From: <-,>
Newsgroups: alt.consumers.experiences
References: <3fb3cf7a$0$1098$8eec23a@newsreader.tycho.net>
Subject: Re: ewww! pantry bugs!
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 17:33:45 -0800
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"Dave, Chris & Ben Oinonen Ehren" wrote in
message news:BBD950AE.3EEF%oinonenehren@macalester.edu...
> in article 3fb3cf7a$0$1098$8eec23a@newsreader.tycho.net, Wendy at
> homebody@deeptht.armory.com wrote on 11/13/03 12:37 PM:
>
> > We had quite a few boxes of packaged macaroni and cheese and the last
> > time we tried to cook them, we found they were full of large round
> > bugs. My husband thinks they probably came in the boxes, which might
> > well be true, but we also found one bug in another brand bought at a
> > different time, so I think they did some travelling.
> >
> > Now I feel all ughy about the stuff in my pantry. Is there anything I
> > can do to feel confident that we're reasonably bugless?
> >
> > (We never had these problems at our old place... it was so much dryer.
> > Sigh... never would have thought I'd miss anything about that place!)
>
> I am a co-op shopper, so I've run into a bunch of the different kinds of
> things you can get from buying from the open bins. No sweat, easy to fix.
>
> To eliminate the eggs:
> Go through everything in your pantry. Throw out everything that's open.
If
> its open and you can't see bugs/don't want to part with it, put it inside
a
> sealed plastic bag and freeze it overnight. When you take it out again,
> leave it on the counter in the plastic bag until it reaches room
> temperature. That way the condensation ends up on the outside of the
> plastic bag, not inside your flour sack (or whatever). Wipe down the
> outsides of all permanent containers (canisters, jars, cans, bags etc.)
and
> shelf surfaces. You can use a bleach solution if you like, just to be
sure
> the bugs and their eggs are dead.
>
> To avoid future infestations:
> Things inside a sealed plastic bag inside a cardboard box (like unopened
> cereal) you can generally trust. After you break that seal, transfer the
> contents into glass jars or keep it in a sealed plastic bag (something
with
> a good seal. Ziploc or other zipper seal bags will work fine, although
> clean glass jars you've used the contents of are more frugal. I like to
use
> canning jars. I keep them around anyway, because I can (no pun intended)
> and they are clean and sturdy. You can buy reuseable plastic lids for
> canning jars, or just use bands and lids that you would use canning
> (although I think you can't can with them reliably after this use).
>
> Keep your pantry clean. Keep jars etc. wiped down. Keep your stuff in
> airtight containers. Whenever you bring something home (especially bulk
bin
> buys and bags of flour) freeze it in a plastic bag overnight before you
put
> it away. This will kill eggs and beetles/flies/moths. These tactics will
> also help you avoid mice and ants. They will also help you avoid food
> waste by preventing staleness. It is not a bad idea to store flour,
> especially whole wheat flour, in the freezer. No flour moths, plus whole
> wheat flour can go rancid (gets bitter) if stored too long at too high a
> heat-like room temperature in the summer. White flour is fine at high
room
> temps, incidentally, but you can get moths if you're not careful.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Chris
> oinonenehren@comcast.net
>