Flour Bags are Useless!!

[HolidayHappy123]

Why in 2026 is flour still sold in useless bags that end up spilling everywhere and don’t keep out weevils and flour mites?

If there is a worse packaged product sold in supermarkets I can’t think what it might be except for scissors which are impossible to get out of their packaging without….scissors, but that is annoying in a different way.

Every time I use flour the stupid bags annoy me. Is it only me?

Do posh Mumsnetters decant into matching canisters for display in their carefully curated pantries? [Runs off to look at canisters on Amazon….].

HH123

There is one posh brand of flour that has cardboard tubs with a plastic lid. I bought those 5 years ago and have decanted the cheap brand into the good tub ever since.

I just decant it into Tupperware! Definitely not posh! And I agree with you - it is useless, see also granulated sugar to be honest.

I'm pretty sure weevils don't "get into" the flour bags. The flour contains the eggs.

I have a plastic tub that holds 3 separate bags of flour, it’s not posh, over 15 years old and does the job

I hate the fact you can't open them without tearing. After a weevil incident years ago I put the flour bags in plastic containers and virtually anything weevils might like at least in sealed plastic bags. I'm pretty sure the weevils arrived in supermarket dried pasta, although they denied it at the time.

Weevil eggs are naturally present in flour from when the grain is growing. They didn't crawl in from another product

Airtight containers can help to keep humidity out but the best thing is just to use the flour quickly enough so the eggs don't have time to hatch. So only buy small bags of flour and only when you're planning to bake

The brand I use has the option to buy a pack in a metal tin and then buy refill bags. It is so handy.

Weevils eat through paper bags and get into everything that is available once you have them. As above I'm sure ours came in dried pasta but got into other pasta, flour, rice and anything else they liked, horrible, had to throw out loads of stuff and thoroughly clean out all the cupboards. I've been pretty paranoid about them ever since.

Homepride! I have the same 5 year old box. It’s not allowed to be thrown out

I spent ages putting our dried goods into kilner jars only to find weevils inside a new kilner jar after decanting a new bag of flour into it. Maybe the jar kept them out of other things? Or maybe they just slip under seal and spread round the cupboard regardless?

Mine is in big Tupperware tubs.

Definitely not posh.

I have special BeRo branded reusable boxes which I decant my flour into. Not sure if they still sell them.

I don’t like decanting, as you have to use up the flour before putting the new flour in. I also think you need to wash the tub between uses, otherwise there’s always residue from older and older flours. Plus labelling - all flours look virtually identical. If I’m worried about a bag (yeah, they do tear and spill) I put the whole bag into a tub of similar proportions. I generally have one tub more than I need, so there’s usually a clean, dry tub ready for the new bag of flour. Lock n Lock do suitable tubs, but so do lots of other companies. Smaller flours, like specialist starches, all go, in their original bags, into one large plastic tub.

I have lots of different types of flours. Some last for years because I don’t use them very often. I have never had weevils. (🤞I don’t bring misfortune down on me now!)

Deleted as I panicked that everyone could see my details! But assume that was just because Amazon recognised me.

We bought Tala flour tins from amazon

sorrry, absolutely no idea how to do small links. We have these in our not so carefully curated pantry. But we had a rat issue so had to put everything out of reach.

Home pride tins even

https://homepridebaking.co.uk/collections/collectables

Dried pasta is dried at high temperatures so is way less likely than milled flour to have viable weevil eggs in.

It's really most likely to have been from the flour.

I've get the impression that the manufacturers expect you to get through a bag of flour in no time, so the bag doesn't need to be sturdy enough to last any longer than a week or two in your cupboard.

I don’t decant mine, I just shove it in to the pots in the (useless) paper bags, newest at the bottom.

I don't think I’ve washed them in ten years but, no weevils and not dead 🤷🏽‍♀️

edited - typo

@Tulipvase you only need to copy the first part of a link to make it short like this, stop after the numbers/letters, that way you don't end up with so much text. MN taught me this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Besto-Flour-Storage-Containers-Raising/dp/B0FF53C6M1

@Aparecium We have 2 containers so we can use the flour in order. We have lock and lock containers where one goes in front of the other in the cupboard and we put a water soluble sticker on the back with the expiry date. We don't have to wash the entire tub just run some water on the label and replace with a new one for dates.

@HolidayHappy123 Scissor packaging or anything in that sealed plastic stuff can be opened without scissors. I only learned this last year. Lots of videos now showing how to do it but essentially you squeeze the sides together and it pops the seams.

To stop weevils you can put the flour bag in the freezer for a bit but some people report it affects their cooking with it afterwards. We had an infestation hence the decanting into containers.

Thank you! I didn’t actually buy those ones, it was the Tala ones but pretty much the same.

Never decanted. Never yet had weevils. Never had ripped bags either. Do you all get bears to open the bags for you or something if you're ripping them so easily?

Weevils and flour mites! What country do you live in OP???

I too sit the entire bag inside a plastic tub which I think is technically a cereal decanter. I also have whole meal and gram flours inside old flour boxes which have a lid on the top.

I have glass jars either bought from charity shops or repurposed (had chickpeas etc in). Not for goddess-y display but because we get mice. And unopened flour I keep in a big lidded tin (£3 from Barnado’s)

The main issue I find is dh answering the door to the online shopping delivery. First thing he does is take the flour, put it on the surface but magically find the one spot that has water on it. Flour immediately ruined