Pantry Organization :o)

Spice pantry organization has frequently been a frustration for me.  You have a million things but they’re all just shoved into a series of shelves or drawers with no rhyme or reason.  You can’t just alphabetize them… would you put cayenne pepper under C or would it be R for red pepper or even G for ground red pepper?  Sheesh…

My latest strategy has been to group them by type, and this has worked well.  Groups are as follows:

 Greens: basil, bay leaves, dill weed fennel seed, Italian, oregano, pesto mix, rosemary, sage, tarragon

Baking: cardamom, cinnamon, cinnamon-sugar, cloves, nutmeg, extracts - almond, lemon, raspberry, vanilla

Peppers & Cooking: black pepper, cumin, curry, lemon pepper, red pepper (ground), red pepper (flakes)

Salts & Whites: celery salt, garlic, garlic powder, garlic salt, Greek seasoning, grill rub, table salt, seasoned salt

While I'm sure I'll rearrange these categories in the years to come (and only encompass my frequently-used spices... my second shelf is quite a scary mess of Pensey and Wild Tree blends among other things I haven't probably used in years) I'm now not overwhelmed when I open my spice cabinet.  When I'm baking, I just grab the box of appropriate spices since if I'm using cinnamon I'm likely to need nutmeg and vanilla too! I used some old shoe boxes and typed up some labels, and voila!