There is no single person who doesn’t get annoyed discovering ants in their houses. This tiniest animal creates the biggest problem in the kitchen, marching with its whole colony towards our food & invading it. As you’re now reading this article, seems like you’re a victim of this colonial insect too.
I was also pretty bummed out with the ants after discovering them a few times in my sugar pot, so I decided to apply some methods to get rid of them. Especially the vinegar hack worked like a charm & I use this hack quite frequently now. So let’s see how do I get rid of ants in my kitchen with vinegar—
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How Do I Get Rid Of Ants In My Kitchen With Vinegar
Vinegar is indeed a magic ingredient in the kitchen, we use it to clean almost every tricky appliances & even the floors & fittings too. This acidic liquid has a distinct smell and sharp action, which reaches every single spot and cleans it off. And this is why we will be using it to repel the ants too!
How does vinegar work for chasing out the ants? Well, as you know, the ant secretes a certain chemical to remember the pathway to its target and guide the others to follow this pathway. The chemical compound is known as Pheromone, which has an odor to let the ants follow its way.
You might have figured it out already, vinegar discards the smell of pheromone and makes the ants forget their way. Plus the ants can’t go through a place that is contaminated with vinegar. So using vinegar in the kitchen genuinely works to turf out the ants.
Anyways, you have to follow certain instructions to make this hack work. So let’s see what you have to do—
Procedure—
- First, try to locate the places where the ants come from. Usually, the ants may come from outside the kitchen, through the sink, or any crack in your kitchen wall.
- If you are clueless about their source pathway, target the places where you keep your foods or the ant hotspots. You can actually target all the spots where you can safely use vinegar.
- Now, take a sprayer bottle. Fill it up with half and half white vinegar & water. You can also use only white vinegar.
- Spray on the places where you think the ants may cross through. Make sure the vinegar reaches all the areas.
- Use a damp rag to mop up the places where you sprayed the vinegar.
- Now if you don’t like the smell of vinegar in the kitchen, you can use some essential oils. Use a few drops of your favorite essential oil in the water vinegar mixture. We mostly use peppermint, it fills up the kitchen with a refreshing smell.
- Follow this process once every week or after every time you spot some ants in your kitchen.
How To Keep Ants Away From Your Food
Well, the only reason why the ants come to your kitchen is the food. So you have to protect your food from its aggression, and you can do that by following a few tips & tricks. So let’s see how I save my foods from the ants—
Using Airtight Jars
Using airtight jars to keep your food is pretty obligatory if you don’t want to lure the ants into your kitchen with the smell of your foods. Plus, ants won’t reach your food if you protect it with an airtight jar. An airtight jar is super useful not only for keeping the food away from the ants but also to keep its quality intact.
You can use either plastic or glass jars to keep your food. The key here is to keep it airtight so that the smell cannot attract the ants & they can’t enter the container. So don’t forget to buy some airtight containers for preserving your food!
Bay Leaves
As we already said, discarding the smell is the best way to keep the ants away from your food, and this time we’re cutting down the food smell. Bay leaves have a wonderful aroma which is also quite overpowering. So keeping a bay leaf will definitely tone down the fragrance of the food.
Leave a bay leaf in the airtight container along with the food. This will not only put the ants away but also help to keep the food fresh for a long time. So don’t forget to use some bay leaves the next time!
Cloves
Cloves are even more overpowering than bay leaves. So you can say this will work even more. Leave some dry cloves in your sugar container to keep the ants away.
Cloves are also an incredible ingredient to keep up the freshness of your food. It helps this food to maintain its refreshing notes, making it last longer. So keeping cloves with your food is like killing two birds with a stone, you should definitely follow it.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon also helps to keep the ants away from your food. The cinnamon smell will seem refreshing to your taste while being overpowering to the ants. Leave a few pods of cinnamon sticks in your sugar or dry fruit container.
Mandarin/ Orange Peels
This is one of my favorite hacks for keeping ants away from our food because the smell of mandarin is my favorite. Keeping some dried mandarin or orange peels will not only help to turf out the ants but also maintain a dry environment by absorbing all the moisture. Plus a refreshing citrusy smell will elevate the flavor of your food.
Wrapping It Up
Ants are indeed a nuisance to any household or kitchen, so we should try our best to keep them away from our life. As you reached the end of this post, now you know how do I get rid of ants in my kitchen & keep the ants away from my food. Do try these tips & tricks to cut down the nuisance in your home too. Happy cooking!