Australian mums are going to extreme lengths to stop their housemates and work colleagues from stealing and eating their food from the fridge.
One woman stores her groceries in black Woolworths shopping bags then ties them up and locks them with a padlock to prevent one of her housemates from helping themselves to her and her one-year-old’s food.
Another followed suit and bought a cool bag and padlock from Kmart for $17 to prevent her sneaky coworkers from stealing her lunches.
Many were impressed with the anti-theft solutions however many were shocked that people would be so bold as to steal food.
The mum has to buy allergy-safe food for her one-year-old but found much of it was going missing and she suspected one of her housemates was behind the disappearances.
A mum has been forced to padlock her groceries in $1 Woolworths bags in her fridge to stop her housemates from stealing her food
The woman had confronted her housemates about her missing food however no one came forward as the culprit and the theft continued.
‘Here is my solution – a $1 Woolies bag and a padlock. I got four padlocks for $6. So for $10 I have four lockable bags. They are thin enough that they stay cold. I’ve even got one bag in the freezer,’ she explained in an online post.
‘Just tie the handles together heaps and make sure it’s super tight then padlock the tops together. Then you can’t untie it and no one can steal the food unless they cut open the bag which is super obvious and no one has done it yet.’
Since using the bags and padlocks, she said she hasn’t had anything else get stolen or go missing.
‘Very happy so I wanted to share this idea in case anyone else had my problem and can use my solution,’ the mum added.
‘That’s great! And they can’t see what you have in there to tempt them as well,’ one user replied.
One worker had to resort to padlocking her Kmart cool bag to stop her colleagues from eating her lunch: ‘$12 Lunch Bag from Kmart, $5 lock, never having your lunch stolen again priceless’
READ MORE: Australian shoppers outraged over one small detail after a shoplifter is caught stealing $400 worth of groceries from Woolworths
‘Great idea! It sucks that you had to do this though,’ another said and a third added: ‘Wonder if I can use this to stop my ADHD and ODD kids from stealing his siblings’ food and things’.
The mum wasn’t the only person who has been having problems with her groceries going missing.
One worker had to resort to padlocking her Kmart cool bag to stop her colleagues from eating her lunch.
‘$12 Lunch Bag from Kmart, $5 lock, never having your lunch stolen again PRICELESS!!!’ she said in a post to the Kmart Home Decor and Hacks Australia Facebook page.
‘Sick of having my lunch stolen from the office… Who does that? SERIOUSLY!!! No trip to HR or strongly-worded email needed, just take it into your own hands. Lock may rust but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.’
Many were surprised that people were having to go to such lengths to deter lunchbox thieves.
‘People really do that?!’ someone asked.
‘What the heck!! Actually opening your lunch bag and going into it!!! I have accidentally taken a wrapped sandwich of someone else’s sitting by itself on the self,’ another recalled.
‘Realised when I bit into it. Mine was on the next shelf down. I offered them my sandwich.’
But many mums in the comments had their own stories of classmates and colleagues helping themselves to meals in communal fridges.
‘I had to get a lock for my daughter’s bag as she kept having her lunch stolen at school. It fixed the problem,’ one woman said.
‘How bizarre! My son keeps having his lunch stolen at school, so we have just put a padlock on his lunchbox… Why does it need to get to this stage???’ another wrote.
‘We watch a very highly paid person (earns double what we earn) in our office help themselves to other people’s lunches,’ a third added.