I have been having pantry moths in my kitchen for the last several months. I see a couple flying around each day and a bunch of them are getting caught in the pheromone traps I have suck inside the cabinets. At this moment I have stuck moths in four different cabinets.
I have gone through all of the cabinet contents several times, and have yet to actually find evidence of eggs, larvae, or adult moths in anything. I have thrown out a few old packages anyway, but that hasn’t changed anything. The moths are still around. It’s really pissing me off. It seems to be the only option I have left is to throw everything away and to start over. I should just note that in addition to the usual flour, pasta, dried fruits, etc, we have dozens of types of Indian dried lentils, dried spices, and other ingredients.
I mentioned to a friend that I was seriously considering doing this, and he was very dismissive of the idea. He seemed to think it was a waste of time and money and that I should just live with it.
Is he right? I mean, the moths have to be somewhere, and just because I haven’t found them doesn’t mean they aren’t in my food. Should I just try to forget about it? It is kind of hard to forget with the little bastards flitting around my kitchen all the time and my kids screaming moth! moth! moth! whenever they see one….
If you have pantry moths, they’re there because they’re eating something. That’s definite, and isn’t changed by the fact that you haven’t yet found what.
Rather than throwing away everything, though, you might consider getting moth-proof containers. That still probably means that you’ll eventually open up one container, and find that it’s full of moth larvae, but at that point you’ll be able to throw out just that container, not everything.
Would freezing the containers kill the moths?
Do you have freezer space?
If so, throw them in the freezer (wrap in something non-permeable first, if applicable.) Leave them in the freezer a few days, or until you need them; any eggs or larvae will be dead. It won’t hurt you if you eat them. (And if they’re too small to see, just don’t mention it to the kids.)
Get some pantry moth traps to catch the adults; and some moth-proof containers to store things in for the future.
Yes.
I usually park things in the freezer for 3 days.
After my last big clean-out I started by acquiring only a limited amount of stuff, the amount that would fit in my freezer, stuck it in there 3 days, then put it into moth-proof containers. As I acquired more I re-stocked everything.
I do get the occasional moth, especially in summer, because it is entirely possible to bring them home from the grocery store. They also have some ability to get into certain types of packaging, like paper wrappers.
The larvae are already in the food you bring home, most likely. Flour in particular is a likely culprit. I’ve had good luck with freezing newly purchased flour for a few days.