Kitchen

[geegerbee]

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

[loriqvc]

@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.

[Ainhisg]

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

[Meowingkitty]

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.

[charsha]

@geegerbee Good Lord- Get rid of it!!  

[JeanLouiseFinch]

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.  

[JeanLouiseFinch]

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

[Patriot3]

OMG, throw it out!!!!

[gardenman]

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.

[MorningLover]

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