How to eliminate moths from a kitchen pantry they keep returning help!

wash the entire pantry with white vinegar, discard any open food,keep open items in containers and place pantry moth traps in side by Safer

you have flour moths - they lay eggs in all kinds of pasta & cake mixes etc. - their sharp proboscises allow them to drill into packages - & then they hatch larva in food you WERE planning to eat - get traps at Williams Sonoma, freeze items that might be salvageable, & put each product into a heavy plastic container or better glass vaccum jar... throw out original boxes that might have eggs in them & tape JUST the instructions on outside of new container.

yes, yes, and yes - thank you P :-) . . . and check amazon or your local hardware store too for moth traps. Just be sure they are for grain/flour moths. I don't think they are necessarily the same as the ones that get in your clothes and there may be a different attractant.

You have pantry moths. Get ready for a boatload of work. I had them in the summer of 2015 and have ALWAYS used Bay leaves. Came in a bad batch of dog kibble. I had to throw away hundreds of dollars worth of food. Check out these links.

https://housewifehowtos.com/clean/get-rid-of-pantry-moths/

https://www.pantrymothtrap.com/get-rid-moths/

https://m.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Pantry-Moths

This stuff works great!

http://m.auntnormas.com/

I used vinegar and 409.

Since that time, anything I bring home gets placed in the freezer or placed into tightly sealed containers. So sorry this happened to you!

You likely have what I call weevils. I've found them in flour newly purchased. You will see them as little back spots sort of like pepper. They then go through a larva phase and become tiny brown moths. Throw away everything that is grain based like cereals, flour, rice, etc. I also found them in chili pepper and paprika! Take everything out of your pantry and clean thoroughly with vinegar or a bleach cleaner. Put newly purchased flour in the freezer or in tightly sealed canisters. Inspect everything! You might see small holes in the cardboard of unopened products like Bisquick or cereal. Throw it away....out of the house!

I look very carefully at these items before I purchase them. I once saw them in the larva stage in one of those self serve bulk food bins at the grocery!! I showed the manager and guess what? Those bins disappeared! Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion! Twice now I have thrown out so much food and cleaned everything with vinegar/dawn solution and Lysol disinfectant cleaner only for them to return! They do attack you! Sadly I didn't have all the information I needed to end this disgusting problem! The 3rd time I pray will be the last thanks to your help.

You will have to do the cleaning process.. out lined above and get rid of all of the larvae and eggs...... I have heard that some things like cat and dog food can be baked to kill the larvae and eggs but am not sure of the temperature or how long.

After the clean up is done.. I have seen traps for pantry in the pest control section of the grocery store..

One more thing that you can do...get a good quality vacuum sealer and vacuum seal all flours and sugars (place package in the vacuum bag and poke one or two holes in the top of the paper package (this helps control the amount of "dust" drawn into the machine by the vacuum function) You can also purchase the oxygen remover packs (available online) transfer all cereals, nuts, grains, etc. into large glass canisters or canning jars (I found half gallon ones by BALL at Walmart.com with free in store pickup) put 1 or more oxygen packs in the jars or canisters and seal tightly.

HINT FOR USING OXYGEN PACKS: I get all the stuff put in the jars or canisters BEFORE opening the package of oxygen removers..(the longer they are exposed to "air" the faster they use up their ability to absorb oxygen) that way the package is open only long enough to remove the number of packs I need and then the package is sealed up (I vacuum pack them) again to keep the rest viable. Pop in the packs and seal the containers. The oxygen removers.. absorb all of the oxygen in the jars...so eggs don't hatch and the larvae can't survive either.

Weevil eggs travel on paper, plastic and cardboard packaging... you can help eliminate the problem by giving packages a quick wipe down with a damp cloth that has been dipped in a very mild bleach and water mixture.. or use a spray bottle and give it a quick spray... VERY lightly... don't WET the package completely.

Oh dear Joy, sorry to hear that. We had an infestation of them last year. So frustrating and had to throw everything that wasn’t canned or in a sealed container out and completely clean and wipe every surface. We also bought sticky moth traps. Apparently, they have some kind of pheromone inside that attracts the moths and then they get stuck. We’ve also hung bay leaves in our pantry (my Mom’s advice) and that seems to work. They haven’t been back this year.