Oh no, We've Got Pantry Moths!

You know what’s not fun? Waking up early to make school lunch and discovering moths fluttering around in a bag of gnocchi! Ugh!

I should have known.

Randomly for the past couple weeks I’ve seen a lone moth or two fluttering around, which I’d chase around the house until it was captured. I thought it was strange but didn’t think too much into it. But reaching in for the rotini pasta, I glanced at the bag of gnocchi and saw a little moth bouncing around in the bag. Darn. I should have guessed. Another quick passthrough the pasta and I found a little caterpillar in the spaghetti and I was done, I knew it all had to go. We officially had pantry moths.

The aftermath. Empty boxes and bug-free storage containers.

Not a pantry moth, but probably a good doppelgänger for what they look like. Photo courtesy of unsplash.

For those as unaware as I was a couple days ago, pantry moths are fluttering bugs that enjoy feasting on dry goods. They’re thin and stick-like when not flying and tan or brown in color. They’re big fans of grains, flours, and pastas. I’m not sure if they like Doritos or pretzel sticks, but I’m figuring it’s all fair game to them and tossed them out. If you unlucky enough get them, it’s likely they were brought home from the grocery store from either storage there or from the manufacturing plant. Which is nice in theory but does not take away the fact that bugs are squirming around in your food. They can’t get into rigid plastic containers, but can eat their way into (or out of!) thinner plastic and paper.

These are the containers I use for my baking supplies. The brown sugar keeper has the terra cotta piece that keeps it soft, there’s a levels on the flour and the sugar has a pour spout. I got mine off Amazon.

So I spent last night tossing everything that was open and checking and wiping all the other food containers that were around there. It appears as if they didn’t get into too many things. The flours and cereals are kept in an airtight containers in another area of the kitchen so they’re thankfully not affected.

Today I’m wiping everything down again and will be buying some more airtight containers for storing the rest of our pastas, grains and snacks. If you weren’t immediately replacing with rigid airtight containers though it’s best to keep the area grain-free for a bit until you’re sure you’ve eradicated the problem.

Never a dull moment around here, that’s for sure.