Your kitchen is one of the most problematic areas of the home when it comes to pest problems.  The main reason for this is the obvious access to food.  Another, less obvious reason, is that many homes have kitchens located near an exterior door, which gives bugs a quick entry to this room.  It’s important that you practice good pest control habits in your pantry as pest problems in this room can extend to the rest of your home.

Everyone knows that keeping a house clean and picking up crumbs helps prevent pests.  However, keeping these critters out of your pantry and cabinets is a bit more intensive.  It’s a good idea to do a serious, deep clean of your kitchen about every 6 months.  This involves removing all the items from your cabinets and clearing away any hidden spills.  You may want to do the same in your pantry and vacuum the shelves and floor where items are usually sitting.  Because these areas get so full of items, most people only clean around the edges, leaving plenty of crumbs and dirt to entice pests.

Another good practice is to keep items such as flour, sugar, cereals, rice etc in sealed containers instead of the paper containers they usually come in. Most of these containers aren’t resealable and these are items that usually stay in your pantry for a significant period of time.  Grain and sugar products are a haven for pantry pests such as beetles, and it’s important that you seal off entry into these food items.

A final suggestion for keeping pests out of your pantry is pet-related.  Many homeowners that have indoor pets feed their animals in the kitchen.  If this applies to you, be sure that you put away any extra, uneaten food each morning and night.  Pet food left sitting out on the floor is no different than leaving a giant pile of crumbs.  Pests will love it.

Keeping your pantry pest free does require some extra attention and labor, but the pain of having pest infestation is considerably worse.  Pantry pests can quickly become a major problem and contaminate your food, with some even carrying harmful diseases or bacteria.