Cereal Boxes

[Stan]

With all the improvements and tachnology. it is hard to imagine they have not done something with the bag inside of a cereal box. Have it easy to oen.. easy to close..

[Jeannieb43]

[chuckle] I know what you mean!

But Stan, in this California climate we have problems with moths at certain times of the year. I know they're probably harmless little creatures, but when they take up residence inside the cereal boxes it makes me upset. I don't like to see their little bodies (same color and shape as some grains) floating in my milk when I'm eating breakfast. So I have to throw out the entire contents -- and waste that good cereal.

These moths are SO hard to eradicate. I've even talked to our pest-control service about it, and they don't have any special trick to keep them out.

So, I'm actually glad for the air-tight packaging. After I open it the first time I then transfer all the contents into a Tupperware container. But anytime I forget to do that, those little larvae sometimes hide inside the package, or elsewhere in the cereal cupboard, and come flying out all over everywhere the next time the door is opened.

[cricket]

Scissors work wonders on those bags. And "bag clips" are great too.

[carolaa]

I know. They put all manner of things in zipper-type bags. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to do. All it takes is one, and the others would follow.

[doctorj]

In Australia it depends on which cereal you buy as to whether you get easy to open zipper style bags, or hard to open sealed bags. The more expensive you go the more likely it will be you get the easy to open, and easy to store bags. Buy the cheaper cereals (like Corn Flakes) and you get the sealed hard to open bags.

[Amelia]

Quote:

These moths are SO hard to eradicate. I've even talked to our pest-control service about it, and they don't have any special trick to keep them out.

for a moment

That little moth is the Indian Meal Moth aka the pantry moth aka the grain moth. And like its name it can be found in flours, grains, cereals, pet food and rice. More than likely it was brought into the home from something purchased in the grocery store. I think many people would be surprised at all the pest control that goes on in grocery stores. I know where all the different kinds of traps are hidden the the stores.LOL Wouldn't it just gross you out to know that mere inches away from the shopper could be a trap with a dead mouse in it? Kinda put you off eating for a bit. Yeahhhhhh anyway, the best that can be done about this moth is to find and remove the infestation. Then store all moth friendly foods in air tight containers. Boxes don't stop this guy. The worm stage will chew through boxes and bags to get to the food. Those worms can also travel really fast. They get into the strangest places to cast their cocoon. I have found them in my linen closet no less. But they dont eat or chew cloth at all. I've been told that freezing products before using will interrupt the life cycle. But I have frozen my bird seed, only to take it out to use (and I store it in a rubbermaid container in my fridge) only to have the buggers come back to life. So I don't know how cold a freeze it takes to kill them. Anyway, I check all my food and pantry all the time and I rely on pheromone traps to help. And they really help.

[cricket]

I'll go down that off tangent slope a bit too: the grocer's warehouse I used to do inventory for was "ew" like that. Puts one off of the whole eating process entirely!

[Stan]

Jeannie

Many in the 'mission field' put their opened cereal in their fridge.

It was most interesting to watch my eldest daughter, the Princess Alisha, do that, after she spend a year overseas as a missionary.