topic Re: Old flour in Kitchen

Old flour

geegerbee — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 04:48:40 GMT

I have a bag of unopened all purpose flour. It is about 5 yrs old since I rarely make desserts anymore. If there are no bugs in it, is it still good to use or should I just throw it out and buy a new bag

Re: Old flour

loriqvc — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 05:10:58 GMT

@geegerbee - Especially since flour is quite inexpensive, I'd recommend tossing it. But when you open the bag, you'll likely be able to tell right away if it has gone bad by either the color or the smell (or, as you noted, the presence of insects). It should be a nice creamy color, not yellowish or grayish, and it should have no real scent at all.

Re: Old flour

Ainhisg — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:01:45 GMT

Throw it out. Even if you decide that nothing is wrong with it, it will not give quality results.

Re: Old flour

Meowingkitty — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 12:43:38 GMT

I would throw it out. I keep mine in individual baggies in the freezer. I don't use a lot of it and that way it doesn't get bugs or go bad.

Re: Old flour

charsha — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 12:54:05 GMT

@geegerbee Good Lord- Get rid of it!!

Re: Old flour

JeanLouiseFinch — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 13:57:39 GMT

Pitch it today! If you haven't used it by now,you probably aren't going to. Don't even buy a replacement bag until you actually need it or five years from now you'll be asking the same question.

Re: Old flour

JeanLouiseFinch — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 13:59:31 GMT

Plus, even if the bag is closed you don't know if there are dead bugs in there. Get rid of it.

Re: Old flour

Patriot3 — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:01:44 GMT

OMG, throw it out!!!!

Re: Old flour

gardenman — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:15:46 GMT

Five years is well outside my comfort zone. Flour is cheap (under $3 for a five-pound bag of generic flour locally), so rather than waste good ingredients, testing what could be bad flour, I'd just replace the flour with known good flour.

Re: Old flour

MorningLover — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:53:28 GMT

I was going through things in my basement freezer and just threw out two bags of flour from covid days!!

Re: Old flour

Snowpuppy — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 15:09:06 GMT

Most larger grocers sell 2# bags of all purpose flour. Store brand is $1.49 and King Arthur is $2.69 near me.

Re: Old flour

wagirl — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 15:09:25 GMT

I'd toss it too--I found an unopened 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour during the tiny black ant invasion in my pantry recently--prob was at least a couple years old. It was sealed so none of those dang things got into it, but I tossed it anyway.

Re: Old flour

gardenman — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 15:19:50 GMT

@wagirl wrote:
I'd toss it too--I found an unopened 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour during the tiny black ant invasion in my pantry recently--prob was at least a couple years old. It was sealed so none of those dang things got into it, but I tossed it anyway.

Whole wheat flour has a shorter shelf life than all-purpose, so throwing it out was smart. If I have freezer space, I freeze whole wheat flour. If not, into the fridge with it to preserve it as long as possible. The same with rye or any of the whole grain flours. They don't have the shelf life of the more processed flours.