Herbal remedies are something I always have on hand for whatever life brings. They won’t do me much good, though, if I can’t find what I need when I need it! Here’s how to store and organize your natural remedies, herbs, and more.
How to Store Your Natural Remedies
As my natural remedies started to overtake conventional ones, my stash grew and grew. I’m pretty proud of my natural medicine cabinet, but it does take some maintenance. No one wants to find a forgotten, rancid salve at the bottom of a pile.
By keeping my herbal medicine organized, I can be sure to not only find what I need but not waste what I have.
If you’ve ever heard of the KonMari method (or even if you haven’t), it can apply to organizing and storing natural remedies, too. It doesn’t mean we have to store things in a specific way, but some of the general principles are the same.
Unlike the strict Marie Kondo method, I’m not thanking my rancid salve before throwing it out, though. And my cough syrup may not spark joy, but it’s still useful and necessary. First things first, let’s talk about cleaning out our home remedies.
Gather it All Together
It’s hard to organize what you can’t see or don’t know you have. I suggest gathering up all of your dietary supplements, herbs, essential oils, and natural remedies in one place, like the kitchen table. This way, you can easily lay it all out and see what’s there and how it will fit in the space.
Discard any items that are expired or no longer fresh. Here’s a quick guide to the shelf life of certain natural remedies:
Finding a Place to Store Your Natural Remedies
We want our remedies to be in an area that’s easy to access and makes sense for what we’re using them for. Essential oils for the bedroom diffuser can go on the dresser. I keep magnesium oil and lotion bars in my nightstand for when it’s time to wind down at night.
Convenience is one thing, but we also have to consider storage conditions. Natural remedies aren’t the same as FDA-approved prescription drugs, and they need to be treated with special care. Herbs and essential oils should be stored in a cool, dark place, away from direct light and heat. The health benefits of these healing herbs degrade if they’re not stored well.
Here are some places where it is NOT recommended to store natural remedies:
With these parameters in mind, just find what makes sense for your family. Maybe that’s a bookshelf, a free-standing cabinet, or a kitchen cupboard (or 3!). Even if they’re not all going to be stored in the same place, pick areas and containers that will fit the different items in your home apothecary.
Make Sure to Label Everything
Regular supplements and vitamins already come with labels, but homemade items are a different story. It’s important to date and label everything, so we know what it is. You may think you’ll remember that a sleep tincture was in that bottle, but as you collect more items, it can quickly get confusing if herbal products aren’t labeled.
Time to Organize Your Natural Remedies
Once you’ve found a place to put your natural remedies and discarded what’s bad, it’s time to start organizing. You can group items by what you use the most, do it alphabetically, or put all similar items together (like all the dried herbs in one spot). If certain family members have their own products, you could group things that way too.
Containers for Organizing Natural Remedies
There are a lot of different options, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s always best to store herbs, essential oils, and tinctures in glass bottles for the best shelf life. Mason jars, weck jars, or even reused glass food jars will work. If you want to store dried herbs in the bags they came in, arrange them upright in a row in a small bin.
Put what you use the most (like daily vitamins) in the front or the most convenient spaces. Items that I don’t use as much go to the back. Something like this syrup for dry coughs is super convenient when I need it, but my kids don’t have a sore throat every day. When I want to boost our immune systems during the winter months, I’ll make sure our elderberry is easy to grab.
What types of natural remedies do you keep on hand? How do you store them? Leave us a comment, and be sure to share this post with a friend!
This content was originally published here.
