My least favourite Christmas present? Pantry moths 😐

[Kirstyinnorway]

Last night I was snaffling crackers before bed, and as I lifted the second one to my mouth (yes, I had already eaten one), I noticed a little moth sitting there, looking back at me. Sigh. After some digging in the cupboard, I found a cocoon on the packet of crackers.

Threw away all dried goods from my cupboard last night (and put bins out immediately), and spending my day today washing remaining tins in boiling water, wiping the cupboard (thankfully we only have one large cupboard in my kitchen, minimal storage is finally coming in handy) with vinegar solution and checking my spices for signs of small wiggly things (let's not go into more depth about what moths look like before they cocoon and develop wings).

Any tips?

[BertieBotts]

Ooh I don't know but I will follow, thought I'd got rid of the bloody things back in November but they are back. I even discovered a larva in my Christmas mug... After spitting it out having thought it was a bit of limescale at the bottom of the cup :(

So far I've just been squishing them when I find them but it doesn't seem to help.

[Kirstyinnorway]

Oh boak Bertie, that's horrid.
Where in the world are you?

[Kirstyinnorway]

P.s. I haven't found any more this morning while emptying the cupboard, so AIBU or just plain deluded to hope there was only one?!

[BertieBotts]

I'm in South Germany. They have definitely abated since the mass squashing but I still keep finding them and getting absolutely raging at the horrible things!

[Heratnumber7]

I have never heard of this horror before. Is it purely a German thing! Or do some people get these infestations in Britain?

[Kirstyinnorway]

You get them in the UK too, Herat, they're pretty much all over (I'm in Norway). Having cleaned out the entire cupboard, I haven't found any more. Now washing all my mugs and have a very bare cupboard! I'd have felt better if I'd found the source (but threw away all dried food last night without looking through each package).

I now have a small pile of dried goods left that were in plastic wrap, so am leaving them in my (dry) basement for a few days before returning to my kitchen to check nothing hatches (yuck yuck yuck).

I'm glad your numbers are going down bertie, have you done a big clear out of grains and dry goods? I fear that may be your only guarantee (despite the huge cost and food wastage).

[BertieBotts]

No, it would be too much of a pain to replace everything so just checking food items thoroughly before using and if there's contamination then I throw them away. They were hiding in some porridge oats last time and they loved the dried crispy onions

[AllThreeWays]

I use pantry moth traps. They work well for me?

[PossumInAPearTree]

Moth traps for sure.

[PleaseDoNotTagMe]

I've had them and I did manage to get rid of them after a very thorough cleaning and chucking out session. They were in between my cupcake cases and even in the groove of the screw head holding the shelf up.

[BertieBotts]

Oh really? I had always thought weevils were like woodlice.

Yes we had some hiding behind the shelf inside the cupboard, had to take it out and clean it off.

[howthefuckshouldiknow]

No pantry moths and weevils are different, I've had both. The moths are well, moths. Silvery little ones. Weevils are like tiny little beetles