Properly storing up your Pasta

Here we go folks with another day of useful prepping for potential emergencies. Let’s take a moment and talk about bugs. Have you ever poured pasta into a pot of boiling water and noticed the abundance of tiny bugs floating atop the liquid? Have you ever stored up on pasta for any length of time and suddenly discovered that your product has frequently developed some unwanted guests? When this happens to you are you inquisitive as to where these little creatures come from and how you can effectively deal with them? This unnecessary waste of supplies can be avoided with a little bit of preparations beforehand.

During times of depression when food resources and available money was scarce families would often cook up the contaminated pasta and merely scoop out the floating bugs as they made their way to the surface. Granted, technically you could eat some of these tiny creatures without adverse effects but most American’s would frown upon the practice.

Grains are usually stored in farm silos and are apt to develop bug larvae infestations inside the final product. As the eggs from the bugs hatch we quickly discover that these types of bugs appear in just about anything from bags of rice, potato sacks, boxes of cake mix, even macaroni and cheese packages.

My wife and I had previously experienced the same problems and in order to combat these tiny creatures we initiated a procedure where all incoming pasta related products where subjected to the freezer for a period of twenty-four hours. Since the eggs are already present within our store bought pasta we needed to put an end to their life. This process will quickly halt the vermin’s life cycle. Don’t let anyone convince you that the bugs got into your pasta after you brought them home as they didn’t. They were in it when you purchase the packages. The fresh pasta never reveals any of the hidden creatures however as it begins to age and gets older the bug larvae is sufficiently incubated and the eggs start to hatch. It has been discovered that the eggs are in the product from the time the grains are harvested and merely waiting for the proper conditions to continue their life cycle.

Since we like to store up for the long term, my wife takes the pasta from the freezer after the twenty-four hour period and lets it dry out so it is not moist and than places it into quart or gallon jars. Along with the pasta she will deposit a bay leaf and an oxygen absorber. I have heard of some people using spearmint gum in the jar with the pasta however I do not suggest this unless you are fond of spearmint flavored pasta. By using the bay leaf there is no flavor imparted to your pasta products.

Pasta and related products should last a minimum of two to three years and perhaps even longer when stored in this manner.