/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.6128861]

Help me, fellow Coo/ck/s, I'm going insane.

I'm finding pic-related in every type of grain container in my cupboards. They're in my flour, my bread crumbs, my rice. I tried to take pictures of my stuff, but I got so disgusted and enraged, I just through the lot out. I can't fucking eat grains anymore because they get infestested.

[Anonymous No.6128870]

>>6128861

I initially threw all of my stuff out, and bought new things, put them in sealed containers, put scotch-tape between the lid and container, and still they're there, crawling around.

[Anonymous No.6128873]

Why eat grains anyways? Only grain I use is rice, and I never buy more than 3lbs at a time, so if it gets infected I just throw it out. Same with flour, its so cheap there's really not much benefit to keeping large quantities laying around.

[Anonymous No.6128874]

>>6128861
Throwing everything out is really the only way, sadly. Get rid of anything they've gotten into, clean the storage area thoroughly, put down some insecticides, and wait around a week before you stock up again.

[Anonymous No.6128877]

I got a brand new bag of brown rice, took it out of the cupboard a week after I bought it and saw a few of them crawling around inside.

The rice was IN A FUCKING UN-OPENED PLASTIC CONTAINER. I still can't even find what part they chewed through....

I'm fucking sick to my stomach...

[Anonymous No.6128887]

>>6128874

Thanks anon. I've been googling the issue. Of course I'll clean my cupboards -- the recommendation I found was 1/4 clorox for 3/4 water, clean thoroughly and air dry.

I'm also looking for additional ways to keep them away. Some recommend keeping basil leaves among their grains, although other people are saying that those buggers just eat the leaves...


>>6128873
I live alone, so I already buy the smallest quantities of each -- they're still potent breeding grounds for these little shits.

[Anonymous No.6128896]

I keep rice in the freezer. Never have a problem with bugs in it.

[Anonymous No.6128900]

I'm also curious how you guys store your grains. I've always kept them in their original packaging tied up (if it's plastic) or in a larger lidded plastic container if it's stored in paper.

That won't do anymore, of course. Can anybody recommend a reasonably priced container set that's air-tight & transparent?

>>6128896
Yeah, a couple of websites recommended storing grains in the freezer for a couple of days to kill larvae and bugs,. I have a very small fridge, however, that's full of stored meals I make on the weekends--not much room.

I'll do it if I have to, but I'd like to avoid it if I can...

[Anonymous No.6128904]

>>6128900

Something like pic-related is what I'm thinking.

What do you anons do?

[Anonymous No.6128917]

>tfw I saw one of these little shits crawling across my counter the other day.

I feel fucking violated, I never saw these before until a few weeks ago...

[Anonymous No.6128945]

Strangely, I've never found them in my Sugar

[Anonymous No.6128953]

>>6128900
I use hinged jars like >>6128904 for anything in small quantities. Large glass jars for rice and flour (I get large quantities).

OXO also makes good air-tight locking plastic containers in varying shapes and sizes.

[Anonymous No.6128955]

I've had issues with ants, not beetles. Since then I've been storing loose dry goods in plastic containers with latched lids. I think they're Sterilite. The 3 qt size fits almost 5 lb, depending on the substance.

[Anonymous No.6128979]

>>6128955

Thanks anon. Do you something like pic-related?

[Anonymous No.6129001]

I buy big 20lb bags of rice at the local asian market, so I keep it in one of those plastic dog food bins with the screw on lid, they are guaranteed to keep ants and other pets from getting inside.

I've honestly never had problems with these pests myself, but once while at my father in law's house he wanted to make a lasagne, I got the pasta from his pantry and every box had them inside it, it had been sitting in there for years unused.

[Anonymous No.6129002]

I usually just eat them anyway, I mean I'd rather not, but it's not like they're poisonous either right? Crack a little pepper over your food and you wont even be able to tell you're eating them.

[Anonymous No.6129018]

>>6128861
I freeze my flour(s) and put what fits into pic related. Has kept them out so far.

[Anonymous No.6129026]

>>6128979
Pretty close, mine are pic related. Anything with locking sides and a gasket seal should work. Some have vents for the microwave, so check and make sure they close tightly.

[Anonymous No.6129164]

What if your store has the infestation? Flour and grain bags are punctured all the time. I can see how tons of those beetles could thrive and spread through their grain section.

[Anonymous No.6129170]

>>6128861
1: Throw out all flours, breads, crackers, nuts, spices/herbs, dry petfoods, etc
2: buy all new stuff to replace that stuff
3: put it all inside your fridge and/or inside home canning jars and 1-gallon pickle jars (all jars need metal lids and rings that seal tightly.)

Never worry about beetles, weevils, and moths ever again.

All plastic and all paper-based containers can not be trusted.

[Anonymous No.6129173]

>>6129164
Take your concerns to the store after inspecting their stuff on the shelves and finding insects.

[Anonymous No.6129179]

I've had a 50lb sack of flour sitting on the floor of my pantry for a good 10 months without any issue at all. I don't even seal it, just roll it up and put a big bag clip on it. Are these things regional? I'm in Georgia, USA.

[Anonymous No.6129265]

>>6128861
I have meal moths. Fucking hate them.

Currently most of them are gone through cleaning, tossing, and moth traps when it was bad.

The larvae can chew through some thin plastics. Other times you find the larvae dead in cocoon in the place where they crimp the plastic bag.

I washed my cupboards with a vinegar based solution.

[Anonymous No.6129276]

>>6128861
just throw your shit in the freezer for a night then sift out all the dead shit. I've never had this issue with flour but boy have I had it with rice.

[Anonymous No.6129289]

>>6129164
I remember this happening to the store My mom went to before they moved.
She'd open a box of pasta and weevils errwhere.
Apparently it was the store.

[Anonymous No.6129291]

>>6129170

[Anonymous No.6129380]

>>6128900
I keep my rice in a carefully cleaned gallon jug. The spout means I can pour it into my pot/measuring cups without having to let too much air in/dipping a cup in.

[Anonymous No.6129384]

>>6128887
Keep in mind BASIL is not the same as a BAY leaf, perhaps this is why the bugs liked them?

[Anonymous No.6129386]

>>6128861
My friend keeps flour, rice, etc. in big plastic buckets and he keeps bay leaves in with the stuff to keep insects away. I don't know for sure how effective it is but I've cooked at his house plenty of times and never seen any insects there.

[Anonymous No.6129390]

>>6129179
I was getting ready to post the exact same thing. Sometimes I use a tupperware for my rice/flour/sugar, but if I don't I've never had any problems leaving them in the loose paper bag. Except when you have to worry about ants you KNOW you have to worry about ants.

But I live in CA

[Anonymous No.6129393]

>live in a fucking disgusting ghetto house as a child
>House is never cleaned because dad's depressed since mom left
>We're small and can't clean very well
>Dad never does anything for us, too depressed
>One morning, wake up
>Something smells good
>Our dad has gotten up early to make us breakfast before school. This has never happened before
>He's so proud as he dishes out oatmeal to us
>We're super happy because we have our daddy back
>Start eating oatmeal
>Tastes/feels a little funny
>Finally look carefully into bowl
>It's almost all moth larva
>Brother notices the moment I do, screams "Bugs!"
>Dad notices what he's done
>Dad puts his head in his hands and cries
>Brother and I eat our entire bowls to try to make him stop crying

Wasn't so bad.

[Anonymous No.6129406]

>>6129393

[Anonymous No.6129510]

>>6128945
>Indian meal moth

I remember seeing these things for years after moving in, but I never knew they were pantry pests.

[Anonymous No.6129516]

>>6128900
>I'm also curious how you guys store your grains.

My parents still use this to store flour.

[Anonymous No.6129670]

Man this thread is sending chills down my spine. I had these a few times and the trick is to store everything in air tight containers. Never leave grains exposed to air. Large ziploc bags (you can get packs of 10-20 of them at dollar stores for cheap) work perfectly.

The second you see signs of an infestation, put the offending package into the freezer and make sure to check EVERYthing. These little shits are resilient and unless you eradicate every last place they can thrive, they will end up surviving and reproducing.

[Anonymous No.6129993]

We had an ant problem where the fuckers were coming from the crawlspace up through the hole they drilled for the security phone line and straight into the pantry... They weren't actually getting in the containers, since I keep everything opened in plastic containers, but it was still a disgusting number of ants to see just crawling over everything, looking. I ended up pretty much soaking my whole pantry in a vinegar based cleaner that managed to kill them, then lining every edge, crack, and crevice with Borax. Did the trick, haven't had any problems yet - of course, I haven't vacuumed up the borax yet, because I'm afraid they'll come right back without that as a deterrent.

[Anonymous No.6130056]

Fockin ell. Glad I don't have to worry about these things. Used to have weevils back when I was living in Asia. Not a single bug in Canada.

[Anonymous No.6130116]

>>6128861
I only seem to have a problem with this when I keep shit around for too long and only in the warmer months

[Anonymous No.6130120]

>2012
>He superstitiously thinks eating bugs is bad for his body

Just eat them, OP. Most likely they aren't poisonous.

[Anonymous No.6130121]

>>6129393
jesus christ

[Anonymous No.6130153]

>>6128887
P sure it's bay leaves. Anyway I had the same problem OP. Fucking wheat weevils crawling all over the fucking kitchen and inside of everything: flour, cereal, rice, and so on. I threw everything that had weevils crawling on it out, along with any opened packages, I sealed unopened packages in ziplock bags, washed out the cupboards, and even placed bay leaves on each shelf (I don't know if they actually help or if it's just momscience but whatever). Also, freeze every type of grain you buy for a couple days to kill any eggs. You can keep everything in the freezer indefinitely if you're afraid of reinfestation.

[Anonymous No.6130170]

>Your country wheat sorting process is so shit getting bugs can happen

[Anonymous No.6130173]

>>6129510
You probably ate many of the meal moth larvae with your rice. The extra protein will do you good.

I had an infestation just a few months ago. I had to throw out most of the food in my pantry that had either the moths or squirmy things in it.

[Anonymous No.6130194]

>>6128870
>scotch tape
Good job numbnuts

Also get hard-plastic storage containers that have rubber/silicon seals like >>6128979 >>6129026 >>6129018

[Anonymous No.6130221]

>>6129179
its the damn humidity in the summers i think.
And my pantry's haven't had any bug problems since i moved out of the ghetto
-ga faggot here

[Anonymous No.6130299]

>>6129516
awesome

brings me back to my grandmas house in queens

immigrants are so smart

[Anonymous No.6130316]

I generally keep all my flour and rice and bread (..and anything else not sealed in a can or jar) in my fridge.
I don't buy many things that need refrigerated, so I figure what the hell. Might as well use the free space.
Using your fridge as a pantry frees up quite a bit of cabinet space for other things.

[Anonymous No.6130368]

Feels good to be Canadian. Only bug we really have to worry about are pill millipedes, and I've never had an issue with those infesting food.

Fruit flies, on the other hand, are a different story. I imagine they are a problem everywhere in the world.

[Anonymous No.6130473]

>>6129179
Don't really have much problem with any bugs here. I'm up near Chattanooga. Its the ants we have to worry about

[Anonymous No.6130515]

>>6130368
>Fruit flies, on the other hand, are a different story. I imagine they are a problem everywhere in the world.

Fellow Canadian here.

MAN.
I get Fruit Flies during the summer and I'm more amazed than anything that they can actually find my fruit against all odds. They just seem to materialize out of thin air to come over and terrorize my Nanners n' such.

[Anonymous No.6130623]

>>6130120
Bugs are experimental food status, faggot.

Zero research has been done on getting diseases from eating insects.

[Anonymous No.6130890]

This thread triggered me

Get an exterminator OP these fuckers crawl around everywhere and can go like 3 months without eating. You can't get rid of them and they will find your shit without failure. If you live in an apartment you should let the others know.

[Anonymous No.6130913]

>>6128861

what yah got there are pantry moths
Indian mealmoths
buy some traps at the hardware
takes about 2 cycles to get them all
keep corn meal, whole wheat grain, etc. in freezer for a while
also these buggers love Triscuits!
so hide them good
thy have nothing to do with your cleanliness
but traps are the only way to get rid of them

[Anonymous No.6130919]

>>6130913
>thy have nothing to do with your cleanliness

Lol, no. They have a lot to do with cleanliness. If you store your food so they can't get into it then they won't have anything to eat and thus they cannot survive.

Clean up everything thoroughly. Store foods in rigid air-tight containers

[Anonymous No.6130930]

>>6130170
>thinking this is impossible
Larva are tiny, m8

[Anonymous No.6130940]

>>6130919

sorry pal you got it wrong
who are you? that douche bag from the Sam Adams commercial?

these buggers can get into factory sealed packages

just throw out infested crap
get traps

[Anonymous No.6131198]

>>6129170
>plastic
>not to be trust

Stop opening your jars by violently throwing them on the flour.

[Anonymous No.6131204]

>>6130120
>Most likely they aren't poisonous.
There's a long list of harmful bacteria and mushrooms that live in the pest body and faeces.

[Anonymous No.6131209]

>>6128945
>indian meal moth
>INDIAN FUCKING MEALLLL MOTHHHHHH

I have a pet sun conure that I buy bird seed for, they always tell you to freeze it first so I do.

But when I was younger, back at my parents house, my mom refused to do that to "save freezer space"

Indian fucking meal moths, EVERYWHERE. Flying around nonstop, bopping into shit like retards, dusty little dots all over the walls and bigger dots from where we'd smack them.

Fuck those things

[Anonymous No.6131252]

I have plastic sealed containers but once I left a half empty bag of flour sit in my pantry and then went away for a week. I came back and found those beetles in my sink and couldn't figure out where they were coming from until I found the hive.

I bought traps and spray and cleared out each individual item from my kitchen (sometimes they cling to the bottom of something) until my kitchen was cleared. Then I sprayed every cabinet and every crack with the insecticide and watched them come out and die on my counter/sink. Some went to the sticky traps which I believe have some sort of pheromones. The next day I cleaned up the area again of corpses and put my stuff back. I occasionally find one wandering in the sink and even rarer I have found one in my rice but these are just the last wanderers looking for a new breeding ground.

I would follow my strategy, just inspect and clear out then scorch each EVERYTHING, Throw out all rice, flour, sugar, grains, pasta EVERYTHING. Yes this costs money but it is the only way to ensure total eradication.

[Anonymous No.6131275]

Don't you know that In /ck one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?!

[Anonymous No.6131280]

Store. In. Fridge.

[Anonymous No.6131289]

>>6131275

>ahahahaha

[Anonymous No.6131300]

>>6131209
I have those around my apartment. They seem particularly retarded for a flying insect, but I guess most moths are. They're fragile as shit too, I can often kill them just by smacking them in mid air and then they either crash into the wall or floor and appear to die. I step on them anyway just in case. Faggots.

[Anonymous No.6132027]

>>6131198
Obviously referring to normal plastic bags the food products are packed in. This can be the plastic bag lining of your crackers to the plastic bag your pasta comes in. It can be easily compromised either through accident or by the insect larva itself which often times can easily chew through the flimsy material.

[Anonymous No.6132190]

>>6129179
Maybe. I used to live in Arizona and had a shitload of them. I live in Chicago now and haven't seen one since I moved 4 years ago.

[Anonymous No.6133877]

>>6129393
Oh god I want to give you the biggest hug ever :(

[Anonymous No.6133896]

>>6131275
topkek
Master and Commander? On my /ck/?

[Anonymous No.6134001]

>>6131300

Oh god I had those in my kitchen once too. A fucking nightmare, every morning I woke up to a dozen maggots crawling across the ceiling. They get into everything - flour, grits, oatmeal, even walnuts and still sealed plastic bags of grated almonds, raisins and hazelnuts. They or their maggots seemed to have gnawed a hole throug the plastic to get in. Nothing helps but throwing everything away, cleaning every nook and cranny in your kitchen and keeping new stuff in hermetically sealable containers.

[Anonymous No.6134607]

Spread it out on a sheet and pick them out, then freeze the bag. If you cook the grains you'll be fine, everything will die.

[Anonymous No.6134639]

>>6129380
That's actually very smart. I should do that next time.

[Anonymous No.6134644]

>>6128861

dude
you need to set these buggers out
if you see these things their going to take a bit to totally eradicate them

no shill just a guy who fought these things
...and won

[Anonymous No.6134666]

>>6130623
>tfw family lives in third world
>tfw i live in texas now
>they haven't gotten any food problems from eating "bacteria-ridden food"
Thanks to them, my immune system doesn't give a fuck.

[Anonymous No.6136087]

>>6134001
How the fuck do insect survive eating plastic.

You think the plastic would slice through their insect insides.