Dear Reader Column 11-17-04

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Dear Reader,

A sale isn't really a sale in Florida if the "Buy-one-get-one-free" is for flour or cereal. Not unless you're going to use a lot of it soon--real soon. I never had this pantry pest problem when I lived in Wisconsin, but if wheat products sit around in Florida for too long--even if they're in a Ziplock bag or a plastic container sealed tightly with a lid--little itty, bitty, black bugs hitchhike their way in and set up housekeeping.

Bran flakes with raisins seem to be one of their favorites--at least at my house. (I suppose even bugs have heard about the benefits of eating bran and staying "regular.")

Bran flakes is a staple in my husband's diet, too. He eats at least four bowls every day, and he doesn't like the idea of sharing them with insects--so we only buy small quantities. It had been months since I'd seen a flour weevil, but guess who showed up the other day when I was mixing up my muffin recipe?

I measured the sugar, eggs, cinnamon, flour, buttermilk and then stirred in the rest of the ingredients--including the bran flake cereal. A couple of final swirls with the spoon, and then I saw it--a bug--scurrying along the counter beside my mixing bowl. Oh no!
There was another one, and another one, and when I looked down to survey the situation, there were bugs crawling up out of my muffin batter. Gross!

The bugs were frantic--running for their lives. It was a flour weevil 911 alert! The black critters were panicked, desperately trying to scale the inside wall of my mixing bowl, stopping periodically to shake the muffin batter off of their legs. (That buttermilk is sticky stuff.)

The batter was like quicksand, but the weevils were organizing, linking their little legs like a chain to safety from deep in the middle of the bowl. Some of them had even broken out the emergency landing equipment, their nose plugs and swim caps keeping them dry, while they backstroked to safety. Surely I was in the middle of a horror novel.

Obviously I had to throw the batter out, but I must admit that for a split second a couple of options ran through my frazzled mind: They're going to get baked at 350 degrees, so couldn't I just consider them protein? And don't people regularly eat things like this on reality television shows?

But I quickly came back to the real world, tossed the batter and the bowl--by now it had too many memories--and headed for the grocery store.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.DearReader.com

Comments

[Gwynn]

Suzanne, get yourself some Bay Leaves and put 3 or 6 in your flour and cereal and you will find the critters moving to another neighborhood very quickly. Hope this helps.
Your new reading buddy,
Gwynn Findlay (from Lakeland, Florida)

[Ann Blake]

Suzanne, Try keeping your flour in the refrigerator & bay leaves in your cabinets. No bugs!

[pat meder]

Today little tale about bugs made me laugh
I work for kelloggs cereal and how could
those bug have the nerve to go into our cereal. But you made me smilt.

[betty]

Hi, i had to email you. that was so funny. I was taught to keep flour in the frige Aany way I take care of a 92 year old lady. And she called me a few weeks back She had open a new bag of flour and it was full of bugs. Anyway,So i know how bad they can get. In her case the flour was 2 years old. She had it in her pantry.

[Lisa]

Hi,
I'm subject to these bugs also,I live in Fl and just threw out all my food just before Christmas and they are back again!! I also noticed that the mullers pasta always seems to have the bugs so I don't buy that anymore.I will try the bay leaves but does anyone know where these bugs come from??I would like to get to the root of the problem.
Thanks in advance for any info Lisa

[amy]

hi i have nottivced i had some flour in my cubard and the where flour wevils all in my cubards i know they have come from the flour i washed my cubards with pure bleach next day i looked there where a couple crawling i went to the pet shop and bought some spray to treat them which i did last night i hope they have gone and they dont come back

[Kurt B.]

I heard and have tried putting Wrigleys gum in the cupboard (stick unwrapped) but I don't remember if it was the Spearmint or Doublemint and as long as you change it periodically it kept the weevils out of the mac & cheese, pasto roni, hamburger helper boxes.

[Arlene]

I am cleaning the little buggers out for the second time in six months. I've identified my problem - keeping dry mixes and cereal around too long. My husband had a hankering for some Instant Farina last winter but never opened it. This summer I was trying to track down the source of these tiny bugs and found the box of Farina in the pantry still sealed but the side of the box riddled with tiny holes. Those bugs had chewed their way through the interior pouch and out the side of the box! I think what I have now are those escapees. Yuck!
Missouri Mom

[Maureen]

I live in Fla also and have just thrown out most of my food in the pantry because of flour weevils. I had bay leaves throughout the pantry but they did not seem to work. I imagine i brought them ( the weevils) in from the grocery store in something or other, but don't know what. I will have to check EVERYTHING as i buy it from now on. I will try storing dry goods in lock and lock containers since nothing leaks out of them so the weevils should not be able to get in. I HOPE!!

[kim]

Today I find out that I have been happily co-existing with Weevils for some time now and just never knew. I am a vegan and keep very little flour about. My weevils like the flours! So funny the stories of so many just learning to eat around them, strain and drain them for OTHERS to eat!!! So glad it was the Orkin person that found the tiny overgrown bag of long-forgotten white flour, I would have freaked. All the wholes, oh my it was almost wiggling. The Orkin man actually helping me clean out my kitchen cabinet in a few moments, left non toxic traps about to caputure the run aways and he will be back in a few weeks to see how things are! In the meantime what a few zillion overweight harmless weevils going to hurt. Oh almost forgot, so laughing because I am from the South, living in So Cal and the thing that made me go ouch was losing my grits!!! So still all "champange problems" for me...

[Dorie Furman]

Your story made me think back to something I had purposely forgotten that happened long ago. My late husband was always the one I deferred to if a bug got in my house. I hated bugs. I have never liked anything that had more legs than me. However, one day I awoke to find a single file parade of those weevils marching through my house. The only thing missing was the music. I traced the origin to a large bag of dog food in the closet, but by that time they had taken over my house and I was frantic. I called the exterminator. I had to pack up everything in the house-all the dishes, clothes, everything. The bugman came out armed with his killing machine, and suddenly my cat bolted. I had intended to take her and go stay with my parents until after the job was done, but my cat had other ideas. She ran to the basement and hid in the rafters. She didn't come out until midnight, so the bugman had to come back the next day. To add to the fun, he was drunk, but managed to get the job done. Maybe it's too hard to do if you're sober. Well, the cat and I returned to a bug-free house, the bugman got fired and that was the end of the nightmare, except, of course, that I threw out all the food. I was so panicked, I had even thrown all the canned food away, which thinking back, had to be a symptom of utter hysteria. Since that time, I keep almost all dry food in the freezer. If there are bugs in the flour, they are forever frozen and I can't see them, and that is the end of my story!

[Barbara Stodden]

Truth be known,the eggs of those weevils are in the flour when you buy it. If not refrigerated, they will hatch out. Keeping the flour in the freezer or fridge until you need it keeps them from hatching. We even have that problem in Minnesota if we keep flour or mixes too long at room temperature, especially in the summertime.

[R.Jayashree]

Weevils story is an universal experience but reading through it made me laugh and laugh.
They love the darkness and the humidity inside the flour and multiply rapidly. Only when we loosen the flour they are forced to find their way out to safety!!in not getting into the dish if blessed.
I am amazed at their survival instincts when you see them crawl about with such a speed..Result of Natural Selection perhaps.
I enjoyed reading and the thought process thereafter.
Thanks
Jayashree

[patty]

Ok someone as got to help me,, and this isn't funny! haha,,I found these weevils in the kitchen, and on the bathroom floor,,and they are on the window sill,,I did find alot of them in my box of lasanga noodles and then threw everything out. What i need to know is why would they be on the floor way in the back of the kitchen? I live in a 2 bedroom condo in fl, and the back bathroom is very far away from any food. So how in the world are they all over the house? I keep seeing them,not as much as before i got rid of the pasta but, still they are around. I hope these are just runaway weevils. Or can they be coming in the windows> because i have had the ac off for the last 2 wks. Can anyone tell me why they are in all my rooms and how the hell do i get rid of them? Please i need a real answer,,,Thank you patty