Post Punk Kitchen Forum

oh god, i found 2 cocoons under the lid of my brown sugar. :-/

whatever you do, don't get these jars to store anything they like: http://www.anchorhocking.com/prod_275_square.html

now i have no idea what i'm going to store in all these jars. i had gotten these because they look nice stacked against the wall on my kitchen counter. :-(

I used flour last night that I think is infested with Indianmeal moths as there were the silky thread things in it. When I used it I was like, that's weird, but it didn't stop me. UM, am I going to die?

Sort of. You will turn into a moth zombie.

Don't worry about it really. I have had a lot of problems with moths, and definitly eaten stuff that was infested, and I didn't get sick or anything. Just really really really grossed out when I realized what I did.

Meh, just last week we went through the pantry and had to throw out a TON of open pasta boxes. Also found out where all the stupid moths have been living. In my box or very seldom used Egg Replacer. Must have vegan moths.

God I hate it when the little forkers fly into my wine glass. Or the whole bottle if I leave it open on the counter, even for a couple of minutes. Leaving out wine glasses with just a little in them do act as accidental moth catchers though. Sometimes in the morning I will have a few dead in the bottom of the glass, drowned in wine. What a way to go.

The night before last I was making some lentil soup, after thinking I had no more moths. When I poured the lentils into the pan I didn't have my glasses on, so I didn't really scrutinize after lightly rinsing them. My boyfriend was in the kitchen rinsing them more after I had let them boil about 10 min. He was trying to keep his back to me and I asked why he was rinsing them, and said something about he didn't know if I already did. I found out later he was trying to protect me from being too grossed out to eat the soup since then I wouldn't have gotten any dinner, but there were apparently moths or some cocoon? We both ate the soup and didn't die, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't waste food over something that didn't even have any bad effects, but seriously, why will they not leave me alone?

I've started keeping anything the moths love to infest in the freezer & only cans, bottles, etc in the pantry. I've found a couple of residual grubs after culling infested items that have seemingly died from lack of food source. Sad in a way, but sorry weevils, I can't afford to waste groceries! They seem to absolutely adore cocoa powder the most - I found a weevil nursery in there of fat, contented little grubs. Yuck! I really don't think they hurt you, if you sift your flours or accidentally eat the occasional moth or beetle, but I don't relish the thought of it & have thrown away anything with even the slightest trace of web in it.

Oh my god this thread

That's so funny about the wine, Chicki--same thing happened to me! I was actually like, weird, how did a moth get in here, I closed all the windows? It ended up in the bottom of the wine glass, and I made a horrible joke in my head like, drinking will kill you.

I'm going to do a pantry overhaul. I have unopened whole wheat pastry flour, but I'm not sure I want to take chances and might just pitch the lot. Some stuff (like egg replacer) I bought two years ago when I became vegan and have never used. I feel bad pitching it, but man, I'm skeeved out.

I am alive though. And I mean, technically my mug brownie was still awesome. Even though it gives me the chills to think about it.

What mug brownine recipe did you use? I have been searching for a good vegan one (sans bugs). do you have a link?

I went to give my dogs a treat the other day and reached my hand in the box only to feel a web. I had a sinking feeling inside of me because I had a feeling I knew what it was so when I pulled out the treat, I looked it over. After looking it over for a few seconds, I realized there was a live maggot crawling around in the treat. I almost puked.

http://ohmyveggies.com/vegan-pumpkin-mug-brownie/ Could have used more pumpkin pie spice, but otherwise really good!

Gah. I found out a couple of days ago that I have weevils in my pantry. This was immediately after I found out that the dog and cat I had been watching for almost a week have fleas, and the owner was aware of it and didn't tell me. I'm being bombarded by insects!

I was up until 2am this morning tossing all dry goods and scrubbing the hell out of everything. The part that took forever was ripping up the contact paper that has been on the shelves for who knows how long. Apparently they can get underneath it so I don't want to take any chances. Last night I purchased a huge amount of bay leaves in bulk online and today I'll be picking up some eucalyptus oil.

Gnarly thread. Hearkening back to the person who had mice - once we got our cats, goodbye meeces. We've not seen any meeses in a long time.

I once bought some flour in a health food store, got it home, and found weevils in it. I was so angry. I never did go back to that store. Come to find out, the place has a REALLY BAD rep.

this may sound stupid but how can you tell they are weevils? my paranoia is heightened reading this!

I managed to get some Harina Pan flour for Areapa's and it has loads of brown specks in it. I would have thought this is part of the ground up corn, I mean is it supposed to look perfectly one colour? (think wholemeal flour, thats always 'speckly')

They don't move and are all brown, not black. No sign of webbing etc - is it weevils?

Usually weevils are big enough to look like bugs, and they will move around and walk in the flour. You might also see the maggots. I would say your flour is good.

Flour mites are tiny, but they do move.

thanks guys. I also asked a Colombian and it does always look like that!
Yay for no weevils in my flour which is a pain in the arse to get over here :)

I've lived in some cheap apartments, which means PESTS EVERYWHERE. Quick tips on each type I've encountered so far.

Indian meal moths - Identifiable by their flight pattern; they fly spastically in zigzags through the room. They come in through corn meal especially ("Indian" meal). Pantry Pest moth traps (hardware store) help a lot, but you will still need to throw out anything they're infesting. They love flour especially, but they love tea and spices too! Check everything. Of all the pests I've dealt with, meal moths are the worst. You'll find their eggs and larvae on walls, especially at points where two walls meet or where the wall meets the ceiling.

Mice - Luckily I've only had a couple of these. I made an elaborate trap out of a cardboard ramp with peanut butter at the top, hanging over a dustbin. The mice went up the ramp and hopped right in! Closed the dustbin, drove several miles away, and released them. Mice have a strong homing instinct, so just releasing them outside is not enough.

Roaches - Luckily I've never had a serious infestation, but I would see one from time to time, always in the bathroom. Around the same time, I started to see the occasional house centipede. Did some reading and found two facts: roaches need water, and house centipedes eat roaches! So I started keeping the bathroom dry, and let the centipedes do their thing. Soon there were no more roaches, and the centipedes went away too!

Weevils - Infest flour, breadcrumbs, rice, tea, and especially pasta. They seem to ignore sugar. Invest in some truly airtight containers. To be airtight, a container needs to have a good amount of force on it that holds it firmly closed. Tupperware is not enough. Containers with caps that screw closed are good. Also good are containers with levers that apply force (like Lock & Lock, or Fido jars). Ziploc bags will not work, as the weevils can eat right through any thin plastic.

For any pest, it helps to thoroughly vacuum the floors, and spray down hard surfaces with dilute bleach to destroy eggs.

Good luck!

How perfect that this thread popped back up tonight! While rooting through my cabinets for tapioca flour 30 min ago I saw my semolina flour was full of dead bugs. Blech!!! At least they didn't eat through the plastic bag and infest my entire pantry like last time.

I can't wait till I have a freezer big enough to store my flours in :((((

I have way to many grains to store them in a freezer. A few months ago, we discovered weevils. I had never seen them before so wasn't sure what they were. I couldn't find the source after looking the first time but then found the source in a bag of brown rice. I threw the rice away, wiped everything clean, swept, threw the trash out and I haven't seen weevils since.

I did see a bug a couple weeks ago that I believe is a carpet beetle. I read and they tend to eat animal fabrics which we don't have a lot of but I do have some old wool blankets so I washed those. Haven't seen any carpet beetles since.

ohgodohgodohgod! i found a jar of old cornmeal that i had sealed with these plastic ball lids: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SSN3L2/ref ... Brb0WJZZK5

there was almost no cornmeal left, and it was entirely filled with dead maggots, silk and mold. *shudder* at least we know the lids work. so gross!!! (after prying it loose with a knife and tossing the mass in the trash, i soaked the lid and jar in some dilute rubbing alcohol.)