Oddly enough, rice is one of the few things in our cupboards that doesn't seem to get moth-affected. Mostly it's old flour (premixed bread mixes in particular), pasta, wraps (bread), cereals and suchlike that get infested. Rice isn't completely resealed - we always use basmati, bought two or three kilos at a time from Lidl or Aldi, or sometimes budget French supermarket brands, in plastic bags with a sticky tab to close them, but they're nowhere near bug-proof, so I'm surprised to see people here having this problem.

Yes, sealed plastic bags don't always keep them out, but age is the most common factor in this - as we often spend weeks or even, in Covid times, months without visiting one house or another it's easy to keep things long past their sell-by, and in most cases it's not a problem, but returning to the house after being away for a while always needs a thorough going-through of the cupboards to throw out anything showing signs of infestation, most obviously the thin threads that the larva make on the edges of their chosen meal.

You get them with the food you buy.
I often find them dead, in glass containers, where I forget some grains, polenta, chocolate or similar. They hatched there, and they die there, unable to ever break free and spoil more food.

Rice and beans are the least problematic. In bio food there is bigger chance to get them, I guessed as it is less "treated".
Anyway, the only solution is too eat things soon, in this way you eat the eggs and not the larvae or those flying beast.
Do not forget, there is no such things as 100% vegan

After reading this thread and attempting to buy a large air tight container to store rice, my Malaysian wife walked by and asked what I was up to.

I showed her pictures of the Indian Meal moth, and she went, "Oh we had those all the time in our rice bucket growing up. We wash the rice anyway. If anything we get extra protein."

So there's that approach I suppose.

Stabio near the Gaggiolo border.

Tom

It's not about sealing the bag tight, its about vacuum sealing the bag.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30wdzcyOqwM


This removed most of the ail, and then heat-seals the bag.



If I'm bagging for long term storage (>1 year), I will throw in an oxygen absorber as well, and use mylar bags.


My family has been doing this since I was a kid, we lived in countries were ALL rice was imported from another continent, so we would get it in 50kg bags and re portion it.



Never found a moth so far...

Why not store them in the cellar?

The cellar is perfect, unless yours is above 25C, as they only grow above 25C.

Tom

Good one.

Reminds me of the old joke:

"When you're eating an apple, what's worse than finding a worm in it?

Finding half a worm."

denner and otto's carry 5-8 kg bags.

What I've always found strange is that in many cases the larger packs of rice and other things are actually more expensive per kilo than the smaller ones.

So it may be more convenient to buy in quantity, but check very carefully to ensure that you're not paying over the odds for the privilege. And of course the rice quality itself may vary, although with the cheapest Basmati we get from Lidl or Aldi we've never found it to be an issue.

Edit: Although TBH the current Ottos offer of 10kg Thai Perfumed rice for 16.95 does seem pretty good value. Even the normal price of 24.95 isn't too bad, for CH. And Denner seem to be pretty good too, with an Action at 9.95 for 5kg of Basmati

Big sacks probably bring significantly less sales volume these days.

OP, you may be interested in Otto's Rampenverkauf (RV) if you don't order them online. The way I know RV to be handled is, you back up your car close to the delivery ramp and get handed the (bigger) packages (cartons of wine, 6x1.5lt beverages, etc) to load them directly into your trunk. Optionally, customers can place their order by phone to be picked up later at an agreed time, which speeds up the process even more. But that varies by shop, you may want to enquire with them how that's handled at their shop near 8048 Lindenplatz.

Also, in my experience lower-volume items aren't available at all times, in the Otto's shop I frequent that applies to the 10kg rice sacks linked. Perhaps enquire, too.