How to Keep Your Pantry Free of Pests

Ever dived into flour, rice, or pasta and found weird insects inside? You are not alone. Pantry pests constitute one of the most common household pests which can make your food to be overripe and waste precious time as well as cash. A few small pests can get through any storage area and multiply on what you planned to eat. With proper prevention and control measures, you can keep these pests away from your pantry.

This book covers everything you need to know about pantry pests-from how to identify different kinds of insects all the way to effective ways of preventing and controlling infestations.

What are Pantry Pests?

Pantries are those insects lured to stored food in homes through kitchens and pantries. Pantry pests can be found in such dry foods as grains, cereals, pasta, nuts, spices, as well as even pet foods. Among the most common pantry pests are:

• Flour beetles
• Indian meal moths
• Cigarette beetles
• Weevils
• Sawtoothed grain beetles
  

All of these pantry pest species appear differently, but they all relish dry, stored food. After entering your pantry, they proliferate and disperse extensively to different food items.

Why do Pantry Pests infest our food?

A place where food sources are available and they get the opportunity to reproduce attracts pantry pests. Dry food is a fantastic place for the pests to lay eggs and multiply. Most pantry pests are actually in food that you bought already infested by these pests. Eggs or larvae can be brought into your pantry inside food products purchased at a store, where they hatch and grow.

How to Identify Pantry Pests

Knowing what these pantry pests look like can make it possible to identify an infestation. Here’s a quick overview of the most common types:

Indian Meal Moths

These pests have a very distinctive two-toned color in their wings, generally reddish-brown on top and gray on the bottom. You can look for adult moths flying around or find their larvae, small cream-colored caterpillars, in stored grains or along the edges of food packaging.

Flour Beetles

Flour beetles are tiny red-brown insects that mostly infest products of grains like flour, cereals among other grains. They cannot fly but can move from one package to another by darting rapidly.

Weevils

Weevils are dark coloured and small in size having a peculiar snout. They infest rice, flour or any other grains. And there are cases also wherein some pantry pests inhabit whole grains as they feed on the whole grain itself. In this regard, weevils are not included in that species.

Cigarette Beetles

These include tiny brown beetles, attracted to almost any kind of food source, including dried fruit, spices, and even tobacco products.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetles

Slim, brown beetles with the body ridged, giving them a “saw-tooth” appearance. These often live in cereal, pasta, as well as other dry products.

Indications of Pantry Pests

If you suspect you have pantry pests, here are some things to look for:

• Webbing or silk threads in packaging especially of Indian meal moths.
• Small holes in bags or containers.
• Insects or larvae crawl into the packages.
• Silty or tacky texture with infested foods as some pantry pests emit a musty smell.
• Droppings or fine particles found on the bottom food containers or bags.

How to Remain Pests-Free

The very best way to keep your food pest-free and a clean kitchen would be prevention of pests entry. Here are a few pointers on keeping them away:

Inspect Groceries Before Purchase

Look for holes or tears in food package before bringing it home. Even the bulk bins can be insect-infested, so take a look at them too.

Transfer Foods to Sealed Containers

Pantry pests can drill through cardboard and plastic bags with ease. Transferring dry foods into sealed containers keeps the pests out but also controls them if a product already has a pest infestation.

Maintain Your Pantry Organization

Clean down pantry shelves and wipe away crumbs and spills at a regular interval. You should clean-up as pantry pests are always attracted to the small pieces of food about.

Utilize Bay Leaves to Repel Pests from Food Storage

Add a few bay leaves in your grain and pasta containers. Some people like this method as it is known to ward off these pests. The smell of bay leaves itself repels the pest.

Have the Pantry Cool, Dry

Pantry pests prefer a warm, humid environment. If you store the food in a pantry that is cool and dry, there is a lesser chance that these pests will multiply.

Rotate Your Stock

Do not keep food there for a long time. Use older items first. In this way, you consume older food before introducing new items behind the existing items; this minimizes the possibility that pests might find the ideal breeding ground in the pantry.

Look at the Expiration Dates Frequently

Old food is much more prone to pest infestation. Get rid of any spoiled food as soon as you can.

How to Control an Infestation

Even with proper prevention, sometimes you will be infested. Here’s what to do:

Know and Dispose of the Infested Item

Start by emptying all the food stuffs in your pantry and eliminating any contents that show signs of infestation, including live insects, larvae, and eggs. Do this with great care since all this may multiply quick.

Clean Out Your Pantry

Bring out all items from your pantry and clean the shelves. Dilute soap and water and soak everything. Do not forget to tidy up the crevices and cracks since this is where pests like to hide.

Freezing and Heat Treatment of Foods

If you are not sure if food products are infested, kill all of the indoor pests by freezing the food for at least four days or heating in an extremely low oven temperature, that is close to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour.

Pantry Pest Control Controls

If you don’t see bugs now, cleaning has probably been adequate. If you still are seeing bugs, you might have to do more. There are pest control products designed to control pantry pests; for instance, some stores sell Indian meal moth traps and insecticidal sprays for use in pantries. Be sure to read the label and not expose food surfaces to chemical pesticides.

Check new items carefully

Going forward, checking new purchases before bringing them into your pantry will be the watchword. One infested product can easily reintroduce pests into an otherwise clean pantry.

Organic Remedies to Pantry Pest Control

If you would not want to use pantry pest control, there are natural remedies that can help control pantry pests:

Diatomaceous Earth (Food Grade)

It is natural powder collected from fossilized algae. If you sprinkle the diatomaceous earth around your pantry, you will end up killing insects by breaking their exoskeletons. Use food-grade diatomaceous earth since that kind does not affect the food.

Essential Oils

For example, peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender oils are known repellents against pantry pests. Mix a few drops of the essential oil with water. Then spray it in your pantry to keep the pests away.

Cloves, Cinnamon, and Bay Leaves

Pantry pests abhor the smells of some spices. You can keep them away by keeping whole cloves or cinnamon sticks in your pantry. Bay leaves may help repel them as well.

When to Call a Professional

If the infestation is intense and you have tried everything ranging from homemade remedies to over-the-counter pest control treatment with no slight improvement then it is time you sought professional services. Then, in every corner of your pantry and the rest of your house, professionals will ensure that every pest and egg is done away with.

Keeping your Pantry Pest-Free

Once the infestation has been cleaned, here are some ways to prevent them from coming back. Regular checking on your pantry and proper storing of your food products would help best. Habitual cleanliness may show the best defense mechanism against pantry pests.

And with these simple steps, you can protect your food while enjoying a bug-free, clean pantry. One does not have to make a lot of effort to keep the bugs out of the pantry, thus rest assured that your food is fresh and safe.