What do you do about meal worms/ moths

I lost all of my stored crackers and cereal, oatmeal and other various dry products, they burrowed right through the sealed plastic wrap on the crackers and through the sealed bags of cereal. I had a glass mason type jar with a gasket and I washed it and I thought it was clean. two weeks later I find a moth inside the empty sealed glass jar.

These things must be microscopic when they are larva, then they grow into worms then turn into moths.
I would find a couple flying around the house every now and then and would kill them. then I found 40+ cereal boxes infested with them.

Now I have an ultraviolet light ( a bug zapper) inside my house in my kitchen and in the past two weeks I have noticed about a thousand dead bugs under the light/zapper

I AM AMAZED at how many bugs are still here or rather how many are not now.

Mini wheat, fruit loops, almond crunch, cheerios, premium plus crackers and other brands of crackers are the worst only one bag of cereal survived that was a bag of shreddies, that was it.

My question is how do I prevent this from happening again?

Short of vacuum sealing everything or nitrogen packing everything and then if I did that how long would it last.

ps the mini wheats were only a month old I lost 10 boxes I bought in august at Costco

could they have been contaminated when I bought them ?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Justin

When you get pantry moths it really hard to get rid of them. You may have had them just once but they multiply and they hide in the cracks of boxes, in the seams of cupboards etc. The best way to kill them is in the freezer. Freeze all grains, cereals etc and take your kitchen apart. You will need to clean everything! and probably clean it again after a few days to make sure you got them all. There are traps you can buy for pantry moths - but I can't remember where I saw them - internet search perhaps.

I know that's probably NOT what you want to hear - sorry 🙁

I'm looking for a recipe and instructions for cured sausages...you know, the kind you find hanging in Italian garages...
And help is appreciated!

The kind that DOESN'T start with: put on dark clothing, find a flashlight and drive to the nearest Italian neighbourhood??? 🙂

Uh...ya!

OK, another question for food storage.
I am looking at getting some bulk storage put into mylar bags.
Now, the question comes up about O2 absorbers.
They come in packs of 100, and I won't need anywhere near that in the near future.
How can the extras be stored and how long will they remain effective?

Denob - you can store them in a canning jar with a regular canning lid - heat the lid so it becomes soft first. The O2's will suck down the lid and then stop working so they will still be good the next time. As long as the seal on the canning jar is holding you know the O2 absorbers are still good to use.

I have two questions:

1)Cooking Oil doesn't store long term..which sucks....is there any product I can use for cooking that I can store long term that's semi healthy? I was told I can use shortening but I don't want to die of a heart attack, lol. But is there a preserved product or something I can do to get the most long term or something else? Boiling everything would suck....

2)Vitamin C storage. The best I could come up with is Tang or some other Vit. C enriched powdered drink....but again, the Vit. C will start to break down and won't have the 20+ year storage life like so many other foods...is there anything out there I can store long term that will prolong the life of Vit. C?

Thanks for any help and direction.

In my opinion the best bet for long term storage is coconut oil. You can read about it here: http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/main-lowcarb-lobby/593697-shelf-life-coconut-oil.html

We use coconut oil regularly and I buy it in large quantities. It's great for frying- doesn't break down at high temps - and it's good for you.

The vitamin C is problematic but pine needles and rose hips are high in vitamin C. Here's a recipe: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Pine-Needle-Tea

How long will coconut oil last?

And your kidding right? Just run o' the mill pine needles? That is the coolest thing I've ever heard...

The jury is out on the exact time frame for coconut oil - somewhere between 10 years and forever 🙂

Pine needles - yup. So simple - almost everyone could identify pine needles!

If a person buys coconut oil in bulk, is it best (for long-term storage) to transfer it to smaller containers so that you only open limited amounts at a time. And if so, what would be the recommended containers (mason jars)?

I buy it in bulk and just fill a mason jar when I need more. If kept under decent cool temps it doesn't seem to hurt it at all. For long term storage I would just leave it in the original container. Of course you know how much I love mason jars so if you do choose that option sterilize the jars first and then pour it in warm so it fills the jar evenly and top with a lid and a ring.

Thanks. Much appreciated