Storing Flour

Jenyfari · 12-29-2006, 01:05 AM

Add a bay leaf to flour to keep the moths away.

Tangent210 · 02-16-2007, 09:29 PM

Hmm I've always heard of this but I don't live in an area with any moths. I wasn't really aware moths were attracted to flour, have any of you had problems with this? and has the bay leaf thing worked? This just seems fascinating to me haha.

sara · 02-17-2007, 12:43 PM

I haven't heard of the bay leaf remedy..........thanks!! The moths I sometimes see are Indian meal moths - they tend to infest dry foods rice, grains, any dry products - even pet foods. I always check packaging at the market before making purchases - if the food inside the packaging looks extra "grainy (small bits at bottom) I avoid these. The meal moths are difficult to get rid of once they invade your pantry

Stephanie2377 · 02-17-2007, 04:07 PM

Thank you SO much for posting this! Just last week, I saw two or three little moths fly out of my pantry, and I thought "Where did they come from?" I will get a bay leaf tomorrow and see if that helps.

Do meal moths look any different? These are just little grey moths that flutter about. I am betting this is what we have. I keep my dry goods in tupperware, but maybe the moths were already in the bags.

blueey · 03-09-2007, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sara

I haven't heard of the bay leaf remedy..........thanks!! The moths I sometimes see are Indian meal moths - they tend to infest dry foods rice, grains, any dry products - even pet foods. I always check packaging at the market before making purchases - if the food inside the packaging looks extra "grainy (small bits at bottom) I avoid these. The meal moths are difficult to get rid of once they invade your pantry

Ew, yes! We had meal moth problems a few years ago, and they took ages to get rid of completely. We eventually just got airtight canisters for everything and started combing through new bags of flour, cornmeal, etc before adding them to the pantry. On the plus side, our pantry looks much tidier and more organized than before.

riskey58 · 03-09-2007, 03:19 PM

I have heard of using a bay leaf in flour. But I store mine flour in a jar and have never had trouble with moths. So I have never tried it. But I am sure it is a good idea.

Stephanie2377 · 03-09-2007, 04:12 PM

We finally found the root of our moth problem. CORNSTARCH! I never thought that moths would be in cornstarch, but when I went to make some gravy.. there they were. *YUCK* But, at least we found the source!
The rest of our dry good are in airtight containers.

mtatum4496 · 03-10-2007, 01:16 AM

I use airtight containers for my flour, corn meal, etc but old habits die hard and I still put a fresh bay leaf in before I add another five pounds into the container. I don't know if it makes any difference, but better safe than sorry.