I thought I would rotate some of my supplies during Thanksgiving. I pulled the “Flour” and low and behold, miniscule buggies. Is my entire stock ruined? What about the pancake batter? spaghetti? cornmeal? rice? beans? mac & cheese? dressing mixes? … and the list goes on!
I checked the internet and “they” said put a book of matches (sulfur) inside/ontop of container!!**?? or nails … new nails, place nails about 3″ deep within stacks of grain !!**??
If we’re starving, can we eat grain with “buggies”?
My hubbys g-pa was a pow in ww2 and said that they felt lucky to get the buggy mush cause it had extra protein.
Thank you malachi. It’s time we listened to our distant relatives. These buggies were itsy bitty tinny tiny? What are they? Some articles talked about bugs you could see. These would be undiscernable in a cooked product.
RD - “undiscernable” is a cinch, don’t worry about them…I know i’m not going to!! Even “discernable” will be edible without notice, and I don’t know of any type like what you saw that could hurt you…especially cooked! We all had a very funny evening here recently. My in-laws were in town and I was at work, my MIL (78 & doesn’t see real well) fixed shrimp gumbo, my daughter’s boyfriend was over for dinner, everyone was eating when I got home…I noticed “the pepper” looked liked it had LEGS. I went into the kitchen to examine it closer, and was really embaressed !! Didn’t know whether to say anything or not…everyone seemed to be enjoying the gumbo, slowly we all caught on except my MIL, even my FIL said he thought he saw something doing the backstroke across his bowl… we all laughed for about 30 min. My daughter & her boyfriend finished their gumbo. I have eaten weavils on several occasions in Mexico also…just like everybody says…extra protein!
The “other white meat”… lay eggs. If you are looking to start a minature “protein factory”, then I guess it would pose no problem. (errr… how many mealy bugs make a serving for a kid… for an adult?????) If, however you wish to NOT have an infestation of ALL your pantry goods (uhhh, yep, they spread from flour to pancake mix to noodles to rice, etc) then you “might” wanna nip the critters “in the bud.” Slim-chance it’s just in one item that has been stored (it’s those “pesty” eggs.) IMHO, it would be worth the effort to freeze your treasured preps & repackage them in something “unpenetrative.”
How long should I freeze and what is unpenetrative? Three days? Baggies?
Hi Rural, What I have done is put about 5 lbs flour in a gallon ziploc and put that in the freezer for about a week. I use the bag cause then the flour isn’t in just one big lump and the bag helps flatten out and gets it frozen completely thru. After I’ve done that 5 lbs then I do another 5 lbs. I don’t have a separate freezer but it sure would help.
Yep freeze it for a week and remember in some cultures bugs are a delicacy not gross. There is lots of protein in bugs, we just can’t get passed the gross out factor and start eating them. Pound for pound if you consider how much energy it takes to make meat protein vs bug protein the bugs win hands down with regards to cost, but we still eat beef??? go figure. any way don’t trash your stock of flour just cause of a few bugs, freeze it and fix it, then store it in a bug proof container. Five gallon plastic pails with lids work great.
Also, a good prevention is good aromatic bay leaves. Since I started using them I’ve not had a problem at all in my whole kitchen and pantry. With weevils and the like anyway.
Living in Florida … any place in the deep south reall … will give you a new appreciation for bugs. LOL! Or not, depending on your point of view.
A couple of weeks ago DH said he heard a guy on HGTV say that freezing flour, etc., will not kill the bug larvae, that they will hatch when the product comes to room temp. Now I don’t know what to think.
But, But, But, you can google “storing flour” and get many, many hits that say freeze it and it will be fine.
I tried to find something on HGTV.com about it. No luck. Don’t even know what show it was on. I saw only a few seconds of it - the point of it was how to remedy an infestation of “bugs” in your kitchen (clean-up, proper storage, etc.) Shortly after I left the room is when he made the remark about freezing not killing the larvae. Aarrgh!!! Oh well, I’m just gonna buy into that protein thing discussed above ;-)
In regards to freezing your flours…
Yes, freeze them for a week…that will kill the live bugs. Take it out, let it come to room temperature for a few days, allowing the larve to hatch, then put back into freezer for another week. That will take care of any bugs and/or larve that has infested your flour.
I work from whole grain myself. I had the bugs get into not only my regular flours, but my grains too. I have about 100lbs of grain currently in my freezer that I need to take out and follow the above instructions too. They’re a PITA to get rid of once they infest your house…I’ve thrown out tons of pasta and flours because of them, but I think I finally have it under control.
I’m curious to know how you all are storing your grains and flours. Are you using Mylar, oxygen absorbers, and airtight containers (for all but the stuff you have in current use)?
Thanks Shadddup.
Edna Mode - I vacuum seal mine in Food Saver bags (flour still in original bag) then freeze.
Edna Mode, I use different methods….I have some round plastic buckets that were professionally sealed with mylar liners & O2 absorbs for long term stuff, I have mylar bagged some things myself with OA’s in the mylar then stored in plastic icing buckets I pick up at our grocery’s bakery, and I have things I’ve stored in ziplock bags and put inside an icing bucket with bay leaves for short term stuff that I use to refill my canisters from periodically. I rotate most of the stuff out, with the exception of things that were stored professionally — they’re the 40 or 50 lb buckets of wheat & lentils.
I have been storing my flour in my spare deep freeze. I have always stored it in the freezer for buggies. Also it seems to make better pie crust, and I use cold butter and grate it in, case you were curious :). I need to put in some baking soda in the freezer too though because it will pick up odors from the freezer. I am going to try the thaw and refreeze method too.
I’ve been freezing for a week then vacuum sealed in glass gallon and 1/2 gal. canning jars that I got for nothing.Unless it’s in a can, I use glass jars for just about everything. Of course, I use the bay leaves for all flour, bisquick,cereals,etc.