How often do you wash your kitchen storage canisters?

Probably every 1–2 times that I refill it. Some of mine are also Tupperware, and I know what you mean about them being hard to dry. I usually towel dry, then leave it sitting out for a day or two.

If larvae in your flour (or anything else – rice, cereal) are a concern, try wrapping the bag in plastic and freezing it for a couple of days before putting it into your canisters. That should kill any eggs before they hatch, and eliminate the problem before it starts.

I only use them for pasta. I rarely wash them. Oy. Maybe once every 3–4 months. Maybe longer. But, I’ve had flour in my cupboard at times for months kept in the bag it comes in, and a regular old plastic bag with a twist tie around it, and it’s fine. Pasta sometimes in it’s box for months if it’s not a pasta I use frequently. The box is much less airtight than most canisters.

Tupperware, real Tupperware, sales people use as part of their sales schtick bugs in the flour, and in the sticky part of the glue of boxes. If you had bugs you would have bugs! You would see them. I only once had a bug problem once in my pantry in pasta. The canister and a big blast if pest control fog got rid of the problem for good. I’ve lived in 14 different places I think? Just that one house for those few weeks.

I feel much better about the gallon glass jar I keep my sugar in, @dappled_leaves. Easier to clean and easier to see if there’s a problem. I might have to see about getting rid of the Tupperware.

It’s not all hype, @JLeslie. Indian meal moths, in particular, can be nearly impossible to get rid of. And they can chew through plastic. A lot of times in small groceries and feed stores you’ll see moths flying around all seasons. When I worked in a food factory I remember Indian meal moths and tobacco beetles causing panic and shutdown, in particular.

Yeah, I’ve had Indian meal moths (I think they hatched out of some rice I kept for too long), and they were a bloody nightmare to get rid of. They did get into everything by the time I noticed the problem – cereals, flour, even baking soda. Those little bastards can travel. I do actually freeze everything briefly before putting it into the pantry. I’m not willing to invest that time or money again.

I wasn’t saying it’s all hype, only that I noticed Tupperware was mentioned and I know they use a little bit of a scare tactic in their selling.

Smaller grocers selling local products from smaller mills maybe have more troubles with pests. I’m sure they can occur anywhere though.

Still, the OP is talking about cleaning the canisters, and if nothing has hatched in months and years, I don’t think they need to be cleaned every week.

I like the canisters that have a silicone grip to make it airtight with a snap down lid. I have some plastic ones, and some that are brushed nickel looking. Here is a picture of ceramic

@JLeslie Certainly, weekly cleanings would be overkill with regards to preventing infestation; I mainly do it to make sure that the contents are fresh. But yeah, I’d much rather consume anything living while it’s an egg, rather than when it’s a larva or adult, so I try to turn over the contents regularly, and not leave a base layer of old flour, for example. I don’t find it to be a particularly taxing kitchen task.

My infestation with Indian meal moths began with bird seed, @dappled_leaves. Wild bird seed I kept in the house too long during the winter. I started freezing that before I do anything else. I still keep Pantry Pest traps around the house and freak out a little bit if I see a weevil in something. Like roaches, I think they will eat nearly anything.

I’m sure Tupperware uses it as a bit of a scare tactic, @JLeslie. Effective if you’ve ever seen those bugs in action.

The problem with cleaning the canisters, for me, is that I usually need to dump a new bag to finish the recipe.

@dappled_leaves If it’s airtight it dies doesn’t it? If there is anything there.

@ibstubro We had a moth problem outside for a few months and it was crazy how many there were! If it had been in my house I would have been completely freaked. I can only imagine.

@ibstubro “If it’s airtight it dies doesn’t it? If there is anything there”

I wouldn’t count on it. There’s a lot of air for them in a canister of any size, and if you ever open the canister, you replace all of it. I mean, if you’ve never had a problem, I probably wouldn’t change your regime, especially if your canisters are all airtight. That will prevent the spread of any problem that does occur.

@dappled_leaves I didn’t think of air already in there. I never have that problem (except for the pasta that one time) so I’m going to just continue as I have been. I’m sure it’s better to be more vigilant.

I bought from Tupperware one of those can openers that are supposedly better, safer, less germy, etc, and I almost never use it. I don’t like it. It’s hard for me to figure out, and makes it very difficult to pour off the water the product is sitting in.

Not being able to press the dirty lid into the product to drain it is the anti-germy part.

Right.

I’m a little bit of a germaphobe, but my schtick is mostly catching colds, flu, or stomach illness. A can in your cupboard isn’t likely to make you sick. The last time I threw up was in college when I was 20. I’m 47. A can of green beans that sat in my pantry for three days or more? If there was cold virus germs on it from the clerk in the store, I already touched the can when I bought it, and after 72 hours the virus is likely “dead” anyway.

Sometimes I wash or wipe cans off before I open them.

Food is by in large packaged in a “clean” facility and then boxed for shipment.

When you eat a Krispy Kreme out of a box you touch the box to open it, and then you take the same hand and pick up the donut. I doubt you wash your hands inbetween.

I haven’t seen the Tupperware version, but I’m guessing it’s the kind that takes the whole lid off, cutting under the seem.
I loved those can openers but they tend to take a hair thin piece of the label off the top. If that gets into the opener, it stops and it’s the devil to get the opener off the can. I finally just went back to hand crank. I don’t open many cans, as it is.

@ibstubro Sorry, I think my response to you somehow got deleted… you say ” I think they will eat nearly anything.” and yes, I think they will at least try anything (I found the baking soda interesting). The larvae are the eating form, so they’re going out in search of anything and everything they can consume, and to find a good place to transform into moths. I once found a half dozen cocoons in a box of papers that was at the top of my pantry cupboard – this was a year after I thought I’d expunged them all. I have 10-foot ceilings; they must have just gone as high as they could and battened down the hatches. Have I mentioned I really hate these things?

The local bagel shop often has lots of moths flying around; I mean, how could a 100-year old bagel shop that is open for business 24 hours a day ever get rid of meal moths? That’s not going to happen. It’s unreasonable to expect that one would never bring moths home in the food one buys over a lifetime.

I share your hatred of meal moths, @dappled_leaves. I had a pretty decent infestation from wild bird seed.

I’ve mentioned this before, but when I worked in a food factory, one of the seasoning blending guys notices moths and call Quality. Turned out the dried green peppers were infected, and when they investigated, the moths were in the corrugated so bad that when they pulled back the first layer the moth larva were packed in there like a beehive. They shut down and fumigated the entire plant…days production lost.

This thread in intertwined with the ‘Bugs in my kitchen’ thread, in that the only other infestation that panicked into total shut-down was cigarette beetles.