I went to make PB & J sandwiches yesterday for lunch, opened by newer jar of PB only to find it infested with ants. They are Pharaoh ants and are now a thorn in my side!!! They had crawled under the closed caps of both PB's (crunchy & creamy), and also invaded my crisco, oil and Bisquick. ((HURL))

Needless to say my afternoon was spent checking my food, cleaning out my cupboards, and rebuying my items (along with ant bait).

My question is this....now that I have these items rebought will it do anything funky to them or hurt my cooking with them if I keep them in the refrigerator?? I am mainly concerned with the crisco & my Canola oil.

Thanks!

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We had to keep our peanut butter in the fridge at our old house, for some reason this house has been okay for the last 4 yrs. The ants that got into our peanut butter were so teeny-tiny you almost couldn't see them.They also got into my sugar canister even with a tupperware seal on it. I think the cooking oil and shortening will be fine in the fridge.

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

I have never heard of Pharaoh Ants nor of ants that could get into sealed jars!! How awful! I used to have a problem with fruit flies and with those little bugs that get into things like flour and bisquick.

Yikes...I've never heard of ants getting into closed jars! Get some ant traps or call an exterminator if those don't do the trick!

I don't think your Crisco or oil will be harmed by some time in the refrigerator til you get your ant problem under control. If you're worried about that, maybe email the companies and ask specifically? Or just hold off replacing items until the ants are gone.

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

Nope they will be fine. I'm always worried about ants and I often store the whole kitchen in the fridge!!

That's about what it's going to come too

thanks for your help guys! I was hoping they would be OK

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Wow never heard of that before!Hope it all works out for you.

We had a problem with ants last week and I went through and put everything in plastic containers or zip lock bags that was open and I have found that I have to sweep daily and mop every other day and that got rid of them for me.

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*Wife to Rick since (14 years)*
~Mom to 2 boys Dakota 13 & Ryan 8~
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Aww! That's awfull! What a way to spend your day. I have never heard of those types of ants. I always keep my crisco in the fridge I only use it for pie crusts and it has to be cold for that so I just keep it in there.

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

ants in my PEANUT BUTTER........... .that's my nightmare........... .....

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Avoid Fruits~N~Nuts....you are what you eat!!!