How to pest-proof your kitchen pantry

It’s no secret that pests are big fans of kitchens. If there’s one place in your home where you’re most likely to encounter unwanted visitors, it’s in your kitchen, and specifically around your pantry. So in this article, we’ll be looking at some safe and efficient ways to pest-proof your kitchen pantry and protect your food and home from invasion.

1. Don’t keep around compost or other leftovers.

Potato peelings or a banana peel might not look too appealing to you, but rats may well disagree with you. When we talk about rodents inside your home (as well as other types of pests), we talk about food that’s left out and tend to imagine entire buffets. In truth, it takes much less to get rats and mice to visit your home. For them, a bit of leftover inside a cracked egg, the edible slivers on a banana peel, or a bit of onion make for a perfectly tasty treat. This is why you want to keep your compost outside, so as to minimize the attraction to pests.

However, it doesn’t end there. When moving compost outside, particularly in warmer weather, you’ll want to keep it well-secured. Otherwise, it’s just a matter of time before the same rodents (or other pests, like opossums or raccoons) pick up on that scent and come rummaging through your dumpster.

2. Keep food in airtight containers.

Usually, we tend to store food and ingredients improperly, because of the mistaken assumption that as long as the pests can’t get at them, then we’re generally safe. But that’s not really it. See, common kitchen pests, such as ants, aren’t attracted by the knowledge that you left food out in the open from afar. That’s because they have no way of knowing that from a distance. Instead, what brings them prowling around your kitchen is the smell of food and various ingredients, such as sugar or flour. This is why you need to invest in secure, airtight containers that don’t allow the smell to get out. Because trust us, once they’re in your kitchen, they will find something to feast on, and won’t be easy to get rid of.

3. Speaking of which, clean your kitchen more than the rest of your home.

It stands to reason that your kitchen would need more cleaning since you’re more likely to leave crumbs and leftovers out in the open, which can attract ants, cockroaches, and rodents easily. See, the smaller the pest is, the more enjoyment they can get out of a handful of crumbs that you didn’t even think much of at the time. Maybe you didn’t even realize you made crumbs, and it’s that ignorance that can get you quite a nasty ant problem in your kitchen. So at least once a week, make sure you go through your kitchen, vacuum, sweep and dust off surfaces, because the cleaner the kitchen is, the less likely it is to attract pests.

4. Try mint tea and dried bay leaves.

Some of the most common kitchen pests (such as rodents) rely quite heavily on their sense of smell, and that’s something you can use against them. While the scent of peppermint or dry bay leaves isn’t much to humans, it can be quite unpleasant to rodents, ants, mosquitoes, and roaches. So by strategically placing some bags of mint tea and some clusters of dried bay leaves inside your pantry, you may well prevent pests from visiting. However, while these natural repellents can be useful, it is always best to hire a pro for rodent control like those at Wildlife X Team Memphis.

5. Keep an eye out for gaps and cracks.

At the end of the day, all pests need a doorway into your kitchen. For pests, that is a crack or gap in the floor, wall, or window structure. So by regularly checking against such things, you’re limiting their potential entry points.

These are 5 tips on how to pest-proof your pantry, do you have any ideas on this? I would love to know in the comments below.