Those creepy crawling pests moving at homes are annoying, especially if they’re in the kitchen! Imagine rats, ants, rodents, and pantry pests making the entire kitchen a mess. And with pests damaging household items, inviting diseases, and littering all around, none of us would want to deal with the consequences they bring.
Who can withstand kitchen insects?
Pests make the home a bin. So the final solution on how to get rid of small insects in your kitchens is to opt for pest control.
Mice, cockroaches, and pantry pests love to breed in dirty areas. Therefore, maintaining the general cleanliness of your home is a must. Food lying open in the kitchen is one of the several causes. In addition, tiny holes and gaps provide ample space for insects to enter your homes. In the rainy season, you will find the number of pests rising.
A messy house is one thing, and maintenance is another. Of course, we all want a pest-free home. Unfortunately, pest control in kitchens is one of the tasks that people dread taking care of. Cleaning all the boxes, utensils, and sinks creates a lot of work and takes a long time.
Do we want to go through the trauma of cleaning and getting rid of pests repeatedly?
To avoid tiny pests from entering your kitchen for a good time, one needs to maintain the same after the pest control.
This article will provide you with five simple ways to maintain the cleanliness of your kitchen after pest control.
1. Use airtight containers for storing cereals and pulses
Airtight containers are a blessing when it comes to storing cereals and pulses. It aids in preventing bacteria growth and moisture. Food items like baked cookies, sugar, rice, milk powder, cereals, and pulses are likely to attract moisture and insects. Storing leftover food in airtight containers is a practice that will keep pantry pests away from food items. One of the many practices to avoid food sprinkling all over the place is to make a system at home to have food only in and around the dining area. The use of an excellent airtight container is essential to retain the freshness of food and prevent foreign particles from entering your leftovers. Keep the shelf clean where the containers are placed. Make sure you close them tight after opening them. The slightest leak in the containers will draw the attention of pests.
2. Keep your bins clean
Cooking involves a lot of wet and dry garbage. Often, on the pretext of filling the bin, the garbage is stored in the bin for a longer duration. Bins with bio waste or wet garbage may invite small flies and pantry pests to rest in that area. Keep individual bins for dry and wet garbage. This ensures that your food waste becomes easy to dispose of.
Clean the bin every day. Before retiring to bed for the day, make sure to discard the items in the bin for maximum cleanliness. Pests are primarily nocturnal and attracted to places with strong smells. The garbage bin is one such area. This is why you must empty the bin regularly. Doing this will guarantee that half of your job is done by keeping the kitchen insects away. The poor disposal of waste poses health hazards and environmental damage as well. Make sure you dispose of the garbage in the assigned area of your society.
Further, with busy schedules among working partners, it becomes quite a task to make an effort to throw out the garbage daily. Instead, take turns disposing of your trash. This way, you and your co-inhabitants can maintain proper hygiene in the kitchen and, most importantly, keep those pesky pests away!
3. Set a routine for deep cleaning the kitchen
Why do kitchen insects come again and again? The way out is right in front of us. Keep the kitchen area clean. Finding time to clean the area spic and span is a tough job with today’s hectic lifestyles. What if we told you there was a simple solution? Set a deep cleaning routine! You can choose a date – a day when you don’t have to cook or a weekend – and create a checklist to clean the kitchen. We’ve created one for you that you can follow easily!
The following checklist will help you keep your kitchen clean:
- Clean the cooking range inside out. This will involve the chimney, burner, and stove.
- Clean the sink with a suitable dishwashing liquid to remove oil stains, food stains, and grease.
- If you have a water purifier, make sure to clean the water tank. Wash the tank well and discard the stored water. Dispense fresh water into the cleaned tank.
- Clean the storage area until it is dirt-free.
- Make the windows of the kitchen so clean that they sparkle.
- Remove food crumbs and sanitise the ovens, coffee maker, juicer, knife boards, chopper machines, refrigerator, freezers, and vegetable cutting boards.
- Ensure that the garbage bin area is spotless.
4. Regularise cleaning kitchen cabinets
One of the most neglected areas of the kitchen is the kitchen cabinet. Since we often store things inside closed cupboards, we take for granted that they must be clean. However, kitchen cabinets catch the attention of the pests more than anything else. Before exiting the kitchen for the day, make it a practice to dust it clean. You can also do it in the morning with other household chores. Take the effort of cleaning the upper shelves, too – as they’re higher, we tend to neglect them. A clean kitchen provides a clean canvas for your cooking and keeps away kitchen insects.
Take a cleaning solution and a sponge. Choose a cleaning solution suitable for cabinets made of wood, metal, vinyl, or plastic – depending on your needs. While cleaning the inside of the cabinet, you can also clean its knobs and the sides of the cabinet doors. If you do not have a cleaning solution on hand, you can prepare one yourself. All you need is half a portion of warm water and half a portion of vinegar. You may put it in a spray bottle, spray it on the desired area, and simply wipe it with a clean cloth or sponge.
5. Dry kitchen, hygienic kitchen
Stagnant water, clogged sinks, or greasy workstations attract kitchen insects. Thus, it is best to keep your kitchen dry. After using the sink, make sure the area in and around the sink is kept clean. Water droplets near the platform or on the floor have a good chance of breeding pests. Use a thick, water-absorbent towel or cloth. Wash the fabric regularly after use. The oil smell, grease, and wetness of the material might attract pests, such as flies, mosquitoes, and rodents, to your kitchen. Use a self-straining detergent holder to keep the sponge dry after cleaning or washing the utensils. Alternatively, using a soap dispenser is a good idea. This will help you use the correct quantity of the liquid and prevent wastage.
Final thoughts
With our busy lives, it is natural to procrastinate. There will be times when the lazy leg will tell you to sit back and postpone cleaning. The good news is that there are many cleaning service agents available mere clicks away. You can ensure that your kitchen is clean without lifting a finger. After all, we do not want kitchen insects to visit again, do we? Once they come around, you will need pest control in your kitchen to drive them away. Why wait for such a situation when you can prevent pests from entering in the first place? Keep a chemical-free pest ointment or spray with you that you can use to get rid of stray bugs. With these tips, you can now maintain a happy kitchen!