Date: 8 August 2014. Budget Spice Shelf (costs
less than $1)
© janice142
I met a
fellow who invited me over to his home for several meals and boy, oh
boy, that man can cook! Moreover, he used spices with aplomb. I want
to be like that some day so bought a variety of additional spices.
(If only buying them would have improved my cooking...) The problem
I ended up with was that I did not have a secure place for the
bottles. That simply will not work aboard a boat.
If buying galley goods would improve my cooking I
would be all set
by now and you would be calling me the Julia Child of the Waterway. It
is
sort of like my buying books thinking I shall have the time to read them.
Of that I am guilty as well, though with my
Kindle I
am at least not adversely
effecting the waterline. It is unsafe for my budget to enter a used book store.
The same is true for an art store (how many paint brushes does one
miniaturist need?!) or fabric shop for that matter. This is a sickness and I do
not wish to seek recovery. There is too much fun to be had so...
Of course I
have more time than money but more than that, finding the perfect
shelf is not so easy. There are a lot out there -- and the makers
are Mighty Proud* of their products.
*Mighty
Proud translates to "expensive" in case you wondered.
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The
Original Spice Shelves |
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My original spice shelves fit
perfectly under my sink on the right side locker door and I envisioned
something similar on the left door for my latest. The first (and
second) were made from a Tupperware cake container with the center
part removed. This works very well. As a matter of fact, it is better
than my newest creation that can best be described as good enough!
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I
removed the middle third of the cake box.
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Doing this
at anchor, the first problem was I had no
cake container available. I did have a knock-off food storage
box. It did not seal well and consequently was not of much use.
However it had spice shelf potential and would suffice. The
container was "good enough" and rather than wait for perfection, I
chose to finish the project immediately.
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Spice
Shelf for Less than a Dollar |
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First I checked the depth
of the container by laying the spice bottles on my dinette.
The box fit over them nicely with no bulges. Perfection.
Then I turned it on edge
and cut off the long side with my scissors. By leaving about
four inches I know that even in rough weather, everything will
stay put. I needed access from the top and now I have that.
Next, from my bag of
tricks (aka the second drawer in my bookshelf) I removed a
piece of stainless that is bendable. I had mentioned this item
in the
Mosquitoes
(engine room vent screening)
article. You do need something
similar incidentally. Of course if the only tool you own is
a hammer, soon everything begins to look like a nail...
I heated the end on my
propane stove, then poked it through the plastic. Yes, I could
have used a drill. This was much faster and leaves a nice hole
too.
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With the addition of four
screws I attached the container to the
inside of my left
locker door under the sink. It is almost perfect: |
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What is wrong you may ask? Well, the bottom as you can
see has a slight curvature. Thus my spices do not sit properly erect. I
know -- this is a little enough thing. I did not notice the curve prior to making my spice shelf. You might be more satisfied if your container has a
flat bottom side. I know I would be!
In retrospect, I probably could have cut
this container in half lengthwise and had two racks for spices. Because I
only had locker door space for one, I opted for the deeper size. This is
more secure and a bit of overkill as well.
What is correct is that this little container fits the spice
bottles nicely. They will not jiggle while underway. They are now handy and easy
to access and therefore more likely to be used.
And who knows? Perhaps my cooking will improve with this
addition to the galley aboard Seaweed.
I'm wondering how many spices you have and use
regularly.
And, do you keep all your spices in one rack, or multiple locations such as I have
to use?
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