# I've got weevils in ALL my food!



## Jane (May 15, 2002)

Well, not really weevils, sawtooth beetles. But, anything that lives in flour is a weevil to me. Besides, I like to complain, and weevil rhymes with EVIL, which is not a coincidence.
The source: organic flour from Trader Joe's
The infestation: total
The cost: so far, about $150
The meltdown: complete
Unlike weevils, sawtooth beetles like to forage, so they are in the living room, the dining room, everywhere. They have chewed holes in every cardboard box in the kitchen. They've chewed holes in every plastic bag.
My husband is a little squeemish and threw out everything with a bug in it. No more flour, cristco, sugar, or noodles. I had everything all set up for the way I like to cook. Cake flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, tempura flour, corn flour and corn starch. All gone now. I've been spoiled because we don't have weevils here on the wet side of washington, so I don't own any plastic containers large enough for flour.
There goes almost 90 dollars at target for containers for all my stuff that I had to go to the grocery store to buy. And I lost all the stuff I had in the cupboard. (I grew up mormon, so there's a LOT of stuff in my pantry).
I'd like to blame my husband, since he's the one who found the weevils in the new flour. He just chucked that bag and didn't look to see that anything else was getting infested. But I listened and didn't double check myself until I went to make a pie a week later and my corn starch was crawling. Yuck!
It wouldn't be so bad except I have a terrible phobia of the larval stage of moths and butterflies. I can't even type the word here. In looking up the type of insect that was in our kitchen, I had to look at lots of pictures of bugs, including the ones I can't stand. Aaaaack! Deep breathing staved off a panic, but yucko.


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## Clarity (Nov 19, 2001)

You could freeze anything you think might be contaminated, either to prevent throwing it out, or just after you buy it, it kills bugs/eggs/larvae. I store a lot of grain products and the bird's food ina chest freezer.


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

I will be taking your suggestion about the freezer for storage. I have a chest freezer with lots of space in it.
Unfortunatly, I didn't get to make the decision about throwing stuff out. I know that I can freeze it to kill eggs and then sift it, but my husband has a very low tolerance for squickiness.


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## tessamami (Mar 11, 2002)

I would take this as a sign that you have too much of _______ on hand.

I've had 2 separate infestations - so I feel your pain. But my refrigerated flour, grain and pancake mix have never become infested. I have a small refrigerator so I don't keep a lot of grain in there - just flour and 1 additional whole grain: it seems to help.

Maybe you could rotate grains / flours, buying less at a time if at all possible. Just buy enough to last the week or month, buying smaller quantities more often so that bugs don't have a feast.

Also, I have heard some well-placed bay leaves in rice do a great job of keeping bugs away.


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## Marlena (Jul 19, 2002)

We had this problem, and eventually had to store ALL our spices, flours, dried chiles and other bulk goods in glass jars with rubber seals to prevent further occurrences.


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

I used this as an opportunity to prune down. I do think I am much happier with less in the cupboard. I think I was originally huffy about your response, Tessamami, but with some more time, I am embracing the simplicity. Thank you.
What you say scares me, Marlena! I do not want to lose my spices. I can't buy some of then, they are industry samples.
My husband has not seen a bug in 3 days, I think we're safe.


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## Marlena (Jul 19, 2002)

Yeah, they LOVED our chiles, in particular. We did microwave the hell out of some of the affected chiles, then removed the dead bugs and froze the chiles, but brrrr - the thought that they'd previously been crawling with critters took some of the enjoyment out of using them! Previously, I'd just kept my spices in the plastic bags in which I'd purchased them. No longer. The investment in glass jars was worth it; spices in particular are too darn expensive to replace.


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## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

I've had a similar problem with those nasty flour/meal moths. I think mine came in to the house in a bag of rice. I tried various strategies, but they kept coming back so I finally had to bite the bullet and take drastic steps.

I threw out just about everything in the pantry. Some of these critters can live or lay eggs under the labels of canned goods, so everything had to be very carefully checked. I scrubbed out the pantry several times. They can get in and lay eggs in cracks in the shelves.

From then on, I keep everything grain-like, including spices, in sealed glass or plastic containers.

I couldn't even think about trying to salvage anything that was infested. Eeewwwww!!!! I know, I'm a baby.

If I were you, I'd keep a close eye on things. If they have laid eggs anywhere, it could be a while before the new critters show up.


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## tessamami (Mar 11, 2002)

to be helpful.









These things happen; I had some bugs in my rice the other day, but they didn't travel to any of my other grains. I think I brought the rice home that way.


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## kama'aina mama (Nov 19, 2001)

I recently had to throw out a bunch of dried herbs and spices for just this reason... but they didn't get to my saffron!


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## Clarity (Nov 19, 2001)

for moths, sticky traps help during the infestation...i think harmany catlog among thers sell them...forgot i used those.


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## clewal (Nov 20, 2001)

Put some bay leaves on the shelves. They don't like the smell or something like that. That is how we solved our problem.


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## Quirky (Jun 18, 2002)

I learned the hard way that you can't trust unopened boxes of grain, when a box of oat bran turned out to be completely filled with moth larvae...picture coming home from a long weekend away to find larvae literally crawling the walls. I felt like I was living in my own personal horror movie. I threw away all the opened boxes/bags, but didn't suspect the unopened box until the SECOND larvae-crawling-the-walls incident. Then, finally, I saw the little, tiny hole in the box...AND I WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO OPEN IT AND LOOK INSIDE!!! (Why, oh why didn't I listen to that horror movie music that was no doubt playing in the background!)

Anyway, all my grains/flours are stored in glass jars from the moment I get them home now.


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

oh yuck! You made my skin crawl. I think I would move. I cannot imagine the horror. I would seriously go to a hotel and make someone FIX IT!!


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## Quirky (Jun 18, 2002)

Sorry to creep you out.... I didn't mean to!

At the time I was living overseas, by myself, as an impoverished student, and had no one to help or fix it. It was a real lesson in self-reliance (and the importance of glass jars!)


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

I pride myself on my self-reliance, but the line in the sand is still there. I used to work with maggots and wasps, but I would not be able to de-moth my kitchen!
Where were you living overseas?


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