This year I began growing our at home herbal medicine cabinet. It has been so much fun to have our own little apothecary. It has been such a trend this year to begin growing your own medicines and natural remedies. This along with foraging and lots of people coming back to traditional lifestyles I felt it would be super fun to make a post for you (and me) about starting your herbal medicine cabinet. There is a multitude of fun and important things to get for your home apothecary and this post is going to cover just that! Don’t let this be an intimidating venture more than it needs to be. This post will show you eleven of the must have items that will help you start and grow your home apothecary!
11 Items that will help you start and grow your at home apothecary!
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DISCLAIMER: this post is not medical advice in any way and isn’t intended to promote or suggest specific medicinal treatments. As well, this post is not to trump seeking a medical doctor or to promote this way of cure and health over any other. This post is entirely opinion based. To learn more read our Terms and Conditions. Now on to the post.
What is with the sudden rise of at home apothecaries?
As I mentioned in the disclaimer this is purely an opinion based and bias article! This is also simply observation that I have made scrolling through social media and is my take on the matter. Besides the fact that having an at home apothecary is really cool, many are starting to crave the benefits of natural home medicine as well.
Medicinal herbs have been used since the beginning of time to aide with health and heal the body. Many people are realizing that the modern health industry has gone entirely away from natural medicine. It is strange that medicines used for thousands of years can suddenly be deemed as ‘unsafe’. But this is what we see happening in our world today. I think this is the reason we are seeing a large increase in the number of people who are learning more about herbal medicine. As well as a desire to forage, grow and preserve these medicines to keep at home. If this is you joining me on this journey keep reading to learn how to start your own home apothecary with the top eleven items you need to begin and grow your herbal medicine collection!
1.) Jars, bottles containers
Having a diverse group of different jars, bags, and containers to hold your different herbs and salves is of course number one on my list. With each herb or medicine having many different uses you will need containers that accommodate to that. For example loose leaf teas will need different containers than an at home bug spray.
The ones I recommend are a few bottles for sprayable mixes and jars (of all sizes) for loose leaf teas. You may also need different types of bags and also small bottles for skin care products. Below is one of each specific item that I recommend as a starter and to grow your apothecary. Though this doesn’t mean you have to buy all of these. I reuse most glass bottles that come through our home. We also have an immense amount of mason jars and lids that we use. We keep old pickle jars, Parmesan cheese lids and more to create a cheap starter herbal medicinal cabinet. Our amber bottles for example were old kombucha bottles and we have a fairly universal spray nozzle that we clean and move from bottle to bottle. I will include a link below because this is the biggest money saver of all time.
2.) Dehydrator
Next, and the item I use the most in my home apothecary is my dehydrator. This is what is going to do most of the work for your home herbal medicine collection. Most of your food items and herbs will need to be dehydrated before storing. Whether you plan on creating powders, teas or simply storing any of your goods long term- each of these methods starts with the dehydrator. You can learn to dehydrate naturally by hanging your goods or use the oven but both methods somewhat pale to the comparison of a dehydrator. Trying to dehydrate with an oven is my least favorite way to dehydrate and some ovens don’t go low enough to even accomplish this without burning your herbs. But not once has my dehydrator failed me! This is the method I have used to dry my goods from the start (which has been over ten years).
- High Quality Full Sized Dehydrator with a Multitude of Features
- Inexpensive Dehydrator with Great Reviews
3.) Tea Bags and Steepers
The majority of your apothecary will probably be loose leaf herbs that have been dehydrated for a multitude of future purposes. But the primary purpose is generally for teas. This being said it is important to have a good amount of tea bags and steepers on hand. We bought reusable tea bags and of course have a few different steepers as well. Reusable tea bags can also be a fun way to share your apothecary with others! It creates and easy way to give some of your good away and gives you easy access to your favorite teas since you can prepare the bags ahead of time. This can be easier to reach for than a steeper on days you want quick access to your medicine.
4.) Medicinal Books
My next home apothecary must have is an assortment of knowledge on the subject. This I would do primarily through books if I were you. This is because herbal medicine is not as well practiced today and often times it can be hard to learn from the internet details about certain plants and herbs that you need to know to do this safely. Especially if your plan is to forage to grow our at home remedy cabinet. Learn from people that wrote about this subject long ago, and from people that did the research now to make it easier for you and me. Having these on hand can also grow your self sufficiency more since you aren’t reliant on the internet or someone else to give you the information. In a pinch a book is always a better way to learn.
Our Seasonal Spring Cookbook is FULL of edible flower recipes and foraging tips and information! Click the picture below or right here to see it on Etsy!
5.) Universal Spray Nozzles
My favorite thing on this list is a universal spray nozzle. Finding a spray nozzle that fits most of your bottles is incredible. This means you can purchase a few nozzles and store them in a clean place until you need to use them. This means (as I mentioned before) you can save glass bottles like my kombucha ones and be able to use them as spraying bottles. Having just a few of these saves you so much money and waste. The fact that you can simply wash them and reuse them over and over again in whatever the nozzle fits is just incredibly amazing to me. Such an efficient tool to have in your home apothecary. Again my favorite because it create versatility and easy access in your medicine cabinet. It isn’t likely that one type of nozzle is truly universal but one size can fit a lot of different bottles. Here’s a set of two black nozzles.
6.) Notebooks and Notecards
A big way to keep really good track of your apothecary medicines and each of their purposes is to have an organized notebook that has information for each item. As your apothecary gets bigger you may want to be able to have easy access to an organized list so it’s easy to find what you are looking for. A notebook can be alphabetical, tell you were each item is located, along with how to use them and what to use them for. Another way to do this is with a notecard. Write all the information for the specific herb on a notecard and either place it in the jar or tape it on the back of the item so you know exactly how to use the item by just picking it off the shelf.
7.) Food Grinder or Mortar and Pestle
As I mentioned before, every apothecary needs a dehydrator first and foremost, but a very close second- being just as necessary is something in your kitchen that creates powders. This could be a food grinder or mortar and pestle. I have a food processor and it works really well too, but not even close to the effectiveness of either a grinder or mortar and pestle.
8.) Funnels
If a clean apothecary is what you want then funnels is what you need. Along with keeping clean space, funnels are great for making sure you are not wasting any product. Especially when it comes to liquids in the apothecary. I use funnels for both liquid and solid products but once you start making your own solvents it is super necessary to have funnels. I have one large and one small one but you don’t even need two to have enough. One will get the job done. This is a set of three with cleaning brushes.
9.) Solvents, Wax and Butter
Having a multitude of solvents, waxes, butters and more to create is of course going to be in this top eleven. Solvents are the base to so many things you will make in your apothecary. If you plan on making anything for the skin butters and waxes are a must. Solvents of different kinds can be used for ingesting and also for the skin but you have to make sure you get the right ones if your plan is to ingest your medicines.
There is so many different kinds of solvents, waxes and butters. Five different solvents used alcohol, water, vinegar, glycerine, and oil. Different waxes range as well and of course butters are just as diverse. This means you can do a little research of your own into recipes before purchasing!
10.) Measuring and Mixing Bowls Sets
This point has a million sub-points as you can defer. Since measuring cups, mixing bowls and utensils are not just one item like a dehydrator is or a kitchen scale. But since these all go together I put them in one point. Just having a set of measuring cups and a bowl or two is enough. These are serious must haves to create anything in your apothecary. Even to make teas you need at least a tablespoon set. Because even teas have a proper ratio of hot water to tea mixture. Just making sure you have a few things to stir, measure and a thing to stir the ingredients in then you are golden.
11.) Kitchen Scale
Number eleven of eleven home apothecary must haves is a kitchen scale. Though most recipes would be more precise if we measured with a kitchen scale I would argue it is most important to be exact when you are making mixtures for remedy purposes.
There is a million different items that could be on this list that are not. For example a hot plate and a kettle make any apothecary complete! But you don’t need anything that crazy to start your own at home remedy center. For example I haven’t been able to find our kitchen scale for quite a while now but I still was able to start this fun herbal remedy cabinet without it! There is ways around needing certain items and there is certain things that you can still do that don’t require having things like a kitchen scale or even certain measuring cups and a food grinder. This list is just a list of things to check off as you can!
Since there is so many amazing additions to home medicinal cabinets, what is your favorite? Is it on the list? Comment below and let us know! If you enjoyed this post consider subscribing for more! God bless you all and have fun learning about herbs and making natural remedies!
