BUGS!

Oh, I'm sorry this happened. I hate bugs! I certainly feel for you as we got pantry moths last year. We had to clean and throw away a lot of food as well. As others have mentioned, I read that all dry goods should be refrigerated or frozen when brought home from the store (to kill anything that could be in there...ewww). I always toss our flour and rice in freezer but never have room for cereal, pasta etc. I suspect our problem actually originated from a box of cereal. I bought a pantry moth trap and keep it in the pantry just in case. Rarely, when I pour a box of pasta into the boiling water, there will be what looks like a bug shell (gross!!!!!) and I throw it all away. Have you seen this? I try to keep our pasta in sealed containers but get lazy on busy school nights. We don't have bugs in our home so I think these must come from the products? Thanks for sharing and hope you're enjoying you're cleaned out cabinet.

Sounds like pantry moths---I'd never heard of them until a friend of mine had them a couple years ago. There's a huge, exhaustive discussion of them on another blog I read sometimes. If it won't totally freak you out, it's worth a read! :-) Some very helpful suggestions. I guess this could be a problem for all of us who stockpile or otherwise keep a large supply of items on hand. I'm still not entirely sure how to avoid these critters permanently . . .

www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com, search "pantry moths"

This just hives you an excuse to purchase sealing lid containers for the whole pantry, dont what has been sitting in the back, clean, and reorganzie!!!!!

I would suspect that the bugs would be in anything that was open. I feel for you having to throw out so much stuff. My Mother was nuts about keeping food safe, so, everything went into canning jars or tins or Tupperware as soon as it came home. I just put everything into the freezer for at least 3 days, then defrost it and put it in plastic ziploc bags. It's worked because I've never had bugs, even in the plastic bags. I heard about the freezing to kill any eggs several years ago, so, I make sure to do it as soon as I buy anything like flour, rice, cookies, etc. We were invaded by ants last spring and it was nice to know that they didn't get into anything.

The bay leaf deters moths, but I don't know if it deters other bugs. I keep all of my flour in the fridge or freezer, but I use a lot of whole wheat flour, as well as King Arthur white whole wheat that I use in place of white flour all the time. Right now there is a $1 coupon out for King Arthur. Jewel did have it on sale for $3.99, but it is currently $4.99, but it is usually $3.99 or cheaper at Walmart, Target, and Meijer's. I love their flour.

BTW- In Dr. Oz's latest book, he has a test to see how well you handle carbs. You coat your mouth with saliva, and then you take an unsalted saltine cracker, and chew it in your mouth. You then time it to see how long it takes for the taste to change. If the taste changes in less than 16 seconds, then you have no problems with carbs. It it takes 16-30 seconds for the taste to change, they you can handle a moderate amount of carbs. If the taste does not change after 30 seconds, then you have problems with carbs, and should restrict them.