Food storage

[Tiam]

So, as I embarked on cleaning out a food shelf today, I found two boxes of cereal, unopened, bags inside the boxes intact, but invaded by ants. On the inside of the bags! How does this happen? And how do you store your food? What is the most full proof method you have. I'm disappointed and confused as to how this happened. My area has real problems with ants. I use bait that works well, but if they want to, they seem to get into anything they want. I've given up storing dry goods for long as meal bugs seem to get into everything too. I just keep those foods in the freezer now. But, I'm bewildered how to really keep pests out of food.

[Mrs. Hermit]

I seal a lot of things in tupperware. I "decant" the cereals I buy into tupperware-type containers a soon as I buy them. Some dry goods (like whole grain flours) keep much better in the freezer. The temps control any bugs that are in there. Meal bugs (or flour moths, the adult of the meal bug) can come home as eggs on the carton/package you bring home from the store. If you have consistent problems with meal bugs, you may need to find another supplier for your dry goods.

[Tiam]

Well, meal bugs I control in the freezer, but how on earth do ants get into sealed cereal boxes???

[Mrs. Hermit]

Ants like the glue that holds the plastic part of the package together, I think. They seem to eat holes in the seams, then invade the goods.

[creaker]

I like using canning jars for dry storage - one quart wide mouth, but I'd like to get a few bigger ones.

[flowerseverywhere]

Know anyone who works in a school cafeteria or restaurant? They often have large food grade plastic jars that things like salad dressing came in with screw on tops. I had a school cafeteria save theirs for me and I have lots of gallon jars that work great.
I have also seen large glass jars with screw lids in stores that would be my preferred method of storage. beware that these containers can get very heavy if they are of glass once filled. They would not be ideal for shelf storage unless it was the bottom shelf.

Once I had an ant infestation in a bag of unopened confectioners sugar. I never figured out how they got in there, the seams seemed intact.

[bke]

Flowerseverywhere is right. Food establishements have tons of large storage containers coming in all the time. We happily give them to anyone who will ask. It stinks to have to throw them out but we get way more than we could every re-use on our own.

[Jemima]

I put a lot of dry goods into big ziplock bags and reuse them. Most whole grains and flour reside permanently in the freezer. I also freeze beans and rice for a week or so to kill any worms and then put them in Tupperware-type containers. (I got some beans from Mexico once that got disgustingly wormy after a few weeks in the cupboard.)

Freezing is also good for your woolen sweaters. I freeze them in ziplock bags for a week or so, which kills moth larvae, and then put them away. This has saved me quite a bit in dry cleaner storage fees, and I do love wool.

[Tiam]

Nice tip on the sweaters.


It's nice to hear an explanation. Eating the glue on the bags.

[happystuff]

Glass jars here for canning, also. I have them from little teeny to gallon size. For flours and grains, putting them in the freezer for at least 48 hours is supposed to kill anything that was packaged WITH the food contents. After removing from the freezer, I then have glass jars for the grains and those lidded plastic file boxes for flour - each will hold 4 - 5 pound bags of flour or sugar. (The file boxes also snack nicely - I have two.