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Shared groceries only work when everyone contributes and respects the agreed limits.

How much food should one roommate sacrifice for an unemployed guest who promised to help but never did?

After finding her shelves empty and budget exhausted, this young woman moved groceries into her bedroom.

Now bread has become household contraband.

AITA for keeping groceries in my cupboard and lying about it to my roommates???

I (23F) live with my boyfriend (22M), my best friend (21F), and her boyfriend (24M).

I have been working at a new job for about 7 months.

I get a regular salary for starting at the bottom, so I can basically just afford simple monthly expenses such as rent, utilities, and groceries.

This woman’s boyfriend and best friend help out with the monthly bills.

My boyfriend is studying his degree.

He helps with bills from money he earns from a part-time job and that his parents give him for his allowance.

My best friend helps out with bills from an allowance she gets from her parents. She is also still studying her degree.

Eventually, her best friend’s boyfriend moved in with them.

The three of us decided to rent an apartment together as it was a more affordable option. We discussed that we would split the bills between us equally.

This arrangement was working well until my best friend’s boyfriend moved in.

He repeatedly stated that he would also help with the bills, but until he found a job, he could only help with groceries.

We all agreed this was okay, but also said that he couldn’t stay here forever without bringing his side.

She noticed that the groceries she bought were disappearing fast.

I started to notice over time that the groceries I was buying were disappearing at a faster rate.

I asked my boyfriend, but he said that he genuinely didn’t take any extra groceries.

My boyfriend and I are really trying to save money for the future, so we budget everything down to the groceries.

I don’t mean that we go hungry to save money. I just mean that we don’t eat 900g T-bone steaks every night.

She found out it was her best friend’s boyfriend who was consuming their pantry stocks.

Then, I noticed that my best friend’s BF was eating meals in the kitchen with my groceries.

I let it go on for a while until I no longer had food to eat myself and had no money to buy more.

I called a house meeting in which I stated that I was not happy with this whole issue.

They (my best friend and her boyfriend) stated they would buy their own food from then on and that we would no longer share with them.

She started keeping her groceries in a cupboard in her bedroom.

After that, food didn’t disappear as much, but it was still finishing faster than it should.

I then started keeping my groceries in my cupboard in my bedroom.

I hate confrontation, so when I needed something from my cupboard, I would make sure they weren’t there to see.

But I’ve bumped into my best friend’s boyfriend while carrying some groceries out of my room.

They then started to ask if I had extra groceries that they could have, e.g., bread, to which I would say no.

This was lying, as I did have bread but for work sandwiches.

Now, her best friend and boyfriend are acting cold toward her.

It’s been about one month now, and my best friend and her boyfriend both feel cold towards me still.

I often catch them whispering and stop when my boyfriend or I enter.

I am not sure if this was maybe the wrong solution for the problem. But I don’t see how I now have to be treated like a villain because my groceries are in my cupboard.

AITA?

They made an agreement not to share groceries anymore, so her friend and friend’s boyfriend shouldn’t care where she stores the groceries she buys.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on Reddit to this story.

Here’s a possible response to the roommate.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

You are not a food bank, says this person.

This person offers some advice.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an artist who made sure to leave the walls of her home blank and boring before moving out, even though they were covered with gorgeous murals before then.

And lastly, this person has a question.

This young woman was reasonable for protecting her groceries after repeated theft and an explicit agreement that everyone would purchase food separately.

The cold behavior avoids the real problem: an extra resident is consuming household resources without contributing the share he promised.

The freeloading reached such heights that even the bread needed witness protection.