AITAH for installing a lock on my fridge to stop my roommate from ‘stress-eating’ my food?

A Reddit user (30F) shares her dilemma after installing a lock on her fridge to stop her roommate, Sarah (29F), from constantly eating her food under the excuse of “stress-eating.” The breaking point came when Sarah devoured an entire homemade tiramisu that the user had made as a form of self-care after a tough week. Sarah claims the locked fridge is ruining their living dynamic, but the user feels it’s the only way to protect her groceries and peace of mind. Read the full story below…

‘ AITAH for installing a lock on my fridge to stop my roommate from ‘stress-eating’ my food?’

So, I (30F) live with my roommate, Sarah (29F), who has this habit of eating everything in the fridge, whether it’s hers or not. She always says it’s because she’s “stressed” and swears she’ll replace it, but my groceries vanish faster than a dating app match after mentioning kids. The last straw was when she ate my emotional support tiramisu. For context, I’d spent hours making this tiramisu after a rough week at work. It was my therapy in a dessert.

Sarah ate the whole thing without asking and left a note on the empty dish that said, “Sorry! PMS sucks. I owe you.” That was it. I lost it. I ordered a lock for the fridge for my food and moved everything into it. Now Sarah’s furious, saying I’ve “ruined the vibe of the apartment” and that I’m “passive-aggressive” for locking her out of the shared fridge. She even tried to rally our other roommates against me (spoiler: they also hide their snacks from her).
AITAH for locking up my food, or is Sarah just mad she can’t steal my serotonin anymore?.

• UPDATE(S) – 12/22:
  
• There is a TEMPORARY lock on the fridge while we figure out a solution.
  
• We have no proof to go to the cops, we have receipts from the last 6 months of grocery bills and she claims that she could have been on those grocery runs. She also took the broken lock from my roommate.
  
• We’ve lived with Sarah for around 6 years now , she was one of the core girls in our group and this has only started within the last 14 months. So we care about her as a person but this behavior can’t continue. She only. 
• Recently started saying it’s because we make more money than her and that it’s only fair we share since we’ve been friends for so long.
  
• -We’ve gone to the landlord for theft, he claims that we just need to work it out and don’t really have a leg to stand on. We also use a paying portal with him where we automatically split the rent four ways. 
• As for buying a fridge , we already bought two 400 dollar coolers and that still didn’t work. Why should we pay an additional few hundred for a fridge and our electric bills would be insane.
  
• -We CANNOT break the lease. We would loose our 4,800 security deposit and need to pay 9.8k for 60 days of rent until they find new tenants (& we can’t live there during the 60 days)
  
• Her parents are crazy strict and a**sive and feel bad for going to her parents.

Here’s what Redditors had to say:

pixie-ann −  Nope, f**k Sarah. She can buy her own stress reduction food from now on. Send her a bill for the replacement ingredients for the tiramisu and anything else she’s eaten recently.. NTA.

Tomorrow_Bunny222 −  NTA. If I made tiramisu from scratch after a hard week and someone ate ALL of it without asking and then left a note on the empty dish blaming PMS, their life would be in danger lol.

Front_Rip4064 −  NTA. If Sarah is stealing everyone’s food, you need to have a house meeting and everyone bar Sarah decides on a solution. Also, she’s going into your rooms to steal food? That should be an immediate eviction as far as I’m concerned, because your rooms are not common property. You didn’t ruin the vibe. She did. And now she’s pissed because she knows the reckoning is coming.

Perimentalpause −  NTA. “I’m not passive aggressive. I’m assertively sticking to my boundaries. Just because you say ‘oops sorry’ doesn’t mean I’ve given you permission to keep stealing my food. I don’t want you to ‘get me back’. I want the s**t I bought or made to be there when I want it, when I’m expecting it, and not to have been consumed by you. I do not accept your ‘sorry’.

I do not condone your behavior. So since you can’t seem to stop yourself, I’m protecting my assets. If this is the only way to be sure that I have what I bought/made, then so be it. You’re mad that I’m solving the problem you’re presenting. Too bad, so sad. Be a better roommate and this wouldn’t happen.”

RegretPowerful3 −  NTA. Make a list with the price of every ingredient for the tiramisu and anything else with a date to pay you back. It’s not okay for her to eat your food. In terms of her perishables, since it’s a known habit that she cannot share a fridge and leave your and your roommates’ food alone, she should look into a mini fridge with a freezer (if she needs the freezer as well) that she can keep in her bedroom. They are relatively inexpensive and think about not having her on the lease when it’s time to renew.

Trailsya −  The t**ef should be kicked out of the house.. NTA.

ZSforPrez −  Jesus. An apology would have been appropriate. She literally just wanted to keep stealing and eating your food, what a b**ch for blaming anything on you.

Amadecasa −  Here’s a novel idea………All the roommates stop bringing food into the apartment for a couple of weeks. It will be a hardship on the roommates, but it might be a wake up call for the food t**ef. Eat at restaurants or get take out. If you have a car, keep a cooler with food in the car. If there’s nothing to steal she may snap out of it.

Dachshundmom5 −  She’s breaking locks and stealing from you. This is time to vote her off the island behavior. If she was breaking locks and stealing money from your wallets, would you think you were an AH? Food costs money. She’s stealing from all of you.

Interesting_Lab3802 −  You need to hold her down while she sleeps and beat her with a sack of sweet Valencia oranges, it won’t leave a bruise and show her who’s boss. Seriously thought keep the lock on the main fridge. She can buy her own mini fridge. Why should 3 people have to spend money because she’s doesn’t have any respect for your food?