And very good idea about the peppermint! I should use some and plant some.

I made a major investment in OXO products. I keep all dog food and treats sealed, and all vulnerable products sealed, such as flour, cereal, oatmeal, tea, pasta. This is a year later, and it has worked well. I started off by essentially getting rid of everything in my pantry that wasn’t canned, spraying heavily with vinegar, using the system of putting vulnerable products in the freezer and then moving them to sealed containers in the pantry.

I am told and believe that often we bring larvae home from the grocery store. Now and then I see a moth flying around, which is probably normal, but the infestation has not returned. If anyone has had an infestation, you know you never want that to happen again.

I do not work for OXO and knew nothing about their products before I had to. I am sure there are other equally good products, but I am a believer in their sealed containers.

And as Callie mentioned, it is nice to see what you have. My kitchen/pantry I am sure is not as pretty as hers, but it is very nice having the transparency. OXO’s lid system is for me a great plus.

I also regularly use a spray of peppermint oil (a few drops of peppermint oil in a spray quart bottle). I also have a peppermint plant and now and then put leaves in the pantry. Smells good and apparently the moths hate it. I also put cedar chips in my closets. Good and inexpensive prevention.

So far from a major infestation a year ago to now, I am moth free.

Ted

I fit all dry goods I could in the freezer and froze them for 1 week. Meanwhile I put all I could fit in the fridge (since the fridge keeps any eggs from hatching) and after 1 week rotated the fridge dry goods with freezer dry goods. I threw out whatever didn’t fit in the fridge or freezer, but by freezing I greatly reduced the amount I had to throw away.

After taking care of allll dry goods (anything not sealed in glass), I washed down the kitchen, including cupboards, and sprinkled cupboards with bay leaves (which apparently they don’t like). It’s important to check all crevices that you can – the floor by baseboards, behind the stove/fridge, inside the toaster. We have little hinge covers in the cupboards and I removed those and found two adults hiding inside. Washed those to get rid of eggs/larvae. We have cats, so I also moved their dry food to sealed containers (OXO brand).

After freezing dry goods, I’m putting them back into cupboards in hermetically sealed glass jars – they’re not too expensive from The Container Store online (I googled for a coupon/free shipping). Currently, no food is allowed outside the fridge in our house unless it’s in a sealed glass container.

We also got one pheremone trap and put it above the fridge, since moths like to fly up and toward walls before laying eggs. One trap per room is a good limit, because if there are more traps, the moth can’t clearly smell where to fly to find it.

Next, every day we keep our eyes peeled to find all adult moths in the house and kill them. We killed 2-3 per day for the first week or so. I think this is because we have a small crack behind our cupboards where they can pupate (no food back there though, so temporary problem).

So now in just a few weeks, we rarely see a moth. When we do, it is tiny (good sign – tiny size means the larvae couldn’t find much food) and we kill it. I think we’re about over the infestation.

One thing remaining though – I feel like I now see them on the back porch near our outdoor light at night. Can pantry moths survive outdoors? Not sure, but going to systematically kill them and look for anywhere outside they could be breeding, in case they come back indoors.

The upside is that with all the pretty glass jars for dry foods (and even spices – can’t be too careful!) our kitchen looks really pretty, like pottery barn or something! The Container Store’s great prices on glass jars really helped give me peace of mind, so that our fridge is not packed full but the moths won’t get any food. Mwahaaha.

But, here I am, talking about this because the moths are back- I guess they were never 100% gone. We have used the Safer brand traps, and they do work, but only on trapping males, as many people have noted. The hard plastic containers were a total waste of $. They looked nice because the pantry is now so organized. But, now I’m investing in glass snap lid containers with rubber rings. I do put all flour in the freezer for at least a week. But, what difference does that make if it goes, afterwards, into a pantry where the moths live. These moths seem really attracted to (in our house) the flour and the nuts. I will be ordering the cupboard moth traps that are recommended on this website. From now on the flour products will live permanently in the spare freezer, or I might invest in another fridge to store them there. Not sure what to do about the nuts. Those salvaged are now in the glass snap lid containers. Has anyone seen a case where the larvae/moths got inside those containers? Good luck to everyone in this war.. Stay strong..