A while ago on the cooking forum we talked about bugs in food and how food stored for a long time can hatch things.

Was there any way discovered to keep them out of other things?

Does using something like a seal a meal keep them in the package?

This is one reason we keep mostly canned goods for emergencies.

What about seal a meal then a glass jar?

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I have never had a bug problem with my food but I'm not in an area with a lot of bugs. I do know that bugs need air so I use a foodsaver on non can goods to get out the air. You can buy cannisters for them as well as bags. I haven't used a seal a meal so I don't know.

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I know you can put a stick of wrigleys spearmint gun in your flour and it will keep away those little bugs that you can get in the summer. HTH

I put my flour in the freezer,it kills any bugs or eggs in the flour. I know that sounds gross, but, I had heard this is usually microscopic bugs/eggs in your flour.

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Eweeeee! What else should I be putting on my "do not buy list"? Any other foods that harbor eggs that hatch?

just about any grain! well just about anything you eat that is processed at all! go to this fda link scroll down abit and see a sampling of whats allowed in out food
US FDA/CFSAN Defect Action Level Handbook

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Thanks for posting that link.Don't think I'll be eating again,lol. No wonder I have IBS.

LOL, oh dollydeal it's nearly impossible to not buy any food that has bug potential unless you are going to live on nothing but canned food.

"Normal people" who don't even buy things to store ahead can buy something and get a bug!
It's not a reflection on a person's cleanliness either.

Freezeing, refridgerateing, sealing, Bay Leaves and watching "use by' dates are all ways of being deligent in bug prevention.

Weevils deposit eggs on the growing gain in the fields.. the grain continues to grow so basically the egg is embedded in it when we buy it. Preservatives are added to many pre-packaged foods to help prevent egg hatching and protect us. Things like cake mix, biscut mix and cookie mix. Many uncooked grain products are packaged in packageing that was treated with such preservatives. The "use by date" on such packageing often means thats when the preservative stops being effective.
Even Knats can be born in packages of dried fruits.
So it really helps if you pay high attention to those dates.

Rice seems to be the thing that has weevils hatch most often.
Freeze rice for 72 hours as soon as you get it home to kill the eggs.
Rice has the same weevils that hatch in Flour or other grain products.

Weelvils don't like the smell of Bay Leaves so many people sprinkly loose Bay leaves around on food storage shelves to keep weevils from wanting to travel from whatever package they came in to another.

Indian Meal Moths hatch in dry pet food or ANY food where thier eggs have been laid.
Once one gets in.. the egg hatches, a larva is born..it travels and spins a web.. turns into a moth.. finds some food to lay an egg on..
They especially love dry pet food..and chocolate ( yes, even chocolate candy like M & M's).

So, no, you can't really make a "Don't buy it cuz it might get bug eggs list"
BUT you can be deligent and never buy anything when it's "use by" date is expireing.
As well as developing the habits of Freezeing, refridgerateing, sealing, & useing Bay Leaves.

I store some rice...what I've been told to do is stick the rice in the freezer for about a week...After that I have a 5 gallon pail with a screw top lid and I put the rice in that... I haven't had a bug problem with any of the rice.... what I store is for emergancy and reg use...I have 3~5 gallon pails with rice each pail holds 40 lbs of rice...what I do is I use one and take from and rotate and replace....

Also store lentils because I hear that they NEVER loose nutritional value...the colors will fade over the years but its always good...(AND I LOVE them!!!) I used to try and stock up real food, but the kids and I just dont eat that much that a ton would go to waste....so Rice and beans became my "emergency prep foods" along with seeds for sprouting and gardening (which I use and rotate, toss out if needed) I guess anything with long storage life is what I use as preps....They are also CHEAP.... anyone could afford lots of rice and beans!!

Most stuff is prepackaged in a warehouses, Even if you don't have a bug in your food, your food has probably come across a bug or two before it got to you!!

My friend went to her new neighbors house to eat dinner and they like to grow their own veggies. Since we live in subdivisions she thought that was sorta a novel idea and went to see how much fresher everything was going to tastee. So, they started eating the first course (salad) and a big ole' fat green inch worm starts scooting from her plate onto the table. She didn't eat anything for the rest of the evening it made her so sick!!! At least she knew it was fresh!

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I always freeze my bags of flour, sugar, rice any of that type thing before storing it. I haven't had any problems.

I've had that happen before too when I was a teen at a friends house. I couldn't eat salad for months after that LOL

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