I would like to whittle us down to my idea of the perfect liquor cabinet. I think I have the makings of a new thread!

[SteveinMN]

Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor? Even stuff they don't necessarily like. People (well, not people here, but...) toss or give away clothes left and right; they trade cars every few years, they change the décor in their houses according to whatever Pottery Barn or Goop tells them to change. But for some reason, the "have I used it in a year?" guideline rarely seems to apply to liquor. Not poking at anyone here (I think people here are more inclined to get rid of it if they don't want it); just curious as to why liquor seems to be exempt from the usual rules of decluttering for so many.

[iris lilies]

Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor? Even stuff they don't necessarily like. People (well, not people here, but...) toss or give away clothes left and right; they trade cars every few years, they change the décor in their houses according to whatever Pottery Barn or Goop tells them to change. But for some reason, the "have I used it in a year?" guideline rarely seems to apply to liquor. Not poking at anyone here (I think people here are more inclined to get rid of it if they don't want it); just curious as to why liquor seems to be exempt from the usual rules of decluttering for so many.
Here is my knee-jerk answer: a bunch of bottles of liquor sitting around makes people feel rich, they think it gives the appearance of being wealthy.Just a guess. I think of the households I knew growing up that had a lot of liquor bottles sitting around in one place usually on a buffet or drinks cabinet and they were higher end than the homes of most everyone else, or else they were asperational at least.

And maybe we think of a liquor collection as an expensive investment. With liquers that is true because those things are, what, $15 $20 $25 a bottle?

[jp1]

To answer your question, Steve, I suppose the difference is that people who enjoy liquor understand that it's a very personal taste thing. Sure one may get get rid of their car because no one is likely interested in that tired, slightly dirty, mostly generic honda or mazda or whatever. But just as people are reluctant to get rid of random artifacts (we've had a few posts here about random letters or photos found and the like) because they thinks someone may really want them so too with liquor. Someone they know may really want to drink it. No, the liquor may not likely bring up memories of long lost relatives, but it may be something they really really enjoyed when they were at X point in their life. Or maybe they're just lushes with good taste. But in either case if I had something that was easy to keep (like a bottle of booze) that might be enjoyed that way I'd be inclined to keep it. At least until I was moving. Then i'd throw an "everything must be drunk" party and open up all the fun stuff.

[Tammy]

Some of my husbands whiskeys are over 100 a bottle

[JaneV2.0]

I was inspired by this thread to download a recipe book for mocktails; I like the idea of umbrella drinks, even without the booze.

"Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor?"
I would guess because it doesn't go bad? I had a bottle of Schnapps for ten years or more. Clearly, I'm not a guzzler... :D

[catherine]

I have an old bottle of champagne that DH got SOMEWHERE years ago--it's in one of those gift boxes with two glasses to go with it. I've saved it for a "special occasion"--well, since then, we have had two kids marry, our 30th anniversary, our 40th anniversary, the birth of 3 grandchildren, and the purchase of a lake house.

I don't know what kind of special occasion is going to warrant the uncorking of this stuff.

[SteveinMN]

"Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor?"
I would guess because it doesn't go bad?
But dresses and old sweaters don't either. Or "I might need those someday" spare parts on the workbench. Or that quesadilla maker that seemed like such a good idea at the time.

I understand the "investment" aspect; I sure wouldn't buy a $45-90 bottle of Scotch if it would last only as long as a quart of milk. But so many people spend so much on other possessions they readily get rid of. Puzzling, though people here have presented some good reasons why this may be. Thanks.

[Teacher Terry]

We serve the liquors when we have parties. When a friend of ours was dying he gave us all his partial liquor bottles and we served them at parties. It doesn’t go bad.

[rosarugosa]

Steve: Because it's sacred! ;)