Debugging the kitchen

•  Store flour and rice with bay leaves

Tiny weevils and other small insects can enter paper or cardboard containers of flour, rice, porridge and breakfast cereal through the tiniest of cracks. Keep them at bay by putting a few dried bay leaves in the containers.

•  Freeze them out

Some insect eggs may be in food containers before you bring your groceries home and have yet to hatch. Kill off any eggs by keeping new products in the freezer for the first day or two.

•  Two other insect chasers

One or two whole nutmegs buried in a sack of flour or box of rice will help to keep weevils and other tiny invaders out. Some people claim to have successfully repelled insects by placing sticks of spearmint gum (unwrapped) at different points on the floor of the cupboard where susceptible foodstuffs are stored.

•  Pop goes the weevil

If dried beans or peas are under attack by hungry weevils, add some dried hot chillies to the storage container. You’ll find that they hotfoot it out of the box or bag in a flash.

•  Get ants on the run

Ants hate crawling over powdery or grainy substances. So if you see a line of ants on the march in your kitchen, spoon a long thin line of polenta, cornflour or another powdery foodstuff in their path and watch them beat a hasty retreat.

•  Spicy ant repellents

If you want to stop ants from getting into the kitchen, sprinkle cayenne pepper or ground cinnamon outside the back door as an unmistakable ‘not welcome’ mat. Ants hate both the powdery texture and powerful smell of these spices.

•  Fend off fruit flies

There’s no need to keep a fruit bowl empty just because these unwanted guests tend to help themselves to your apples and bananas. Send them packing with one of the following:

1. Mint or basil leaves Scatter mint or basil sprigs near fresh fruit when you set it out; fruit flies hate the smell and will stay clear.
2. Surgical spirit Rub a little surgical spirit on the benchtop next to a bunch of bananas or a ripening melon, tomato or avocado.
3. Apple cider Pour cider into a jar or bowl and fruit flies will be drawn to the sweet-smelling liquid.

•  Non-toxic cockroach traps

Wrap the outside of an empty jam jar with masking tape and rub the inside of the jar with petroleum jelly. Pour in 2cm beer and top it with a few small pieces of ripe fruit and 4-5 drops of almond extract. Place the open jar under the sink or anywhere else cockroaches lurk. Cockroaches will be drawn to the appetizing aroma, climb into the jar (the tape gives them traction) and drop inside to feast —but thanks to the slippery walls, they’ll be unable to escape. To dispose of the cockroaches, fill the jar with hot water, then flush the contents down the toilet.

•  Borax on high shelves

Cockroaches like to roam any high spots they can reach, so use a stepladder to get high enough to sprinkle borax along the top of your kitchen cupboards. Cockroaches poisoned by the borax will take it back to the nest, where fellow cockroaches will start dropping like flies.