About a year ago, I got home after a long day at work. I walked in hungry rushing to my pantry, trying to find something quick to snack on. When I opened my cupboards I was greeted by small brown flying insects flying out into my kitchen. I freaked out, wondering where they were coming from and if at anytime I had fed anything with this larvae to my child. I quickly went through my entire pantry and found out that about of third of my pantry items had been infested. The worst ones were all the seeds and nuts products I had in their original now opened bags. It hurt throwing half of my unorganized pantry away. I realized I had items in there that had been there for months without me even noticing!
More often than not, we talk about decluttering our closets, bathrooms, or storage spaces. We often forget that our pantry is one of the most important places in our home. I know my son often grabs a stool and opens the cupboard by himself to find a snack. Children are more curious than adults. They often grab things without noticing expiration dates or label warnings. I recently did a blog post on how I organized my laundry where I give more tips on how to keep a tidy and safe home ( Always remember to keep your Tide pods high, close in a secure location!).
The idea of my child reaching out for a moth infested box of snacks scared me. It has been months now since I’ve seen a moth but if I ever run into one of those little suckers, best believe I will be ready! Here are a few tips and tricks on how to keep your pantry tidy, clean and most importantly, safe.
Remove every single item of your pantry. Don’t leave anything behind!
Vacuum and disinfect every corner of your pantry
Strategically Place 1-2 Pantry moth traps around your food storage area
Store any opened (and unopened) dry food items in Air-tight sealed containers. (I prefer square ones, but if you have round one, those will do)
Label everything with stored dates with liquid chalk markers
Go through your entire house, and look for any other potential risks that could cause harm to your child. This video will help!
A few of the items mentioned on post:
