Weevils! How to get rid for good?

[Flopsy145]

I've just had a huge clear out of my pantry cupboard and found a load of weevils which has grossed Me out. I've been lax with properly sealing oats and flour and now have storage containers that I'll move things into. But is that going to be enough? I've thoroughly disinfected every shelf and will be binning open things/wiping down sealed things going back in cupboard .

I freeze new bags of flour/ grains for about 48hrs, as freezing will kill any microscopic eggs, or worse, live insects.

The storage containers will then help prevent any live insects from transferring to other products in your pantry, if you haven't frozen them first.

I like transparent containers, so that you can see the contents.

I've only had a couple of infestations, one from bread mix, and one from flour, but none since I started freezing it first.

Weevils can get into sealed packets, so I'd check everything carefully before returning to the cupboard.

We also used to freeze flour (not in uk) which helped a lot. So if you've got flour you think is ok, freeze it for a day or 2 before returning to the cupboard.

I also now freeze for 48 hours since I too fell foul to the dreaded weevils, not had a problem since.

You will probably have to throw out a lot more then you thought, my baking cupboard was near on empty when I did the purge

Thank you all, will make sure to freeze from now on! Is it just flour or will I have to do this with oats as well, or sugar?
I ended up throwing out 95% stuff as was just in a declutter mood anyway, so far nothing has returned and everything open is in clear containers now 😀

I personally have never frozen oats, but usually freeze flour (including bread mix) and rice. If your oats got infested, I'll bear this in mind and add to my list! I've never considered sugar though, as I think it unlikely that it would harbour pests.

Now that you've cleaned and contained everything, if you do get the pests, they won't be able to spread easily.

The trickier ones for me were tiny little mites/ fleas that were in my flour. They were so small that it took me a while to notice them.

@hedgehoglurker I read online that oats can harbour them and although it didn't mention sugar, my sugar did get invested though but I don't think they come in the sugar, just made their way there in the cupboard!