[black raven]

I am a modest prepper, but I did have a few bags of rice and a bunch of other dried goods. Never saw any bugs or things in my house...then a few weeks ago..rice weevils in a bag. Musta came from the store. So I had to throw out 3x20lb bags of rice and then i found them in my bags of flour and then crackers etc.

so...probably threw out around $100 bucks worth of food.

Now, I bought about $100 in lock-n-lock containers and also 5 gal buckets w/ gamma seals.

freezing all grains I bring home for a week from now on. Putting into locknlock airtight containers...then into a garbage bag...then freeze it for a week. then I'll put em in the gamma sealed pails.

Hope that works.

Lesson learned...need to seal s**t up to prevent cross contamination due to pests.

Now i gotta go throw out the rest of the opened pasta etc and clean more shelves

 

[Turd Fergason]

I put mine in with o2 and a dusting of Diatemacious earth, no bugs.:thumb:

 

[kmech]

Have fun with that. I went thru that about 20 years ago, took a couple of weeks to eradicate the little buggers. Since then it has been straight into the freezer with everything and anything that can remotely have bugs in them. Mac &Cheese, cake mixes, corn meal, flour, you name it. If freezing is not needed for the product, it goes directly into jars such as sugar. Nothing gets left out that they can get into

 

[2happiness]

weevils

The common weevil, brown in color, just hurts your eyes. They are edible and a source of protein, but they look awful against white or ecru foods.
Keep in mind that freezing kills them, try not to buy any flour or dry goods in the summer, that's when you will most likely bring them home with you. Keep your dry staples in a cool place and immediately freeze any contaminated packages.
After 10 years of prepping (we live very remotely and only go to store once a month or less)I have only found weevils once, in 5 bags of Gold Medal flour I bought in the summertime. I froze the flour and isolated the affected bags. I used the flour for many puposes but only bothered to pick out the weevils in my pie crusts and white breads, what you do not see doesn't hurt. I have stored flour that is as much as 4 years old and no weevils. Flour does not 'sour' long-term if you do not seal it air-tight. Flour & sugar need to 'breathe'. That's why they are packaged in paper bags. Big mistake preppers make is to seal them air-tight.

 

[Writer's Block]

I have not, (knock on wood) had that issue, but my storage area stays quite comfortably cool all year round.

 

[hunker]

sifting flour will help

Also, after TSHTF you will not be throwing away any food ... so remember that a sifter will remove most of the bugs from a bag of flour if you are patient enough to sift it into a new container. Then dispose of the bugs and you should be good to go. That would not work as well with rice or pasta... The bugs aren't dirty, just hungry and nasty looking ...

 

[PreppinMouse]

I do the same, into the freezer when I take it out the car!

 

[yappat]

Yup, just sift 'em out. My mother would never have dreamed of throwing out flour just because of a few bugs.

 

[64duracraft]

Yup, just sift 'em out. My mother would never have dreamed of throwing out flour just because of a few bugs.

I'm going to have to agree here.

Ironically, you haven't really learned the lesson yet. The real lesson here is that they won't hurt you and as mentioned, they just LOOK bad.

 

[alisium]

Why do I read these threads?

Really, the bugs are already in my flour?!?!

 

[Studio BK]

Why do I read these threads?

Really, the bugs are already in my flour?!?!

Seriously wtf?!!!

 

[black raven]

yeah I know they're already in the flour..but once the wifey and kids saw the bugs in there...they wouldn't have anything to do with anything made from it. Interesting about the sugar. I didn't know that. I have some sugar vacuum packed. Is it going to go bad?

 

[2happiness]

yeah I know they're already in the flour..but once the wifey and kids saw the bugs in there...they wouldn't have anything to do with anything made from it. Interesting about the sugar. I didn't know that. I have some sugar vacuum packed. Is it going to go bad?

It may get lumpy or chrystalize in 10 or twenty years. It should be ok, DRY is the key for sugar, but, not necessary to repackage it and vacuum it and seal it. Just keep it dry and in a container that ants can't get to. I have my sugar stored the same way as the flour, 5#bags in 55 g drums with a lid but not sealed airtight.

 

[2happiness]

BTW weevils

I tried sifting them out but I couldn't find a sifter fine enough that would still let the flour through. Looked like it should work and the 'net says to do it, but I had no luck with 3 different sifters. Those llittle bugs came right through! i spread my flour on a board and picked them out whe i was cooking something they would show up in, otherwise, what you don't see don't hurt...

 

[OutdoorsNative]

I would have just froze the stuff you had and then sealed them up and marked them as the bug batch. Better to have some food with some dead bugs in it then not have it at all. Just don't eat it until you really have to.

 

[lean]

I always freeze stuff...it fills up your freezer but I think its worth it...also, I try never to leave anything out...I use glass containers whenever I can....I want to prevent the little bugs from the stores, and other critters.....been there, done that....

 

[kev]

Freezing to kill weevils might be a myth.

Storing grains, flour, rice,,, use oxygen absorbers and mylar bags.

 

[Vectorwoman]

I always nuke my grains in the microwave for around 30 seconds. I do not have room in my freezer for grains.

I had weevils years ago. I Have not have that problem since then.

When I lived in Fla.I knew someone who was a supervisor having something to do with the barges bringing in flour, rice and such before it went to the factory to be packaged.

He told me that it was common for the grain barges to be infested with weevils.They sift it. It gets the weevils out, but not the eggs.

When you get weevils in your grain, it is because there were eggs in it, and they hatched.

That is why I nuke my flour, rice and other grains.I know eggs cannot live through that. It does not seem to hurt the grain at all.

 

[kev]

I always nuke my grains in the microwave for around 30 seconds.

That sounds like a good idea.

My only reservation is having to nuke 40 pounds of rice.

 

[Writer's Block]

I guess it must be the climate or the methods I use to store.

I have never had serious pest issues. Most I ever had was a spider outbreak in one of my cabinets that filled the cabinet and surrounding area with spiders.

Not damage, but pretty wild.