Storing Pasta on the cheap?

[Bettacreek]

I'm hoping to get down and buy some bulk organic whole grain pasta, but we've had issues with buggies in the pasta in the pantry. :/ I'm wondering if I can get away with storing some pasta in a 5g bucket in the basement with a regular lid? Would it get buggy? I don't really need to store it long-term, just a month or two. What are some other options to store it on the cheap?

 

[freemotion]

Hmmm, you might treat it like whole grains and put it in the freezer for a few days to kill any hitchhiking bug eggs that might already be on your bags of pasta. That way you don't seal up the bugs with the pasta, bugs that aren't hatched yet.

 

[i_am2bz]

I have a fair amount of pasta in my LT storage, & hadn't considered bugs...:/

 

[ORChick]

I have quite a bit of pasta, either in gallon glass jars, or tins (like the popcorn tins that you find at Christmas). I would think that a 5 gallon bucket would work well.

 

[mandieg4]

I have pasta in gallon freezer bags that I store in a clear plastic tote with a tight fitting lid. I never thought about bugs though, it hasn't been a problem so far.

 

[FarmerJamie]

I have pasta in gallon freezer bags that I store in a clear plastic tote with a tight fitting lid. I never thought about bugs though, it hasn't been a problem so far.

Love that avatar. Calvin is one of my all-time favorites!

 

[LovinLife]

I don't know if this helps but, I had a bag of white millet that got bugs in it and I poured it in a small bucket with a tight fitting lid. The bugs went away and I didn't have any more bugs. I'm sure the bugs died in the seed but oh well i'm sure the guineas won't mind. Anyhow, I'm sure the bucket will keep bugs out as long as the lid fits nice and tight.

 

[SKR8PN]

We freeze our pasta, then when we put in the 5 gallon buckets,we add oxygen absorbers to it to finish off any bugs the freeze didn't kill. Same thing for flour and rice.

 

[patandchickens]

You need to freeze things for a coupla weeks in a chest freezer (0 F) not fridge freezer, if you want to be fairly SURE you've killed all buggies.

But if you do that then store them in an airtight (or at least moth-tight) container, it pretty much solves the problem.

It is also worth considering doing a "pantry purge" of ALL moth-infestable goods -- run them through the freezer, if you lived up here this time of year you could just put them outside in a raccoon-proof mouseproof container for a few weeks -- and then converting all your storage of moth-infestable goods to airtight containers. This means flours, cornmeal, other grains and grain products, pasta, cookies, petfood. You can get containers at thrift stores and garage sales.

I used to have periodic pantry moth infestations til I finally got annoyed and did the above, and now it has been some years since I last had pantry moths (or mouse-damaged food either!)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat