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

what happens to the flour when its out of date ? friend making yorkshire puddings and they didnt rise properly and the flour was out of date and wonder if this was the reason ?

Yes so cheaper overall... my point.

Pasta packets. I’ve never opened one that hasn’t split / ripped. Sometimes all the way down. Rippy little bastards.

No, better for the environment.

No I agree, I am saying that's why they don't do it, because plastic is cheaper.

I put the whole bag into a ziplock bag so any mess spills into the bag. I do agree OP, the packaging is utter sht

Just put it in a glass kilner jar.

Like others , I'm pretty sure the weevils came in from dried pasta. Everything lives in glass jars now, it was traumatic.

I always use the big kilner jars for the flour

Wow I’ve never seen weevils, is it obvious or have I just been unobservant?!!

Edited as I meant to say I’ve also never had a problem with the bags, agree they feel delicate but I handle them delicately and never had a rip…

This thread has opened my eyes to how many weevil cakes I must have made without realising.

DH is an avid baker. He decants flour into douwe Egbert coffee jars.

I just pop them in plastic freezer bag with a zip top

No it's not only you. I hate those bags too.

😰🤢

I have the tala tins bc they are so pretty but weevils, mites?!? Why was this never mentioned on bake off! I feel lied to...and nauseas

Flour here comes in 5 or 10 lb bags so I have to decant it really. I have airtight storage containers. Wholemeal goes in the freezer as it keeps longer that way. I know people who just use it from the bag, but as well as being likely to rip, the odds are it will make a mess.

even if you buy 50 lb bags they come in paper, though it’s thicker. Those I had to get pet food bins off Amazon for! (Back when I was baking so much that it was worth buying)

On the weevil front, I grew up overseas where weevils in bought flour was rife, we always sieved the flour to remove the weevils. But we did keep out flour in the freezer which killed the buggers and stopped eggs hatching.

I decant mine into glass jars. It also means I can keep my (one) tablespoon in it for measuring.

Hours supposed to decant.

Beastie eggs are already in flour, that's why it's advised to keep in the freezer to stop hatching.

Yeah but once bought the storage containers last years and years. Tbh the world has been irresponsible for decades over packaging everything in throwaway plastics and the like and it's a good thing of we are moving back towards a model of people buying minimally packaged stuff and storing it at home. It reduces packaging waste

Always bought and used flour my whole adult life, 27 years and never seen it as a problem. Quite glad not plastic tbh.
and no I’ve never put it in a jar!

Sounds like you were interrogating the weevils! 😀

The problem with decanting into jars and tins is that you must clean them very thoroughly so you get rid of old weevil eggs otherwise they'll mature and hatch.

Many people just buy more flour and top up their container, leaving tiny amounts of the old flour at the bottom.

Because let's be honest, thoroughly cleaning and then drying a tin is a lot of bother.

This is why I just buy small packs of flour and use them up quickly.

Yorkshire pudding packaging. Just why?

it’s rips and is very fragile. I’m sure manufacturers think that you eat 12 Yorkshire puddings in one go if you are an average family of four so the packaging doesn’t need to be decent but there’s only 3 of us and we only have 2 each! So they go back in the freezer with ripped packaging

We do the same - I believe it prevents weevils hatching (should they be present) and prolongs the life of the flour.