Weevils!!

I had the little blights in a box of Weetabix many years ago. Took it back for a refund, and always keep cereals & dry stuff in lock & lock. Never had a problem since.

Just to add a point of interest, the sign language sign for biscuits is tapping your left hand on your right elbow (or vice versa if left handed). This is because, as previously explained, in times gone by biscuits were tapped before eating to dislodge any insects. There you go! X

I put a fresh bay leaf in my flour containers with the flour and have never had flour weevils since I've been doling this. Don't know why it works but it does and you cannot taste it in the flour.

Yes, freezing is apparently the way to go according to what I've read.

I have had them before but cleaned thoroughly and scattered bay leaves around the drawer, put everything likely to be affected (not just flour) into lock n lock boxes and, so far, so good.

We got mice in the kitchen last year. They ate through bags of porridge etc. so now everything goes into a strong container.

It's life, I suppose.

Sorry, forgot to mention that the article recommended putting the bag of flour in a freezer bag first.

In fact - how do they get rid of any tiny insects that may get into grain before the grains are made into cereals?

DD always freezes her flour (gf) and keeps cornflour etc in the fridge - in fact everything is kept in the fridge or freezer as they live in the tropics.
and she makes great cakes! I think she decants the flour into plastic containers before freezing it.

Really, Funny? I don't know anyone who would have investigated that! Except for DH. He's weird like that?

I didn't know you could freeze flour and I freeze EVERYTHING! You're not alone.
We've had the little b*****s in our larder. In a lock n lock box. I threw the whole thing away. (Shudder)

I decant into Tupperware foxes and seem to have got rid of them all thank goodness. We had a holiday in Sri Lanka a few years ago and bought a bag of nutmegs which were still in their outer shell. A couple of years later I broke one open and a large winged insect crawled out. I was so horrified that I just scooped it up in a piece of paper and put it outside. A braver person would have kept it to investigate what it was.

I know this is probably going to be a silly question, but if you freeze flour, and then defrost it, does it not go damp? I have never heard of anyone freezing flour, so I would be interested to know.

I'm an occasional baker and keep flour in plastic tubs. I've never knowingly had a weevil problem. I always sift for baking so hopefully haven't baked with them!
Oh well, do they provide protein???

I buy flour in boxes, rather than bags, and there seem to be less bug-related incidents. Don't know why, as they have to be in the flour already - how else could they get into sealed bags?

The worst we ever had was some gram flour, which I had decanted into a tin. I don't use it a lot, just when I'm making some Indian recipes, and when I opened it, it was full of winged things like moths! I screamed, slammed the lid back on and threw the whole thing away. It was many years ago, and I now keep a close eye on any gram flour in my possession.

The eggs are always there, just waiting for hatching time, so we're certainly all eating weevil eggs. I buy my flour in 500g bags and throw it out, if there's any left, a few weeks before the use by date. At about 50p a bag it doesn't seem too extravagant whereas throwing out the entire contents of the dry goods cupboard is.

I appreciate that the GF flour only comes in larger bags and costs more. I keep that, only used for son-out-law, in the freezer.

Not only do thickish, sealed plastic bags keep the beasts out, they also keep them in. I don't know if it was weevils that infested a bag of flour I had (I would be interested to know) but I found fly like creatures trapped in the plastic bag I had put the flour in. I was very relieved that they had not escaped to infest other foodstuffs.

I had them in my dry goods cupboard once and I tried all sorts to get rid of them. In the end I used Raid fly spray all over the cupboards and the shelf joints, and never had them again.

I had weevils in my salt and sugar containers - chucked them out and bought some of those preserve jars with a rubber seal and metal spring lock - seems to have done the trick.

So much for the Great British Bake Off

Just read some advice on wiki how. It recommends freezing a fresh bag of flour for 96 hours to kill the eggs that are already present. Also have a good sort out of your cupboards and give a thorough clean including using the vac nozzle to remove any lurking in the crevices. Check all other open packets of cereal products and sugar before putting them back in the cupboard and preferably store in sealed containers.

I would have just put the link but computer says no!

I might well be wrong, but I suspect the eggs are already in he flour when you get it, so bags, boxes etc may not stop them.

I transfer my flour into lock'n'lock boxes, that seems to stop the little blighters. Have had them a couple times in my cupboard - last time even after scrubbing/disinfecting it they came back into new bag of bread flour. Bought next re-stock lot from a different store, just in case they were in batch from makers.
I read somewhere that bay leaves keep them away, maybe an old wives tale but since I have been putting a few in the cupboard all has been well (touch wood). I cut fresh ones from bay bush in the garden.

I should have said that it was gf flour which doesn't have a long use by date on it.

The flour was only a couple of days out of date and hadn't been open for that long. I presume that the blighters won't get into sealed plastic bags?

Surely if you cook flour before you use it it will kill them. I would not worry that much.
I put my flour in proper food bags, the sort that go in the freezer. Just don't keep flour for too long.

My great uncle, who had been in the Merchant Navy, often told me about them knocking the weevils out of their ship's biscuits before they ate them! Presumably they would have missed some of them, but nobody died from eating them.