Got bugs? How to keep your pantry bug-free. Pro organizer storage tips on how to keep your kitchen and food organized and safe from pests.

As I have mentioned before, I live in Florida. We have LOTS of bugs in Florida. And they love our homes, especially all the food in our pantries. So, here is how to keep your pantry bug-free.

I’m a professional organizer. I love to cook and my kitchen is very organized. I love it!

But, here is my deep, dark secret…

For a while, I had a terrible time with little beetles that would get into my pasta boxes.  Not only was I grossed out, but I was completely mortified!

My kitchen was clean. I didn’t have spilled rice or pasta anywhere. But I would find those beetles on the shelves and even in UNOPENED boxes of pasta and I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from!

 It was so frustrating to open a box for the first time and see those guys in there, munching away. Ugh! Being a good retired librarian, I researched them in our Florida state extension office’s articles and discovered they are flour beetles and very common (everywhere – not just in Florida).

Here is what they look like (but not this big, thankfully!):

We’ve also found moths in our bags of flour and birdseed. These are grain moths. (They are smaller than this picture, too.)

To keep your pantry bug-free, you need to be a detective and be ruthless.

That means, when you find ONE bug or moth, you must take EVERYTHING out of your pantry.  I opened every box of pasta, instant potatoes, rice, and baking mixes.  Because if they are in one box, chances are they are already in other boxes, too!

In some of the boxes, it was easy to spot the bugs.  In others, like flour, cake mixes, brown rice, and oatmeal, they blended in.  Gross, I know.  

So, my hubby and I dumped those out one at a time into large glass mixing bowls.  It made it much easier to see all of the contents and spot any bugs.

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My secret weapons to keep your pantry bug-free?

So, after we got rid of all the ruined boxes and bags, I was determined to keep my pantry pest-free! And after much research, I discovered that the best way to keep the pests out is to store items in containers they can’t get into. Duh, right?

That means investing in glass and plastic jars, storage boxes with tight-fitting lids, and sealable bags. I know what you’re thinking, but, honestly, this doesn’t have to be expensive!

My biggest pro organizer tip is to always use clear containers for storage. It makes it so much easier to see exactly what you have in your pantry, saving you time in searching for things and also money because you aren’t buying duplicates of what you already have.

Check out local garage sales, thrift stores, and even dollar stores for good glass jars with screw-on lids or good quality plastic containers, like Rubbermaid, Sterilite, or Tupperware.

If you have small kids and are concerned about glass jars getting broken, use only plastic instead. If you currently have containers that are opaque (like many Tupperware containers), at least make sure they have labels. Check out the printable labels I have in my store right here.

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1. Zip-loc bags.

I threw away all the boxes that were buggy, and put the contents of each remaining box in a Zip-loc bag. Then I put the bag right back in the box, so I would still have the cooking directions and nutrition info.  I store my bag of white rice and bag of brown rice in large sealed Zip-loc bags.  Here’s a link to a multi-pack of Zip-loc bags on Amazon.

Here are some examples from my pantry:

and

2. Plastic or glass containers with tight-fitting lids.

Get some clear plastic cereal containers.

We store our bagged cereal in cereal containers now.  This not only keeps the bugs out, but it makes it much easier to pour and keeps the cereal from getting stale.  We find that those large bags of cereal always seem to have terrible zip-top closures, especially for kids to do.

And there is nothing worse than stale cereal – yuck! (Well, maybe stale cereal with bugs in it…but this solves both of those problems!)

Pick up some plastic canisters with screw-on lids or glass jars with tight-fitting lids.

We even store our fruit chews and granola bars in plastic canisters. Because, let’s face it, all kinds of pests like grains and sweets.

I don’t use glass jars myself. I have tile kitchen floors and broken glass is a nightmare to get out of the grout lines. But here are some glass jars that I really like on Amazon.

3. Finally, get a large plastic storage tub.

I have a large Sterilite container that sits on the floor of my pantry.  I keep a lot of my boxes of pasta and baking mixes in this bin.  It has a tight-fitting lid and keeps everything fresh as well as keeping the bugs out, and that way I don’t have to bag EVERY box that is in my pantry.

4. Don’t forget your animals’ food.

We usually get a 20 lb. bag of bird seed, and I do the same with it.  I pour the seed into gallon-size Zip-loc bags and store those on my porch.  They stay bug-free, and it is a whole lot easier to fill the bird feeder from a gallon-size bag than it is from a 20 lb. bag!

We store our cat food and dog food in large sealable canisters, too.  Again, it keeps it fresher longer, and bug-free. And, since we buy BIG bags of cat and dog food, it really does make it easier to pour or scoop it into their bowls from a smaller container.

As I mentioned earlier, we also had a problem with the moths in the birdseed bag on our porch.  Here is how we keep critters out of it now.  You may recognize the technique… 😉

So does storing food this way seem like a lot of work to you?

Well, it kind of is, but not really.

It just becomes a habit to pour that cereal into its own container or store the pasta boxes in the plastic tub.  But, it is worth the small amount of time it takes when unloading groceries to do this.  Because when we were invaded, I had to throw out A LOT of food from my pantry, both opened and unopened. It took a lot of time and we wasted a lot of money throwing so much out!

I am happy to say we have had a bug-free pantry for years now. Once you have purchased enough Zip-loc bags and plastic canisters (which are very cheap at places like Wal-Mart or Amazon) they can be easily reused to store the same type of item.  

This is also a great way to help with food allergies.

I use a black Sharpie to write what I use that container or bag for so I don’t mix them up. It’s a great way to prevent cross-contamination of foods if you have someone in your home with food allergies. So once your bag of rice is empty, you just pour the new box in the same Zip-loc bag, for example, and it’s ready to go. Very simple.

You might also find this recent post I did on how to keep your pantry organized and keep it that way helpful, too.

So, if you have found some uninvited pests in your pantry, I hope you, too, try these ways keep your pantry bug-free! It worked for us!

Do you have other ways to keep pests out of your food?  What kind of bugs do you have in your neck of the woods?

Good luck!

~ Pam