Eating food with live weevils in it can make you sick, so it’s important to do this initial cleanup right away. If you’re iffy about any food at all, it’s better to throw it out than to keep it around. Rest assured that if you’ve accidentally cooked with ingredients that contained weevils, your food is still safe to eat. While it might not be pleasant to take a bite with a cooked weevil in it, since they’re dead, they won’t make you sick.
Freezing will kill any bugs in your food, but it’s up to you to remove the dead bodies and eggs. Use a sieve or strainer to sift through your dried goods and remove any dead weevils.
Immediately empty the vacuum canister in your dumpster outside so the weevils don’t stay in your kitchen trash can.
If you’re not a fan of the smell of vinegar either, don’t worry—as soon as the vinegar dries, the smell will go away.
Cut out any cooking instructions from cardboard packages for foods and store them in an organizer in your kitchen.
If you do find flour bugs (or any other types of bugs) in your food, contact the store you bought it from. They’ll probably issue you a refund.
This is especially a good idea during the summer, when weevils are the most active.
Or, place the bay leaves directly into the food container. You can also use cloves, since weevils hate that smell, too.
Any trap that says “pantry pests” on it will work on weevils. These traps are great for small infestations, but may not work against larger ones. If you can’t get rid of the weevils or you spot more than a dozen crawling around your pantry, contact a pest control professional.
This is a good chance to wash down the pantry shelves again. Keeping a clean pantry will prevent flour weevils from coming back.
