Monday, November 26, 2012

Pantry pests

Infested chocolate.
Last week in a pre-Thanksgiving crazy air of frustration of not being able to locate anything, I decided to clean out and organize our pantry.  I'm a "put things back where they belong so I can find them later" kind of girl while hubby is a "cram things wherever" kind of guy.  A smooth marriage this does not make.  While he is getting better after 12 years of my explaining (and crowing that I'm right as he grumps around looking for things that "get lost") it's easier to find things later on if he takes the 30 seconds to put it where it belongs in the first place, he still fails miserably when it comes to keeping the pantry in order.  (Baby steps....)

Rice weevil.
While cleaning and organizing, I decided to throw out items that were really old.  Why, you ask, would I throw out perfectly good food?  I did it so I can avoid pantry pests.  Pantry pests can become a problem in food that hasn't been used in a proper amount of time.  Often people will leave the home for a period of time- i.e. on vacation- and when they return they discover bugs in the pantry.

While there are a variety of pantry pests that can occur, they best way to get rid of them is to go through the items in the pantry and throw away what is infested.  Often people stop looking for insects when they find the first thing infested.  That can be a mistake since multiple items can be infested.  Continue to inspect everything in the pantry and even check items that haven't been opened.

If you want to learn more about pantry pests, come to my free seminar in December (information below).

What: Seminar on pantry pests
When: Wednesday, December 12, 2012; 9-10AM
Where: 1600 Smith Road Austin, TX 78721
Cost: FREE