I briefly shared this on Facebook a couple weeks ago, but in case you missed it here’s the deal. Moths moved into our pantry and it was not pretty.
Bugs in general kind of give me the “heebie jeebies” so I thought the whole thing was quite disturbing actually. And as we were clearing house and tossing out just about every non-perishable food item we owned I said to my husband, ”This is happening because we eat real food isn’t it?” Those moths were all up on our raw nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and other whole foods. They did eventually invade some non-food items as well, but let’s face it…for the most part bugs are after the same nutrients we are!
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It Starts with Just One
So this is how it happened. One day – longer ago than I’d like to admit – I opened our pantry and one moth flew out. I didn’t think much of it (mistake #1). Who doesn’t deal with a pesky housefly or fruit fly on occasion? I thought this was one and the same.
As time went on I noticed that this “moth flying out of the pantry” business was happening more frequently than it probably should. Then (thank goodness for social media) I saw another Facebook page mention they had unexplained moths in their pantry as well. The commenters shared that moths can move in and camp out, and in some cases you’ll need to get rid of everything. Yes, they were speaking of the items we were currently cooking with and eating…yikes!
So I tried to walk and not run straight to our pantry to start investigating. The first thing I found was a bag of unopened almonds that was getting more action (i.e. different moth lifecycle stages) than I care to disclose.
I would have taken a picture, but I was so grossed out I could barely even look straight at it with my own eyes. Plus I was overwhelmed with the need to purge it immediately…after some screaming of course! That’s when my husband got involved. He started inspecting our “nut basket” and basically did a thorough clean out of just those items and we moved on (mistake #2)…eeeek!
The Clean Out
After that my husband put some handy dandy non-toxic traps up in the pantry just to be sure we were in the clear. But, oh it wasn’t pretty. The trap was racking up those bad boys (a dozen or so in a week’s time) so we knew there was still trouble. That’s when we decided to clean out every single item we owned.
As you can imagine this was an all day super fun process. And what we found was infestation beyond the nut basket. Yep they had made nice little homes in sunflower seeds, raisins, muffin liners, and even the plastic brackets holding up our shelves. I learned that quite a lot of our Facebook followers had been through this before, and I appreciate them encouraging us to inspect EVERYTHING.
And rather than leafing through 200 4-ply napkins we chose to get rid of everything. The thing is if we were to miss something we could possibly have to go through all of this again! So my philosophy was better safe than sorry…
Once the pantry was completely empty we cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned even more including spraying the wall corners and shelf brackets with vinegar and vacuuming off the tops of cookbooks. One good thing is that most of our flours/grains are stored in the freezer and our herbs/spices are kept in a drawer away from the pantry. It would have been even worse if we lost all of those items as well.
Then the next thing we did was buy truly air-tight glass containers from Sur La Table (both the reasonably priced Fido and the more expensive but wider mouthed Le Parfait varieties). We owned quite a few plastic containers (seen in “before” picture above) that were advertised as “air tight,” but guess what I found inside one of them…yep! A moth pupa case, to be specific. So we got rid of those as well.
And we got rid of the brown baskets (that we were storing containers of nuts and seeds in) realizing there were too many little crevices and that all surfaces needed to be wipeable for easy cleaning and inspecting!
So what started as a single moth flying out of our pantry ended up being a very disruptive and expensive problem. Fingers crossed they don’t come back (many have told me they thought they were in the clear then a month later…surprise!).
And I guess if I were to look on the bright side of all of this I’d have to say my pantry is looking much better and more organized than it used to be. We got the white bucket containers from Ikea and all the air-tight glass jars from Sur La Table (the can also be ordered from Amazon). It will be a while before we can/will fully stock everything again with all the food we lost though…baby steps. :)
How to Avoid Moths in Your Pantry (Prevention is Key)!
So now here’s a little more of a “technical” explanation from my husband on what to look for and how to ensure your pantry stays moth-free! …
Lisa thinks I’m an expert on all things mechanical, electrical, chemical, biological…well, just about anything ending in ‘al’ it seems! I’ll neither confirm nor deny that, but I will say entomology is not my strong suit.
Regardless, I did learn a lot through our ordeal that I’d like to share with you. Please read on even if you think you have no signs of moths in your household, as prevention is the best approach!
First up – where did the moths come from? It’s technically possible they flew in through an open back door, but the much more likely scenario is that they entered the house through some infected dry goods purchased from the grocery store.
By infected I mean the product, likely nuts or dried fruit, contained moth eggs, larvae, or both. Once in the confines of our home the moths hatched and made sweet moth love, resulting in more moths, eggs, and larvae – in our food.
Now I’ve actually eaten silk and bamboo worms in Thailand on purpose, so this didn’t gross me out that much. But it did NOT bode well with Lisa, at all.
Who Knew Home Cooks Would Need to Understand the Moth Life Cycle?
So let’s talk about the moth life cycle, which you need to understand if you ever hope to rid yourself of these pests or prevent them from setting up shop in your pantry in the first place. The duration of the cycle varies depending on conditions, but five generations per year is typical and the whole cycle can take as little as a month.
Adult females lay around 100 to 400 eggs on or near food, and 2-14 days later the larvae hatch out and begin feeding. When mature, the larvae seek out a happy place by crawling with their little legs (usually to wall/ceiling junctions or other crevices) and transform into light-brown pupae, often within silk webbing.
They remain stationary in this stage for 2-3 weeks as they go through metamorphosis, and then the adult moth emerges. Since adults don’t feed (their only purpose is to mate), they only live for 1-2 weeks.
Whether you think you have moths or not, you need to get a pheromone trap (non-toxic) and put it in your pantry ASAP. The adult males are lured into the trap by pheromone bait (mimicking the allure of a female) where they get stuck in the glue and die.
Even if you don’t think you have a problem, this can be your canary in the coalmine. You can buy two traps for about $9 on Amazon (my local big box stores were out), and once opened they last for about 3 months.
I plan on having one in our pantry at all times now. Trust me, $18 a year is nothing compared to the costs of lost productivity and wasted food associated with clearing out these pests. It really is a pain.
But you can’t just kill adult moths and think you’re good. By the time you notice them, you may have multiple generations in play at different points in the life cycle. You’ve got to break the cycle to rid yourself of the pests. And adults can fly all over the house, so your problem could spread to other areas.
If You Have Pantry Moths Here’s What You Have to Do, Step by Step:
- Put a pheromone trap (pictured) in your pantry immediately.
Since your infestation probably came from package goods, it is imperative that you put new dry goods (including dried fruit) into airtight containers as soon as you get home from shopping. Edit: Some readers have suggested placing dry goods from the store in the freezer to kill eggs/larvae before placing them in the pantry (in sealed containers of course!) I’ve read here that this works but 4-7 days in the freezer is required. Thanks readers for the tip! This means put your bag of rice in a jar, even if the bag is unopened (remember they can eat through plastic bags and cardboard). If you bring in any contaminated food, it will at least be confined to the container, and if you use clear jars you can observe the food before opening the jars. This also serves to seal away food sources, so if you do have some larvae hatch, they’ll starve and the life cycle will be broken. Don’t mess around with these moths. Good luck!
Another reason to put everything in air-tight containers and not keep them in their original boxes is that supposedly the glue they use to keep the boxes closed attracts rodents. AGH!
Ugh, miserable! This happened to me, too, while I was pregnant. The idea of moths in food made me hurl. We cleaned everything out. Now when I buy from bulk bins, I make sure it all goes to the freezer for a day before the pantry to kill those pesky larva!
For at least 35 years I have never kept anything in the original packages. I once had an infestation of grain beetles. Eeww!
Oh my gosh… I so understand!! The way I think I got them in was brown rice from Costco in those cool brown burlap bag. I had a few… and then presto… they invaded our entire house. I was killing many a day and went through and figured out the ones I found in food :( (Imagine when I realized it was a serious problem when I found them in my cereal bowl, UGH)
Anyway, I got one of those fly zappers and zapped every single one. Incredibly nasty and hope to never see one again!! :(
I found that they had even made little nests in the crevices of my walls…. ick!! :( I am going to be proactive and get some of those little traps you suggested…. ;)
This is one of my worst nightmares, because moth’s are creepy and I’ve been through it once before. Along with washing EVERYTHING and throwing food out is to spray your shelving and insides of cupboards with lysol. Not my favorite, but it worked miracles. (They’ve not been back since) Now, nothing is allowed in without being in a storage container.
I had the same problem with the moths. THOUGHT I HAD GOTTEN RID OF THEM AND HADNT SEEN ANY SIGNS FOR SEVERAL MONTHS > Then my son moved my old dishwasher out to put in another one and low and behold he said the insulation was full of the moths. so you never know where your’re going to find them. He vacumed them and then set the trash outside to go to the dump. Thanks for all the tips.
Sandi
Thank you for posting this. I am sorry for your trouble, but perhaps it will save others trouble. My husband just mentioned the Tattler lids to me. Now that I see your endorsement, we will definitely purchase some!
I haven’t noticed this problem in our home, but I’m definitely buying the traps to be safe.
Two questions: when you freeze everything after bringing it home from the store, do you have to “sift” through it or anything to avoid ingesting dead eggs or anything? Or is it one of those things you try not to think about, and appreciate the “free protein”. LOL.
Also, I have Oxo-Pop containers that I store pasta, flour, etc. in. Would these keep out moths, or are the glass ones better?
Heidi – That’s really your choice…I’m not sure we personally are going to go through the trouble of freezing all food when we get home from the store, but we will certainly look for any signs of infestation before using food, and the sealed jars will keep any contaminated food from spreading in the future. I think freezing is a great suggestion though. If we were to do it, personally I wouldn’t worry about inspecting every last thing for eggs, but I’d throw out a batch if I found dead larvae.
Regarding the OXO Pop containers, I really don’t know if those would keep out the pests or not. I looked at the sealing mechanisms of those, the Snapware canisters (which we owned and are supposedly air tight…but we found a pupa case inside one), and the jars we mentioned. The jars, in my opinion, had the tightest seal. You have to apply a significant amount of force to close them. Hope that helps!
I have the OXO containers too and have never had any issues. But I’ve never tried freezing them either and I did notice that one of my lids was was coming off without pushing the button so I doubt that one is air tight now!
“Sweet moth love”. Love it! Thanks for the tips.
We rotate everything through the freezer. We had problems with moths and other stuff in our wheat berries and dried corn, and we lost a few pounds of it. So everything goes into vacuum sealed baggies, then into the freezer for 4 days. I was told 72 hours is enough but I generally do 96 just to be sure. Then it goes into the pantry. We use bags that are moth proof, or we seal in canning jars. But all rice, wheat berries, dried corn, oatmeal, barley, beans… all of it, in whatever container, goes into the freezer now. Only takes a few days. Frankly with the cold weather coming, I might just buy some really big batches and throw it all out on the porch (which gets very cold but is free of bugs and animals due to being screened) to freeze. :)
Ours happened a long time ago, pretty sure they traveled in a bag of basmati rice. They are not your normal, attracted to the porch light moth. Thanks for the advice on the traps though, I agree, better safe than sorry.
What a helpful post – thanks!
We’ve had a moth problem a couple of times (first in our old house, then in our current house). I just always keep pantry pest traps out, and they always get full after a few months. I also kill moths somewhat regularly (it goes in spurts, but probably one a month). I keep a lot of foods in the fridge, and the rest in canning jars of various types.
Spaghetti noodles (someone asked) — I have really tall, skinny jars from Ikea (I am sure you can find them elsewhere too) that are just right for long noodles. I can usually fit at least a few bags in each jar (maybe 4-5 even?).
Freezing — great to know. Thanks for sharing that.
Great blog and with prevention tips!!! Thank you! I have an odd question- how do you store flour items in the freezer? In glass containers or plastic containers or just in their bags? It sounds like its best to store them permanently in the freezer? Thank you in advance!
Sarah – We do both. We typically grind our own wheat berries and store our flour in jars in the freezer, but we also keep store-bought organic whole wheat flour on hand for recipe testing. We just put the bags in the freezer.
so when you freeze flours. do they have to defrost before you use them or do they stay usable straight out of the freezer?
You can use flour in recipes straight out of the freezer.
Hi Sarah. I have usually stored mine in their original bag and just placed that bag in a large ziploc bag. But, after reading this, I think I’m going to put the flour in an airtight container and store it in the freezer in the container. Jill
On a side note, we have a 18 month old McDonald’s (un)happy meal sitting in our dining room that even fruit flies wont touch. When we left out a 100% grassfed hamburger as a control, sitting on the same shelf, maggots were crawling on it in less than a week. They had no interested in the fast food burger…http://healthnutfoodie.com/?p=373. Check it out for yourself!
We’ve been through this too and it’s horrendous!! So glad it’s finally over!
Now I understand why our moths keep coming back!We use those Phermone traps but all they do is keep the problem more-or-less under control. Thank you!
I can’t even tell you how timely this is, as my husband and I were discussing moths in the pantry the other day. You just saved me SO much time regarding how to truly remedy this problem! Thank you for this blogpost! P.S. I may or may not have to tell my husband that they got in to some of the bad food I want out of our pantry ;)
Ha ha Karrie nice strategy!
Shiver. I have had weevils more times than I care to count. But never moths.
I heard that when you buy mostly organic stuff, more bugs are just part of the bargain. Price I’m willing to pay but {shivers}
I agree… it seems gross, a little, but at least they are natural and kind of “supposed” to be in our food, not like nasty chemicals and stuff. You can’t really have it both ways – “give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please.” Right? :)
For weevils, a kafir lime (bergamot) leaf in the rice keeps weevils and ants out. I don’t know if it works for other grains, but worth a try. You can transfer the leaf to new bags when it runs out, so once you find them you’re pretty much set.
I had them in my pantry too, and I got rid of everything–twice! I seem to have got them all this time. Fingers crossed. I keep flours and nuts in the freezer now and use glass canning jars for rice, quinoa, and whatever else I can.
I have finally decided to read/listen to In Defense of Food and seriously just got through the part talking about how not even bacteria/bugs/animals care for the “food”/edible substances that we “enjoy” eating. I couldn’t help but to go on and on to my husband about how much sense this made that they are just looking for the natural nutrients! That is why our whole food rots a whole lot faster than what is in most stores.
We had trouble with moths for quite a while we would go through all of our non-parishable food items every few month clean everything out and would still have moths. Finally I looked on the Internet and everyone was posting about bay leaves! We tried putting them in all of our cupboards and we haven’t seen a moth since! They really work!
Great review and actionables on the pantry pests!
I didn’t get rid of our problem till I scraped down the acoustic ceiling in the pantry. After 3 clean outs it was the only thing not done. Popcorn ceiling came down, got the vinegar wash, and voila, no more infestation.
I never see moths but my traps catch some still. Love the trap!
I’ve never had moths but I did have an awful infestation of weevils. I never kept flour in the pantry again and now all our cereal and crackers are in air tight containers. I guess all it takes is once and you learn a good lesson you’ll never forget.
We had the same problem last month. I bought a ton of containers and freeze everything for a few days before I transfer it into the containers. Not as gross as moths, but still wasteful and terribly inconvenient!
We ended up with moths for a bit because of cat food. Now we pour the cat food into an airtight container we got at the container store so we can see the moths flying around in there before setting them free in the house. We’ve only had the problem with cheaper foods so maybe the grain-free stuff will fare better?
Question: Those of you that freeze things when you buy them (ie. flour), does this create a moisture issue when you remove them from the freezer? Do you then have to dry it out?
I have never noticed this.
I freeze my flour immediately when home from the store – it was something my mom always did so it just became my habit too. I have a glass container I keep my “in use flour” in that holds 5 lbs. I go through it so fast I don’t worry about leaving it un-refrigerated in the cabinet. Sometimes I notice a bit of sweating right after filling the glass container with flour from the freezer, but I just leave it sitting on the counter top for a couple hours until it goes away, and I’ve never had any problems with the flour going rancid or acquiring bugs. I don’t buy organic, but I do use white whole wheat flour.
OMG we have these in our pantry right now and have been struggling with them for Months! We have even had pest control come out to spray and that did not finish the job!! I have also found them in UNopened bags of almonds an pecans!!! Such an expensive waste! I guess I have to do what y’all did!! I am a big time coupon queen so I have a rather large stash I stuff I am going to have to just toss!
Thank you for this info!!
As a child, I got these in my gerbil food all the time. They live and live! I know my mom was glad that they didn’t make it into the kitchen.
Will moth balls help?
moth balls are typically made from 1,4-dichlorobenzene which is good at its job of killing bugs, but it is also a carcinogen and possibly a neurotoxin. So you might not want to store them with things you plan to eat.
Hi ElleX. I’m not positive, but, I think moth balls can be toxic, so, not sure you’d want them near food. Also, I think I read that pantry moths will sometimes ignore them, so, they may not be effective. Jill
This is like the grasshopper that hitched a ride in my organic spinach or the broccoli bugs we’d been eating for months before I discovered a swimmer in the cooking pot. What it really comes down to is this – are you willing to eat a little free protein so that you will avoid hazardous chemicals? Not a fun choice.
I once discovered maggot-type worms crawling on my ceiling making their way from the kitchen to my bedroom. That’s how I learned about the Indian Mill moth. I think I even threw out the vaccuum cleaner I used to suck them up because I was so paranoid about a future infestation.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll be buying that trap ASAP.
We’ve had them too. I read the following on hubpages:
“It’s actually more common for you to have these types of moths in your house if you eat organic foods as the package is likely to be already contaminated before you bring it home.”
Here’s the link to the article:
http://catsimmons.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-get-rid-of-moths-in-your-kitchen-cupboards
It’s taken me up to six months to get rid of the wretched moths before. I always free my grain items when they come home, but what got me was the bird seed. I store it outdoors, but in the spring and fall when the weather is mild, the moths fly into the kitchen through the open door. Now I buy bird seed in much smaller quantities, and keep it sealed — and stored away from the inside doors! That, plus freezing new grains, using pheromone traps, and keeping a sharp eye out, has kept me pest-free for about a year. Whew!
I keep all my bulk foods in Tupperware’s modular mates & have been very happy with how they’ve kept my food safe.
Excellent post! I’m definitely going to go through my pantry and reorganize before this happens. Questions, though, which size of jar worked best for spaghetti, or did you use something else?
Hi Sandy. I know that some brands make the tall skinny ones for spaghetti. I have one with a pop top lid, I’m not sure if any of the ones mentioned in the post are tall enough or not. Good luck. Jill
We had the same problem and I did the same thing I looked throughout my cupboard and threw out open packages and put up traps and a couple of weeks later I still had moths I had to throw out a lot of stuff they were even in my unopened bag of oats.After I got rid they rest of the stuff that wasn’t in cans or jars I haven’t seen them in weeks hopefully thier all gone now
as you mentioned, they travel into our homes with the food ~ especially whole grain and organic ~ another trick is to freeze the flour, rice, cornmeal etc for 24 hours before putting it in the airtight containers
others think I’m weird but I now keep the foods they like in the fridge !
…and freezing does not change the grains? I’m a freeze-a-holic, but have never done so with grains… food for thought
I freeze small amounts, don’t buy in bulk anymore and have not had problems. I contain the product in something moisure proof before freezing. My style of culinary art leans to dense so if you wany to bake “light” I can not say but my gingerbreads, batterbreads, quinoa pilafs, spanish brownrice, fruit crumbles even whole wheat pastry get rave reviews. Nonetheless, I would rather suck blackstap molasses through a straw than have to deal with the moths again. I shudder to think of the waste caused by our infestation.
Thank you Robin!
Hi Katie. I thought I had heard that before as well, but, my understanding is that if you bring it back to room temperature that there is no ill effect (for flour that is). Jill
I put bay leaves in my flour and beans and try to hold as much as I can in the freezer or fridge. Live in the middle of nowhere so buy in bulk, stuff comes with bugs…those pantry moth traps are awesome!!!
Purchased the lids at end of canning season, can hardly wait to try them next canning season!!
Don’t get a false sence of safety with those jars… My mom had a glass front cabinet that she kept all her dry goods in. Everything was in those jars lined up all pretty looking. They went out of town for two weeks and came back to a horror show. The cabinet glass was covered in yuck white something and moths were everywhere. Some had hatched out in her pasta container and they chewed through that sealer ring and got into everything!! It was so gross. Now if they leave town she either throws everything out of gives it to friends. They just start over when they get home.
Hi EM. Thanks for the information – yes, I guess nothing is fool proof when it comes to these moths. Jill
I am SO glad you posted this. I need to clean out my pantry so badly. Even my mom commented on it and said “you need to be careful so you don’t get moths!” Eeek! This is now my weekend project. Thanks for the tips!
And if you are buying large bags of grains make sure to pop those in the freezer for a week or so to kill off any bug eggs.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post! We constantly have a moth problem and it’s so difficult to get under control. Our house was built in the 50s and the kitchen is on our list of renovations. We have thrown out so much food, and it’s making me sick to think of how many we might has accidently ingested! We will certainly be cleaning out our food storage cabinets in the next week!
Where I live in America EVERYONE has moths. I couldn’t seem to get rid of them. Finally I bought the large dog food containers with the rubber seals on the lids to store my dry goods. (flour, sugar etc.) I buy in bulk, so these are great. Since getting those, the moths pretty much disappeared! The only time I get moths is if I leave an open container.