Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

Hello wonderful readers,
Happy Monday!

Thank you all so much for your continued love and support on this blog!

I have been blown away by the progress reports I am receiving from everyone that is taking part in the #MsMinimalistChallenge. I am so proud of everyone’s minimalism efforts the past several weeks and hearing the benefits you are already noticing.
Congratulations to Meagan F. for being the winner of week four of the challenge. Join the challenge any week for your chance to win prizes and find the life your deserve under all of your possessions.

Week five’s #MsMinimalistChallenge downsizing task will take you into your kitchen, more specifically, into your spice cabinet. My husband and I love to cook together and we greatly enjoy experimenting with different spice and herb mixtures. When Trevor and I moved in together, our parents graciously gave us spices and herbs to start our collection. They provided us with all different types of spices and herbs they had duplicates of at home or ones we enjoyed in recipes they made for us. Some of these spices and herbs were new, and others were older, hand-me-down bottles. We have dedicated a shelf in one kitchen cabinet that holds all of the spices and herbs we have accumulated over the years.

A few weeks ago we came to visit my family in the Madison area and my mom asked for help going through her spice and herb cabinet in their kitchen. I thought this was an odd request since my mom loves cooking and uses so many different spices and herbs, but she has joined the challenge, and this was an area in the kitchen that was very cluttered and causing her stress. This is an area I never personally thought of as part of the journey toward minimalism, but going through her spice cabinet was very eye opening and served as my inspiration for this week’s challenge.

Spices and herbs are a beautiful way to create healthy and tasty dishes for you and your family.

-“Common herbs and spices may help protect against certain chronic conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease”¹
-“Certain herbs and spices curb inflammation in the body, which may give rise to heart disease and cancer. For example, antioxidants in cinnamon have been linked to lower inflammation, as well as reductions in blood
glucose concentrations in people with diabetes.”¹
-“Using herbs and spices expands your palette without extra calories and may decrease the amount of salt, fat, and sugar without sacrificing flavor.” ¹
-“Spices have antibacterial and antiviral properties and many are high in B-vitamins and trace minerals. True sea salt, for instance, contains 93 trace minerals. Most herbs and spices also contain more disease-fighting antioxidants than fruits and vegetables.”²
-“Many (spices) offer health benefits through abundant phytonutrients and other physiologic effects such as acting on the digestive system (carminative).”³
When researching information for this week’s post I came across this beautiful PDF that provides an abundance of helpful information on herbs and spices. Click HERE to learn more.

When going through my mom’s spice cabinet, I found myself analyzing each bottle to learn more about the spice or herb when I came across the expiration date area. My mom has duplicates of the same spices and herbs, some new and some very old, and she had not gone through her spice cabinet… ever. I knew that spices and herbs are better fresh, whether you are consuming them as the fresh version or the dried version, but I was not sure how long you could keep them in your cupboard and use them for.

“The exact answer to the question “How long do spices last?” depends on both the type of spice and the conditions under which they are stored. Spices, as seasoning makers like McCormick point out, do not actually spoil. But over time, spices will lose their potency and may not flavor your food as intended.

As a general rule, whole spices will stay fresh for about 4 years, ground spices for about 2 to 3 years and dried herbs for 1 to 3 years.”⁴

Spices that are purchased from your standard grocery store will have an expiration date listed on the bottle so please do not feel as though you need to memorize these numbers.
As my mom and I continued to discuss spice and herb life expectancy, I looked down at the spice bottle I was holding and noticed the expiration date was July 2000. I asked my mom what she would like me to do because I was not going to force her to downsize and declutter; this was her project recommendation after all, and she told me any spices that are expired to discard of. We were able to go through her cabinet in less than an hour and we were able to cut her spice and herb collection in half. Working together as a team made this project extremely fun and very productive. I was using my “young eyes” to look for the expiration dates and she took notes on the spices she needed to purchase.

When we finished going through all of her spices, my mom made this beautiful comment: “I feel so much better now that we downsized this area together. I feel lighter and less stressed. Look at how clean and organized it is now!” This comment brought a big smile to my face as my mom experienced the benefits of downsizing and minimizing her spice cabinet. I told her we can continue to work together on other areas in the kitchen and throughout the house on her journey towards minimalism, which I agreed to wholeheartedly.

Week five’s #MsMinimalistChallenge is to go through your spice and herb cabinet and see if there are any bottles that can be parted with or condensed to downsize the space they consume. As you go through your spice cabinet, take a before” and “after” photo to show what it looks like after you are done. My mom asked me to write the expiration date on the lid of the spice and herb bottles to help her see clearly when she should be disposing them and possibly purchasing new.

This photo shows the date written on the top of a spice bottle.

This was a beautiful and clear way to see the date without having to do this downsizing project multiple times a year.
This week’s challenge might seem very small, but the journey towards minimalism does not need to be getting rid of large items in your home.

Everyone’s minimalism voyage is different and begins in different spaces of their life. If you are drawn to start with large objects, please feel free to minimize that way. If you feel more comfortable to minimizing with small items, that is another beautiful area to downsize. All that matters is that you start. Start somewhere and watch how your life transforms.

The life you yearn for is underneath all of the possessions that are holding you down.

Enter the challenge #MsMinimalistChallenge anytime. All you have to do is partake in this week’s challenge shared on the blog, take a photo of your item(s), tag me, and use the hastag #MsMinimalistChallenge on social media for your chance to win prizes! Please continue to share your minimalism journey progress with me on social media or in person. I adore hearing everyone’s success as we move forward on this journey together as one.

Thank you all so much for reading this week’s post; I hope you all have a beautiful week.

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Namasté.

Resources
1 http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/spices-and-herbs-health-benefits#1
2 https://wellnessmama.com/1092/health-benefits-of-herbs-spices/
3 https://vanderbilt.edu/olli/class-materials/2016SummerWellnessSpices.pdf
4 http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67