Do not eat raw cookie dough (or cake mix or anything else like that)

[hbunny]

Bleeechhh! 

  I've gotten past a lot of yuck things in life, but bugs still just send me over the edge. 

Ok, now that I know I have to live with eating larva (haha), how do you guys store yours in the freezer?  Do you put it in a container, or just in the bag, or in a freezer bag?  I have those big Rubbermaid-Tupperware looking containers, like canisters, that I keep sugar, flour, cornmeal in.  Could I just put those in the freezer, would that work?  I have a small chest-type freezer in my laundry room that has enough room I could put them in there.  Do you keep sugar in the freezer too, or just the flour and meal?

 

[Willowy]

I think a lot of people will like this article : http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...ch_to_eating_cookie_dough_is_unrealistic.html

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I think a lot of people will like this article

: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...ch_to_eating_cookie_dough_is_unrealistic.html

excellent article!!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Bleeechhh! 

  I've gotten past a lot of yuck things in life, but bugs still just send me over the edge. 

Ok, now that I know I have to live with eating larva (haha), how do you guys store yours in the freezer?  Do you put it in a container, or just in the bag, or in a freezer bag?  I have those big Rubbermaid-Tupperware looking containers, like canisters, that I keep sugar, flour, cornmeal in.  Could I just put those in the freezer, would that work?  I have a small chest-type freezer in my laundry room that has enough room I could put them in there.  Do you keep sugar in the freezer too, or just the flour and meal?

for me, if i buy a 5lb bag of flour/meal/grain product i store it in the bag in the freezer. most times i buy 50lb bags of bread flours, and old fashioned and quick oats. so for those, i break up the 50lb bags into more manageable gallon zipper bags. i usually keep one gallon bag of each in the fridge, and the rest are stored in the freezer or spare fridge. things like 9-grain cereal mix i buy in #10 cans and wheat germ (bought in 4, 2lb bags) i store cans/bags that are open in the fridge, and the unopened cans can be stored in the pantry and unopened bags of wheat germ are stored in the freezer. i store cornmeal in the freezer too.

interesting question, about storing sugar in the freezer. i'll be watching to see what others have to say about that. i buy white sugar in 25lb bags.

 

[hbunny]

I try to buy in bulk, but just being the two of us now, I'm not using it up regularly.  My hubby travels a lot for work, so often it's just me, so I've cut waaaayyy back on stocking up on things.  And, I only have a small chest freezer now.  I am going to buy a new bag of flour tomorrow and freeze it!  I think I'm going to freeze everything here on out!

The sugar I wonder about.  I wonder if condensation as it warmed up might make it stick together badly.  Where I live it is extremely humid, near 100% humidity most of the summer, and not much less all winter even when it's down in the teens.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
I try to buy in bulk, but just being the two of us now, I'm not using it up regularly.  My hubby travels a lot for work, so often it's just me, so I've cut waaaayyy back on stocking up on things.  And, I only have a small chest freezer now.  I am going to buy a new bag of flour tomorrow and freeze it!  I think I'm going to freeze everything here on out!

The sugar I wonder about.  I wonder if condensation as it warmed up might make it stick together badly.  Where I live it is extremely humid, near 100% humidity most of the summer, and not much less all winter even when it's down in the teens.

good! i think you might feel better about the flour if you freeze it.

speaking of sugar, i just today refilled my sugar canister and measured out another 7 cups of white sugar (for making blueberry freezer jam) from one of my 25lb bags. i store the 25lb bags of white sugar upstairs and in a large plastic storage bin (still in the bags i buy them in). it can get pretty warm upstairs, even with the fan or ac on. but my sugar has no problems -- there were several largish clumps that easily crumbled into loose grains of sugar with just the touch of the scoop. so i don't think i'll try freezing sugar here. no bugs in my sugar either!

 

[ginny]

Funny how the FDA will tell us not to eat raw flour, but what about all those drugs they shouldn't have approved that they have yet to take off the market?  

 

[Willowy]

Funny how the FDA will tell us not to eat raw flour, but what about all those drugs they shouldn't have approved that they have yet to take off the market?  

There's no rich and politically powerful flour industry .

 

[Winchester]

 
good! i think you might feel better about the flour if you freeze it.

speaking of sugar, i just today refilled my sugar canister and measured out another 7 cups of white sugar (for making blueberry freezer jam) from one of my 25lb bags. i store the 25lb bags of white sugar upstairs and in a large plastic storage bin (still in the bags i buy them in). it can get pretty warm upstairs, even with the fan or ac on. but my sugar has no problems -- there were several largish clumps that easily crumbled into loose grains of sugar with just the touch of the scoop. so i don't think i'll try freezing sugar here. no bugs in my sugar either!

When we remodeled our kitchen, we must have opened a hole into an ant's nest somewhere. That summer, oh my dear sweet lord, what a mess. It seemed every where I turned there were ants. I was canning pickles one Saturday morning and opened the top pantry to grab my sugar jar to make the syrup. And it was black with ants; evidently the lid wasn't put back on properly. It was awful. I took it outside, took the lid off, and they just ran out. We had a heckuva summer with ants....I swear they were everywhere. That was when Rick finally went down into the basement and started removing insulation from the basement ceiling. He found a huge ant nest right where the kitchen meets the basement. Tore the nest apart and killed everything.

He sprays around the perimeter of the house with Ortho Home Defense every week from the end of April until the beginning of October now. We never had an ant problem in the house until we remodeled the kitchen. They were so bad that we could actually see them trailing. It was awful.

I have never frozen sugar, but I always freeze my flours....two five-pound bags to a 2-gallon plastic bag. When we go to King Arthur in Vermont during the fall, I will buy the five-gallon bags of all-purpose flour because the price is 2 bags for $6. I stock up big time, then bring them home and into the freezer they go.

 

[rickr]

 
<snip> honestly, i worry more about the unknown long term effects of GMO's on people. <snip>

Agree.  That's why I buy mostly organic meats, vegetables and condiments or those that feature the Non-GMO-Project label.  It seems unlikely that the United States will ever require (or perhaps even allow) GMO labeling.  And of course it's not just people food, but pet products as well. 

 

[ginny]

There's no rich and politically powerful flour industry

.

I wouldn't be too sure of that.  Look at any food pyramid and you'll see grains listed at the bottom, the largest daily recommendation.  Four is in everything.  It's a huge industry.  I'm just wondering why the FDA targeted flour.  All food has bacteria in it.  

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Agree.  That's why I buy mostly organic meats, vegetables and condiments or those that feature the Non-GMO-Project label.  It seems unlikely that the United States will ever require (or perhaps even allow) GMO labeling.  And of course it's not just people food, but pet products as well. 

i totally agree.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
When we remodeled our kitchen, we must have opened a hole into an ant's nest somewhere. That summer, oh my dear sweet lord, what a mess. It seemed every where I turned there were ants. I was canning pickles one Saturday morning and opened the top pantry to grab my sugar jar to make the syrup. And it was black with ants; evidently the lid wasn't put back on properly. It was awful. I took it outside, took the lid off, and they just ran out. We had a heckuva summer with ants....I swear they were everywhere. That was when Rick finally went down into the basement and started removing insulation from the basement ceiling. He found a huge ant nest right where the kitchen meets the basement. Tore the nest apart and killed everything.

He sprays around the perimeter of the house with Ortho Home Defense every week from the end of April until the beginning of October now. We never had an ant problem in the house until we remodeled the kitchen. They were so bad that we could actually see them trailing. It was awful.

I have never frozen sugar, but I always freeze my flours....two five-pound bags to a 2-gallon plastic bag. When we go to King Arthur in Vermont during the fall, I will buy the five-gallon bags of all-purpose flour because the price is 2 bags for $6. I stock up big time, then bring them home and into the freezer they go.

just...

...about the ant nest. and i thought i had it bad with the tiny sugar ants that keep sending out scouts into my kitchen this year.

i've never been to King Arthur in Vermont. i did just today order another 25lb bag of Great River Organic Milling's organic 7-grain bread flour -- non-GMO, too...from amazon, via subscribe and save. i'll portion it into one gallon zipper bags and freeze it, when it gets here. i replace 1/2 cup of my white bread flour with 7-grain bread flour in my favorite bread machine bread recipe. i mostly alternate between making regular white bread, and white with some 7-grain in it. every so often i'll make a loaf or two of english muffin bread, and oatmeal applesauce bread.

 

[Winchester]

 
just...

...about the ant nest. and i thought i had it bad with the tiny sugar ants that keep sending out scouts into my kitchen this year.

i've never been to King Arthur in Vermont. i did just today order another 25lb bag of Great River Organic Milling's organic 7-grain bread flour -- non-GMO, too...from amazon, via subscribe and save. i'll portion it into one gallon zipper bags and freeze it, when it gets here. i replace 1/2 cup of my white bread flour with 7-grain bread flour in my favorite bread machine bread recipe. i mostly alternate between making regular white bread, and white with some 7-grain in it. every so often i'll make a loaf or two of english muffin bread, and oatmeal applesauce bread.

Oh, man, I never want to go through that again. Those buggers were everywhere and it was just disgusting. Every time we turned around, there were ants. The cats would throw up a hairball and the ants would go after it. The slightest bit of anything....on the counter, on the floor, anywhere....and they were right there. I cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned some more....it made me sick knowing they were in the house. It took a long time, but we managed to get rid of them. I hate ants with a passion. I had cinnamon on window sills, we had ant traps all over the place. Ick. Just.....ick.

I put my sourdough starter in the freezer last month. I didn't think I'd really be using it all that often this summer and I hated the thought of using all that flour to feed it, even though I was only feeding it every other week instead of every week. Still, it took a lot of flour. So I figured I'd give it a shot in the freezer....if I killed it, then I'll have to start over. I'm going to get it back out around the middle or the end of September and see what happens.

We'll be going back to Vermont probably right after Labor Day or thereabouts. It's starting to be an annual thing and we both enjoy it. The King Arthur store is really a neat place to visit.

BTW, I looked last night when we went for groceries. Gold Medal flour is not yet put back on the shelves. That's the flour that was recalled. It's been a while and still not available.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Oh, man, I never want to go through that again. Those buggers were everywhere and it was just disgusting. Every time we turned around, there were ants. The cats would throw up a hairball and the ants would go after it. The slightest bit of anything....on the counter, on the floor, anywhere....and they were right there. I cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned some more....it made me sick knowing they were in the house. It took a long time, but we managed to get rid of them. I hate ants with a passion. I had cinnamon on window sills, we had ant traps all over the place. Ick. Just.....ick.

I put my sourdough starter in the freezer last month. I didn't think I'd really be using it all that often this summer and I hated the thought of using all that flour to feed it, even though I was only feeding it every other week instead of every week. Still, it took a lot of flour. So I figured I'd give it a shot in the freezer....if I killed it, then I'll have to start over. I'm going to get it back out around the middle or the end of September and see what happens.

We'll be going back to Vermont probably right after Labor Day or thereabouts. It's starting to be an annual thing and we both enjoy it. The King Arthur store is really a neat place to visit.

BTW, I looked last night when we went for groceries. Gold Medal flour is not yet put back on the shelves. That's the flour that was recalled. It's been a while and still not available.

i can totally understand that! that's the way i feel about fleas. when mickey, snick and i moved into the house i bought there was a flea infestation. i didn't notice it until maybe a week and a half after we'd moved in. i started seeing clumps of the cats hair on the floor, they were itching a lot, and i had no doubt when i saw a flea climbing up my leg. mickey and snick had never had fleas in their entire life up to that point. so i had our vet at the time mail me flea treatments, bought a steam cleaner, and 'went to town' for literally months cleaning the whole house...again, and again...and again. we won that war, the fleas were gone and have remained gone from our home. and, like you, i never want to go through that again!

i've been thinking of getting a sourdough starter going again. i use a rye sourdough starter recipe, which makes a very nice sour starter. i think i'll wait until early fall, like you, to get mine going. at the moment, i'm working with a new bread machine bread recipe -- 7-grain bread. the recipe i'm working with uses 7-grain cereal in it; the first loaf left much to be desired, but i'll work with it more and see what i can get it to. so i'm involved with the 7-grain bread at the moment.

i used to use a King Arthur flour for my bread making, their Special Flour. that's excellent bread making flour! i'm currently using a Honeyville bread flour, Fantastic Bread Flour. i'm enjoying lovely loaves of bread using this flour! in fact, i've got a loaf of bread cooling as i write this, baked this morning.

 

[misty8723]

 
When we remodeled our kitchen, we must have opened a hole into an ant's nest somewhere. That summer, oh my dear sweet lord, what a mess. It seemed every where I turned there were ants. I was canning pickles one Saturday morning and opened the top pantry to grab my sugar jar to make the syrup. And it was black with ants; evidently the lid wasn't put back on properly. It was awful. I took it outside, took the lid off, and they just ran out. We had a heckuva summer with ants....I swear they were everywhere. That was when Rick finally went down into the basement and started removing insulation from the basement ceiling. He found a huge ant nest right where the kitchen meets the basement. Tore the nest apart and killed everything.

He sprays around the perimeter of the house with Ortho Home Defense every week from the end of April until the beginning of October now. We never had an ant problem in the house until we remodeled the kitchen. They were so bad that we could actually see them trailing. It was awful.

I have never frozen sugar, but I always freeze my flours....two five-pound bags to a 2-gallon plastic bag. When we go to King Arthur in Vermont during the fall, I will buy the five-gallon bags of all-purpose flour because the price is 2 bags for $6. I stock up big time, then bring them home and into the freezer they go.

Earlier today I opened a sealed package of Ritz crackers (individual packages) and it was full of ants.  They are everywhere (including my bathroom). This is especially difficult for a person such as myself who does NOT want to kill anything.  I hate summer.

I've never thought about freezing flour, but maybe I should start. I don't use that much of it, and I empty it into a sealed container.

 

[AbbysMom]

I just saw that there is now a recall on some cake mixes because there is a chance the flour is tainted.

 

[hbunny]

@AbbysMom   I saw that too!  And I just made one of those carrot cake mixes not long ago!

LOL  I now have my new bag of flour in the freezer!!  Thank you all for the info!!

 

[Winchester]

I just saw that there is now a recall on some cake mixes because there is a chance the flour is tainted.

I was just reading an article about that. My understanding is that it's only two flavors so far: carrot and some kind of vanilla confetti or something like that. It's the Betty Crocker cake mixes.