To burn my kitchen cupboards?

[Softlysoftly]

Because they harbour bastard bastard insects

Went to make gravy and my flour is full of bugs. Back up flour (same cupboard) also fricking crawling.

So one dry roast dinner later I'm stuck with the dilemma of what to do.

That cupboard holds all my baking stuff and pasta, rice, couscous etc etc and bugs give me the jitters.

So AIBU to do what I really want to do and burn the bastards?

[Mytimewillcome]

I had this problem but couldn't afford to burn my cupboards . I did, however, chuck everything with bugs in it; clean the cupboards thoroughly and then put everything that I knew was going to be affected into airtight containers.

They haven't come back.

[linoleum]

have a look at this OP:
www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/bryanturner/other/index-psocids.html

[Blackpuddingbertha]

We've had this before too. Aren't they flour weevils or something? We did as Mytime did; throw out everything affected, clean well and put everything that may be affected into tupperware type boxes. Never had them again and 8 years on my cupboards are still beautifully neat, tidy and clean as anything that may make a mess (like that pesky flour stuff) is in sealed tubs .

Check all your rice and pasta too - they get everywhere.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Does sound like flour weevils but if you set fire to the kitchen you may lose your bestest wooden spoon then you would be cross

[Softlysoftly]

Tupperware is an excellent suggestion, possibly a little better than fire. Gutted I stocked up from cash & carry, bet (when I can face checking) everything's ruined.

I do need that wooden spoon though for shoving up DHs bum when he adds garamasala to my cottage pie as soon as my backs turned :)

[frootshoots]

They are indeed bastard things. I noticed them a few months ago in my flour, then noticed them in everything... I had to throw out around £60 worth of dried foods. I had to remove all foods that had survived ... Basically anything unopened and bleach the lot and store in bags whilst I bleached the hell out of my cupboards. I couldn't have food in them for over a month because I kept finding them in there, coming out of the cracks at the sides/backs of cupboards. Finally after a month of cupboards being full of talc (supposed to suffocate them) and bay leaves I hadn't noticed them for a week and so gave the cupboards one last bleaching and then sealed every crack in/around the cupboards with silicone sealant so the fuckers can't get back through the cracks if any survived.

Everything is now in tubs if it is opened and touch wood I haven't had any more yet. Froze my first pack of flour the other day and took great pleasure in killing any potential buggy bastards

They thrive in warm/moist conditions so keep the kitchen well ventilated, I aim a fan above the cooker now when anything is boiling to keep the moisture at bay!

[Softlysoftly]

Does freezing kill them and how do you defrost and use again? If I kill the buggy bastards I don't want to import any more

[frootshoots]

Apparently it kills any eggs in the grain. They're common in old batches of flour, they've had time to mature and hatch in the right conditions. I popped a pack of flour in the freezer for 2 days and have just taken it out tonight and it has gone back to normal temp/texture now and is in a glass jar in a dark cupboard. I always check the packaging before it goes in my trolley now, and get one from the back of the shelf... Stock rotation, you know it'll be fresher

[MsVestibule]

We had ants a few years ago. I took it as a good opportunity to give the cupboards a long overdue clean, threw out anything more than 5 years out of date and sprayed it with ant spray. They didn't come back. Think burning the cupboards might be slight overkill. But oh, it would really pain me to throw a lot of food out!