The Student Room Group

Rommates stealing my food and drinks what can I do?

At first week I lost about £9 on drinks and left tgem in the fridge and they all just disappeared. I ignored it as it's Freshers week.
Now someone's drinking my milk although I brought fat free milk just because I know most people don't drink it.
Yoghurt pots are disappearing.

I am a mature student and I do work alot to get that money. I don't socialise or go out a lot like these guys do because I barely can afford my food where they are spending all their money on drinking and paying.
I was thinking of saying that in a group chat of our apparent but I havr no idea what to write so I don't look like I'm being the outsider.

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You're living with people who think the fridge fairy magically puts treats in the fridge for them

fridge in your own room
write your initials on it so they can't say 'oh I thought it was mine'
buy smaller quantities - IMO they're more likely to rob if it looks like there's a lot there 'cos you won't notice'
Get an empty but opaque bottle and fill it up with ketchup,mayonaise,curry etc..
Original post by Anonymous
At first week I lost about £9 on drinks and left tgem in the fridge and they all just disappeared. I ignored it as it's Freshers week.
Now someone's drinking my milk although I brought fat free milk just because I know most people don't drink it.
Yoghurt pots are disappearing.

I am a mature student and I do work alot to get that money. I don't socialise or go out a lot like these guys do because I barely can afford my food where they are spending all their money on drinking and paying.
I was thinking of saying that in a group chat of our apparent but I havr no idea what to write so I don't look like I'm being the outsider.


House meeting.

Keep a minimal amount in the fridge until then or try the laxative in the milk if you really have to and it doesnt stop. Put a warning on the milk.

Fridge cage. Locker.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Refrigerator-Lock-Box-Original-Fridge-Freezer-Locker-Uni-Office-Safe-/272419262949

I would not stand for £9 worth going missing. Put a stop to it now.
Reply 4
Yeah tbh if you let them know that a) it's unacceptable and b) your struggling financially b/c of it, then I think most reasonable room mates would accept that, if not repaying you with favours.
I guess just don't say it too forcibly b/c people often don't react well
Reply 5
Original post by Anonymous
At first week I lost about £9 on drinks and left tgem in the fridge and they all just disappeared. I ignored it as it's Freshers week.
Now someone's drinking my milk although I brought fat free milk just because I know most people don't drink it.
Yoghurt pots are disappearing.

I am a mature student and I do work alot to get that money. I don't socialise or go out a lot like these guys do because I barely can afford my food where they are spending all their money on drinking and paying.
I was thinking of saying that in a group chat of our apparent but I havr no idea what to write so I don't look like I'm being the outsider.




I was once in a shared house and had a piece of cheese go missing and was pretty livid about it. I tactfully mentioned it to two of my flatmates, they thought it was funny!

never did find the culprit, ....but you've GOT to speak up and kick up a fuss or this stuff is gonna keep on happening.

Had I actually had drinks or yogarts go missing like you I wouldn't have been so tactful and would have really made a big issue of it.

I honestly don't see how you can sit and let strangers yam off your food and say nothing to them. They probably see you as a bit of a mug now. You'll soon probably see little fridge notes left there with requests "can you get vanilla next time please, I like it better than strawberry?"

don't be a mug!
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 6
If anyone touches my food i'm kicking off. JOEY doesnt share food!
I know it's crude, but piss in an empty apple juice bottle and put it in the fridge.

Let the drama unfold:jerry:
(edited 6 years ago)
Best thing to do would be to bring it up with your housemates when most people are in the kitchen, or if that's unlikely to happen, put a polite message on the group chat. It's an honestly horrible situation to be in.

The other option is to draw a line on your milk bottle, label it milkline and put a "Please stop taking my food :frown:" note on something else. This worked for me - I lost a lot of food in the first week but they stopped after I left a note about it [though this wouldn't be the way I'd approach the problem today if I went through it again. It was a bit passive aggressive and probably not the best way of dealing with the situation.]
Put the milk in a different container labelled breast milk.

That'll stop them drinking the milk I suppose.
You coooould just eat all their food and see how they like it...

Spoiler

Reply 11
Original post by ClearSky II
You coooould just eat all their food and see how they like it...

Spoiler



I am in a similar situation and
I tried doing this yesterday but I was plnice and said you can ask me if u want something just before taking it and got a reply "but we don't see you much anyways"
Is this rude or is it just me! 😁
Options:

1. Confront them.

2. Put a notice up.

3. Get your own fridge for your room - although I don't recommend that because you shouldn't have to do that; you pay enough to live there as it is.

4. Initial/label your own produce.

5. Only put what you need to in the fridge. For example: if you have a bottle of coke or some fruit, chocolate, whatever - you don't need to put those in the fridge. Keep them in your room or something.

All just ideas. See what works for you. You should really confront them in my opinion whether it's via a notice or by a group conversation. They can't just do that. They probably think it'll be unnoticed.
Original post by Amruk
I am in a similar situation and
I tried doing this yesterday but I was plnice and said you can ask me if u want something just before taking it and got a reply "but we don't see you much anyways"
Is this rude or is it just me! 😁


Its them. the rule should be you dont mind if they take if they have run short but they should replace. If they run out of food they can use the shops. Dont use all the milk. If they ignore just get a fridge locker as above. I never had this problem as people knew the rules and respected each other.
We had this problem.
It was really bad.

I bought a kid's plastic lunchbox and a small padlock and locked cheese etc in there. Worked a treat. :smile:

Someone else who was really angry started grinding up laxatives and putting them in the food. :redface:

Milk we always had to leave on windowsills though.
Never managed to stop them pinching that.

We never did find the culprit. :frown:
Original post by Amruk
I am in a similar situation and
I tried doing this yesterday but I was plnice and said you can ask me if u want something just before taking it and got a reply "but we don't see you much anyways"
Is this rude or is it just me! 😁


I don't know... seems slightly bad but I guess they were doing the same thing so :dontknow:
Does this uni have a resident housing team? They are usually a port of call for if you have to confront someone you live with and are possibly struggling.

From my experience, "acts of revenge" never help in this. Trust me, i tried them, it just makes a bad situation worse. Doing nothing wont help if you worry this much about it (been there too). Your best bet is to confront them about it. Maybe it was an accident and they will stop if they realise how serious you take this to be. I lived with someone who wouldn't give a damn about taking other peoples food, and it kept getting bad until we all confronted him about it.

Another benefit of bringing in your housing support team, if available, is that they might be able to help you move, if thats the only option. Sometimes if people hearing that, it can make them stop. There may also be some sort of punishment the housing support team can make either, though i doubt it.
Reply 17
Install some cctv in the fridge. Take note of what people's hands look like. Shouldn't take you long to find the culprits!
Original post by Adotmac
Install some cctv in the fridge. Take note of what people's hands look like. Shouldn't take you long to find the culprits!

That's a little excessive don't you think.
Reply 19
Original post by King Leonidas
That's a little excessive don't you think.


Agreed! 😂

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