Food-Stealing Roommates
 

One of my own college-aged kids is having a problem with his roommates stealing the food that he buys. Seems like nothing has changed from the seventies. :( Anyway, he's in a dorm situation where there are 4 bedrooms and a common kitchen to an apartment and none of the boys have a seven-day meal plan on campus. When he has confronted his roommates, they get angry and say they don't have any money so why shouldn't they eat his, etc.

I seem to recall a thread years ago in which people talked about this problem and creative ways they solved it. I can't find the thread; does anyone have any ideas?

First, wow. Really? That's their response?

Non-perishable items can be stored in his room. Can he buy a smaller refrigerator to keep in his room for things that need it? If the stuff is in his room, I assume they won't be able to get to it.

That's BS.

I agree with the Little -- it's not his job to support the eating habits of his entire apartment. I agree w/ the idea of getting a smaller refrigerator to keep in his room. They can be around $100, so it's not super cheap, but in the end, that $100 investment could save even more hundreds in roomie-eaten groceries.

Do the bedrooms have their own locks? That configuration sounds familiar to some in my old school and all the bedrooms had their own locks on them

I think in the other thread you're referencing, people sabotaged the food in some way. I remember telling the story about my brother, whose lunch was being stolen daily in junior high school. My mom put cayenne pepper in EVERYTHING one day and gave him lunch money to buy a lunch. His lunch was never stolen again after that day.

Thing never changed huh? Complete BS that he has to subsidized them. Do what Dr Phil suggested. Teach 'em a lesson in manners.

I would have Baby Berry's old mini-fridge down there in a New York minute but the dorm doesn't permit them. LOL, I'd like to tell him y'all's ideas but I'm afraid he'd use them! Well, WTH...I'm going to call him and direct him to this thread.Hahaha! Maybe he'll use some of these.

"Yo, dude! Your rice crispies are stale!"

"Yes, they are. Bitches!"

This was my first thought upon reading the OP. I fully endorse #1 and as hilarious it would be to do #2, I strongly suggest talking to the RA or equivalent. File a formal complaint then sit down and do the mediation. If they pull this shit again, then do #2 in a big way. At least you'll have a record of trying to work it out, and there will be proof of the roommate's douchebaggery (their complaints about the piss and packing peanuts).


ROFL!! Those Kanye jokes will never get old to me. :D

Wasabi fronting as avocado, benefiber in juice/ice tea/punch, horseradish with sour cream

and so on

Ex lax in brownies.

I take it these are just roomies he ended up with through luck of the draw and not people he actually knows.

Or, maybe your son should go ahead and get a meal plan. Aren't they mandatory anymore?

I'm back on and rolling on the floor at all this, calling all kinds of people to look at the thread, lol. :D Y'all are hysterical!

I think he has a 5-day meal plan and they have 3? Yes, they were luck of the draw although it turned out that one was a guy he barely knew from his high school.

Your son should just go ninja on them and snatch their meal plans in the dark of the night.

Yeah, this is square, and definitely needed.

I'd also:

1 - Have friends over (preferably after a cocktail, if that's their thing) and eat literally everything in the house. Top to bottom. Don't spare any peanut butter, don't even leave a water bottle. Clean every condiment out, and throw shit away. We're talking sparkling clean.

2 - Wait a week or three before buying anything else, period. Send him a couple extra bucks and have him buy sandwiches and eat them in the common area. Wait for them to purchase.

3A - If whining or bitching continues, then move onto cat piss and pubeburgers.

3B - If the others break down and buy food, eat it. Not all of it - just a bit, just a meal after a late night studying or a can of soup here and there.

Either way, the point will be proven.

I admit it - I've made the Exlax brownies. Didn't think I had it in me, did you? Just melt the Exlax, then stir into brownie mix and bake. It helps if you take one brownie out - then everyone thinks they're fair game.

I also posted a sign, "If you ask first, I'll probably let you have it. If you don't, careful what you eat."

motivational shame
 

are ramen noodles still like $0.10 a packet? and water is free.

if they can't afford the dime, just have his roomates fill out an i.o.u. each time they need a dime. it'll probably help if there are girls around when he does.

surely if you embarrass them in front of their friends and other people enough times, they'll quit. or better. become subservient for a ten cent allowance.

More like $0.17 :p

Is there a way that he can put non-perishables in his room and lock the door?

Even though I was an RA in college and officially do not condone skirting University policies, I would say that the mini-fridge in his room might work as well.

Good luck! We had a food thief in the sorority house and it was terrible.

Your university did not allow mini fridges? That's interesting. I thought all did.

I guess it would be important to check the rules since the student can get fines assessed for breaking policy. If enough fines are assessed, the student can be removed from housing (depending on the university of course).

No, my college did. There wasn't much that was verboten at my school. Carnation's son's school does not allow mini-fridges in the dorms. :)

My best friend's school doesn't allow students to bring mini-fridges, either. Smaller, traditional dorm rooms come with a microfridge (a mini-fridge and microwave attached to each other) which was shared between the roommates and paid for in your tuition; most if not all upperclassmen live in housing with communal kitchens and thus big, shared fridges. And since they have bi-weekly room inspections (no, I'm not kidding on that one either!) if the RA sees a mini-fridge they can confiscate it/fine you.

Me? I love my mini-fridge. We have two in my dorm room! (One for food, one for .... liquid necessities. :D)

I'd suggest getting a smaller mini-fridge you could put under a bed that's got bed risers, and throw a towel over it. Generally RAs can't look under your bed and search for stuff. That's where I hide my George Foreman and my crock pot when they're not being used.

Two thumbs up for the contraband George Foreman, lol. We had to hide our toaster as well.

Honeychile, I'm impressed! What pushed you far enough to go there?

Ha, we were allowed fridges and nothing else. One of the small upperclassmen dorms had mini-kitchens (basically fridge, microwave, counterspace, and cabinets)... we supplemented with a hot plate and toaster oven. Good thing we had plenty of cabinet space in case an RA dropped in! I distinctly recall baking a whole pumpkin pie and baked yams in that toaster oven... neither of which turned out very well. It worked for most other things! Desperation certainly brings plenty of creativity.

ETA: Regarding food theft, the only thing most people really didn't have was their own freezer (since those mini fridges are less than stellar). When stashing a pint of B&J in the freezer, I always kept it in a paper bag. That drastically reduced theft... it takes too much effort, apparently, to see what's there! Not sure that would work in this case, though, where the guys live in such tight quarters and they all know that your son's food is gold. So, perhaps some good-hearted sabotage is in order.

I thought I missed out by not living in the dorms.

Reading about people smuggling Foreman grills makes me think otherwise.

I know someone who had this problem at work. They dusted their lunch with visible theft detection powder that turned bright purple when it made skin contact and got worse when exposed to water. Perp was busted purple handed, and to deal with being covered with dye for several days and never did it again.

That's a good idea except his obnoxious roommates could snitch him out as payback. Just saying.

This is a great idea. Where do you find the powder?

We also had microfridges at my school. It was so convenient, not having to purchase and then transport one to school myself. And the huge plus... they're energy efficient! :p

I'm not sure as to whether or not we were able to have an additional mini-fridge, but I never heard anyone say that we couldn't. But then again, not many people would even think to do this, as one was already provided for us.

And it's true... RAs can't search through your stuff, and are only allowed to basically "glance" around the room and make sure that there are no "illegal" items out in the open.

Because believe me... if they could search through your stuff, my freshmen year roommate probably would have been kicked out of the dorms. She had a George Forman grill, a sandwich maker, a toaster, and a waffle iron. We made all kinds of fun things with those. You get VERY creative when you're a college student on a budget. :D

Ohhh roommates. I have a good one now, but one of the girls I lived with last year was a nightmare. Here's why.

1. She would have parties with her friends (and my...um...beverages) and not warn me or the other two girls that lived there. Quite shocking to come back to a party in your own apt that you were not invited to. Quite obnoxious when you had an exam the next day.
2. Upon return from spring break, we all received judicial citations from university housing. Turns out her boyfriend left an empty bottle of liquor in our living room and all four of us were underage at the time. After explaining the whole situation at a meeting with some condescending guy from res life, I confronted her. Her response? "Oh [boyfriend] is so naughty!"
3. And, yes, she ate all my food. She preferred my good stuff that I could only get from home, or anything organic and more expensive.

Since my minifridge currently served as the living room beer fridge, I discovered the advantages to going to the school with the coldest weather ever. Did you know that setting items like soda cans against a cold window does wonders? I also hung a cooler outside full of frozen dinners. I cleared my cupboard of nonperishables (like mac and cheese, pasta, chips) and kept them in my room. I kept my milk and veggies hidden behind a milk jug full of elmers glue and rubber veggies in baggies to throw her off. So yes, I was creative. And maybe a little mean. But, hey, as a poor college student, food is important!

Have your son keep the stuff in your room.

I'm not going to lie I tried the Mr Bubbles thing only to get sand in my diet coke by one of the lady of the night roommates. I thankfully noticed when I realized the "bubbles" at the bottom of my bottle were not rising.

LOL LOL Best post by a newbie EVAH!

^^^ Unfortunately, he's been here before.

Yup. I'm surprised he didn't mention us pulling up our pants.

See if you can get your son a thermoelectric cooler. Coleman sells them and the adapters that can be used in the home or dorm. They look like regular food coolers but these can be used like a mini fridge. This will truly fool the RA in a sense. And as a former RA, I wouldn't have looked twice at this being in someone's room because, hell, I had one in my room too.

They are a little more expensive than a reg mini fridge, but hell, it will keep the son's food to himself.

As far as non perishables (yeah, I know I spelled it wrong), get a tote and tote him up. Make sure that the tote can be locked. Or if it was like me, use the empty trunks that don't have anything in them while sonny boy is at school.

As for the roomies, ex-lax browines or ex lax in the chocolate milk. Correctal can be hammered down into a power and put into anything. Also, putting a small amt of vinegar into roomies food, hell, it does make a person think.

Sometimes, you just got to be mean to get that other person's attention to leave your shit alone.

This is true. Plus, I've had RAs raid my room while I was out of town and they went under my "illegals."
Why, are they on the ground?

Pretty sure you spelled it right. Just sayin'.

Madmax a newbie??

lmao!!



OP, can you give us an update?