Discussion Board

Thanks to all of you who responded to my previous post about food moths in the pantry and how you store things.

I've since thrown out anything and everything in a box or plastic bag, and have replaced it all in nice air-tight Mason jars.

My next question has to to with things like baking power, cornstarch, baking soda, those little packets of guacamole mix, gravy mix etc. that I keep in with my tea and vinegars, Tamari, etc. in the regular cabinets. That begs the question, do teas attract food moths? Oh dear, this is such a pain!!

TIA for any further inforamtion you can provide

From my experience, the moths don't go for baking powder, cornstarch or baking soda. (You'd think they'd like the cornstarch but they didn't seem to get into it.) Nor will they bother the tea.

For your packets of guacamole mix, gravy mix or any soup mix, they can get into that. Look very carefully at the packets under a bright light to see if there are any pin-prick size entry holes. If not, they're probably okay but I'd slip them in the fridge for now until you're sure the infestation is totally gone.

It is a nightmare cleaning up this problem but once you've succeeded, you're unlikely to have a bad infestation ever again (since your food is so carefully stored). When I bring home grains or beans that could have bugs in them, I generally pop them in the freezer for 48 hours, then move them into airtight storage. That seems to prevent them getting into your kitchen in the first place.

They have gotten into my tea before. I buy looseleaf and they don't bother the straight green teas but they will get into the flavored ones with stuff besides tea leaves.

Once they are in your house, insects will try so many weird things! I'm glad you got rid of those moths. They are so overwhelming when you get them.

I've had the "pleasure" of not only dealing with food moths but flour beetles as well - let me tell you, those critters really are a nightmare - I've had them even chew holes through plastic spice bottles!

A step I've found that can help with the moths (won't help with flour beetles though) is storing items in well-sealed freezer bags. This allows me to keep most items in my panty like cornstarch, quick barley, instant potatoes, etc that I wouldn't normally be able to store there after being opened because of all the unpleasant critters I have to deal with living in florida.