AITA for telling my roommate to pay for her own food after she ate my meal prep?

A Redditor recounts a situation with her roommate, Luna, who ate most of her carefully prepared meal prep for the week. After spending hours making the meals, the Redditor confronted Luna and asked her to either buy her own food or share grocery costs moving forward.

Luna became defensive, claiming that as roommates, sharing was implied. Now, she’s not speaking to the Redditor, who questions if she was too harsh. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for telling my roommate to pay for her own food after she ate my meal prep?’

I’m a 24F studying economics and I’ve been living with my roommate Luna for about six months now. I’ve got this whole meal prep thing going on to save money and time, right? Well, last Sunday, I made these amazing chicken teriyaki bowls that were supposed to last me the week.

But here’s the drama: I come home to find out Luna has already eaten most of my meals. I was pretty upset, like, I spent hours on that. So, I told her she needs to start buying her own food or we should split the cost of groceries from now on.

Luna got all defensive, saying she was hungry and thought it was okay since we’re roommates. Now she’s not talking to me, and I’m left wondering if I was too strict. Should I have just shared? Is AITA for setting boundaries about food?

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

National_Pension_110 −  NTA. She should have just apologized and pulled out her wallet or ordered you some uber eats. The fact that she’s trying to make you uncomfortable shows the way she handles conflict:

1. Get Defensive. 2. Silent Treatment 3. Awkwardness to make you uncomfortable. People who fight like this need to be called out on their b**lshit. Don’t touch my food. Hard stop.

SavingsRhubarb8746 −  NTA – from now on, you should each buy your own food – no more “sharing”. I don’t think sharing the cost of the groceries alone will work since Luna clearly thinks it’s reasonable for her to eat most of what must have obviously been a week’s worth of food you made for yourself.

When she as told that she ate your all your lunches for an entire week, she should have apologized profusely and replaced what she ate, not sulked silently.

When you start paying for your own, make sure you label all your food. You might end up having to keep it locked away in your bedroom; that happens sometimes in roommate situations.

kurokomainu −  NTA You are being too lenient, especially as she is already trying it on by flipping things on you to see if that will allow her to get away with doing things like this. Don’t be scared of her moods or defensiveness. She’s weaponizing them.

I’d tell her that she not only stole the ingredients you paid for she also stole all the time and effort which went into the preparation. She owes you an equivalent amount of ready-made meals. Does she want to pay for delivered food, or what?

How does she intend to make things right? Odds are you won’t get a fully satisfactory result there, but this allows you to set clear and strict rules — from now on your groceries are all separate and your food is strictly off-limits.

You don’t care if she’s hungry. That’s her problem. You never want to have to deal with anything like this again and the rules have to be clear so there can be no “mistakes.”

Square-Minimum-6042 −  You are not her mommy and it’s not your job to feed her.

I_wanna_be_anemone −  NTA she stole your food, not only the cost of the ingredients but also all the time you put into prepping your meals. She’s a grown woman who should be capable of doing her own shopping/cooking. 

[Reddit User] −  NTA. She should’ve at least asked beforehand. My roommate would always ask ahead if she could eat something I made and vice versa. She can’t just assume everything is shared bc you’re roommates, does she also expect to share a toothbrush lol

ColoredGayngels −  NTA. Stop paying for her groceries

EarlyElderberry7215 −  NTA, girl she stole from you, even if she was family it wouldnt be okey.

Winter_Cat-78 −  What is with all these clueless people eating their roommates’ food? NTA. That’s rude as hell. At bare minimum she should have texted to ask permission.

Either_Ad6318 −  NTA. It’s time to have some adult conversations with your roommate about boundaries, money, and respect. If she wants to have easy quick access food she can prepare it WITH you and split the cost.

Do you think the Redditor was justified in setting boundaries about food, or should she have been more flexible with her roommate? How would you handle a similar situation with a housemate? Share your thoughts below!