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

Thanks for this. I’ve just ordered two Homepride tins.

If only Tate & Lyle did the same for sugar!

Yep we got fed up like you OP and now decant flour into these great wide-mouthed canisters made by Airscape that have a plunger lid you push down to remove excess air during storage. They come in various sizes and are marketed as canisters for storing coffee beans but we use them for all sorts of other things too including flour, oats, bread crumbs, sugar, popcorn kernels, etc. Highly recommend

We decant ours into big kilner jars which are stored out in the garage

Yanbu.
I've lost some flour to rain this year. It doesn't take much rain trickling into a shopping bag on the way home to rip a flour bag.

Flour mites and weevils are common pests found in flour and other dried foods in the UK. Just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they aren’t crawling around in your flour.

I keep all my dry goods in cliplock containers. https://www.nisbets.co.uk/sistema-klip-it-plus-42ltr-cereal-container/ch244
One like this for flours

I once found weevils in my flour bag when I got it out to bake cookies with DS. A rare occasion. Flour had been in cupboard for months. He was so excited, bless him. So, I ignored the weevils and made the cookies anyway. 😬

It is of course crap but tbf all other packaging has caught up and is fucking crap now. Cream and hummus with no lids, bottles with those stupid cords that don't reseal properly because the thread is too small, mince that looks like something you'd find in a Crouch End drain ... you've got to invest in a whole tonne of secondary purchases just to be able to store food at home now.

Get yourself one of these bad boys 😊

I just decant into a slightly larger jar so you can put more in.
I've only had weevils once when my movers in the US packed the flour jar before I could tell them not to and the flour spent months travelling through the Panama canal.

And everyone giving OP storage recommendations are merely proving her point - you can't just buy food, you have to also buy containers to put it in once you get it home, because the packaging isn't fit for anything other than carrying it home on a non-rainy day, in a bag you have also previously purchased.

Freeze the flour when you buy it to prevent weevils hatching. Put the unopened bag in a freezer bag and seal. Place in the freezer for a couple of days or use it straight from the freezer. If you take it out decant into a plastic tub with a tight seal.

Get yourself one of these bad boys 😆

They're not actually harmful, they have extra protein. Like that insect flour you can get.

I mean, they gross me out and I chuck away flour or rice when I see them but they aren't harmful if they're cooked into food.

But yeah if baking is a rare occasion (it is for me too), then it's best to buy those tiny bags of flour and consider them single-use.

I think manufacturers are allowed a percentage of insects in their products, well certainly flour types.

I've always kept flour in the fridge. I can't remember who advised it but it's worked so far. No weevils

Because it’s breathable and stops the flour going mouldy.

You’re meant to decant it when you get home. Sugar and flour tins

This is exactly what I do every time now since having flour mites that got into absolutely everything in the cupboard 🤢 everything else is also safely sealed into its own storage container too!

That's weevils for you, lying bastards.

Most of the time the stupid bags have a hole in them before i even get them home (mostly from my finger nails, when trying to pack them). They must lose so much waste product in the manufacturing process too and in store. I was only having this conversation a couple of days ago. Why can't it be packed in plastic,like cereal in boxes?

I see your flour bags and raise you sugar bags both granulated and icing varieties.
It is impossible to open the buggers without spilling as some is always trapped in the folds before they are sealed.

Money honey.

Also paper is recyclable

I've only seen weevils in flour once when I lived in a Gulf state in the 80's. If they are crawling around in my flour like you suggest, then I guess its been added protein to anything I've cooked with them then. 😋