Evil weevils

juno

Once I phoned my sister and screamed "argh there's ants in the breadbin!"

It's not really relevant, but it was funny.

sliding_doors

:rotfl:
But any ideas about the flour in the freezer? My flatmate glares at the 20 packets of flour sitting in our kitchen whenever he see's them!

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Best way to get rid of these is to hoover out the cupboard getting into all the nooks and crannies not by using anything damp.
They like damp.
I got rid of mine by hoovering out every week for about 6 weeks and I've never had any since.

sliding_doors

This might seem like an obvious question but if I put the flour in the freezer for 24 hours do I then have to empty the flour out of its paper bag to stop it absorbing the moisture?

Im just getting into breadmaking but unfortunately my nearest Lidl is 10 miles away so I went and stocked up about 30kg of flour! After reading all these threads I really need to work out how to store it before the weevils hatch.

Agapanthus

There are various creatures that can do this, but the result and the cure is much the same. Since having a major infestation last year (ours were biscuit beetles, also known as weevils), we threw out anything that was obviously infested and divided the rest up amongst sealed plastic containers. After a few months most of the containers were fine, but some weren't. I threw out the contents of another one only last week - the original problem was discovered last October.

Not only flour gets affected, but rice, pasta, couscous, packet soup, sugar, dried fruit and of course biscuits. Even sealed packets can be affected. Look for small round holes in the packets - like woodworm!

They're perfectly harmless to eat - not a health hazard. The Royal Navy survived for centuries on weevilly biscuit - it's just a bit of extra protein! However they really don't look appetising. Quite a quantity of stuff from our kitchen ended up on the compost heap. I had a big bag of rice that I was too mean to throw out, so I just washed it before cooking and the little black whatsits floated off while the eggs and so on went through the holes in the colander.

The freezer tip is a good one. You don't need to take the labels off tins - just stick them in the freezer for a day or two.

sliding_doors

Thanks Agapanthus - so it's ok just to put paper bags of flour in the freezer then for 24 hours and then take them out?

I just wanted to check that it wouldn't affect the flour (not really up on this sort of thing)

Agapanthus

sliding_doors - if you're worried about the flour getting damp when it defrosts, seal it in a plastic bag before freezing. Then when you thaw it, the condensation will be on the outside of the plastic bag!

sliding_doors

Clever - will go and do that now - THANKS

funkymonkey849

Hi everyone

I have been lurking for a while without registering, not sure why - thought it would be more complicated to sign up than it was lol.

Anyway I love the OS board some I'm hoping you will be able to help me with my problem.

A few months back we had tiny mites in the kitchen, think they came from flour and spread from there - they are black and smaller than the head of a pin (but run fast!). We got rid of them by chucking out all open food and cleaning the cupboards, and now we don't leave anything open. All was well.

Yesterday I spotted them in the bedroom :eek: Closer inspection revealed them on the windowsil, shelves, bedside tables and in the wardrobes. They are also in the bathroom on the walls. They are very tiny, the biggest ones are black and there are smaller ones literally the size of specks of dust and they are a light browny/greyish colour. They are very difficult to spot unless you're looking for them, so I suspect they have been there a while without us noticing. I haven't seen any in the bed. We suffer from damp in the house, the chimney has a leak which so we have damp problems in the bedroom, and the bathroom window didn't open for a year (!!!), we recently got a functioning window but still getting rid of the mouldyness (landlord problems...)

Does anyone know what these little beasties are, and more importantly how to get rid of them!!

nanokitten

Eew! Does sound like some kind of mite - dust mites are just about visible http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_dust_mite but there may well be other kinds. You should probably start by vacuuming thoughly and disposing of the bag straight away (or giving your bagless compartment a good clean. I'd have a spray round with something like flash with bleach as most things are killed with bleach. I'd do this every day for a while.
My friend once successfully treated an infestation with neem oil if you want an organic alternative (be careful if your pregnant though).