This Cheap Device Will Stop Roommates From Stealing Your Food [CNET]

If roomies won’t stop pilfering your precious food, there’s one way to lock it up permanently.

A roommate that steals food is bad enough — but it’s even worse when you catch them nabbing food from you and they keep doing it. 

We know, some people just won’t stop even when you call them out or try to embarrass them (it’s a common complaint on bad roommates forums). But before they drive you too crazy, we’d like to offer the one solution that works against food thieves when nothing else will — a cheap, smart fingerprint lock.

A fingerprint padlock for food

These fingerprint padlocks help protect all kinds of food spots, charge via any USB-C connection and unlock at a touch so you don’t waste time. They’re also particularly friendly for a renter’s budget and let you add multiple fingerprints depending on your situation. You can find fingerprint locks for under $30 here and here, or you can splurge a bit for a water-resistant $70 lock like this one.

When roomies won’t stop taking your food and no threats or pleas are working, a smart padlock like this will solve the issue while making a clear statement — as long as you use it correctly. We’ve got a few tips for that part, too.

Read more: Late-Night Snack? Make It One of These 7 Expert-Approved Foods for Better Sleep

How to use your fingerprint lock to guard your food

Never used a lock like this before, especially inside your home? Here are a few of the best ways to use it when you’ve had enough and want to protect your edibles — err, eatables — at all costs:

1. Lock your “hands-off” food cabinet

This is one of the easiest ways to padlock your foodstuff, as long as they don’t need to be refrigerated for the next 24 hours or so. Claim a cabinet section as your own, for your food only, then lock the handles with one of these touch padlocks. You can open and access the doors in a snap, but no one else can get inside without serious remodeling.

Are the locks we mentioned above too small for the door handles? You can try this $35 fingerprint lock with a steel loop to fit around wide handles and even tighten around some door knobs.

If the door to your food sanctum doesn’t have a handle or easy way to connect anything to a padlock, you can find a steel hasp for just $10 to make it padlock-friendly. Just make sure it’s all right for you to drill screws into the cabinetry first, possibly by speaking with a landlord if necessary.

2. Lock your personal fridge

If you’ve got a personal fridge or a mini fridge that people are getting into (or you’re “in charge” of the house fridge and want to lay down the law), you can use a smart padlock here, too. But you’ll probably need a special lock clasp designed for a refrigerator. You can find a whole kit with a student discount for $30, or you can grab one of our fingerprint padlock recommendations and add this fridge lock for it, currently at $20. Sub in your smart lock in and you’ll have a sturdy method to keep the fridge closed until you — and anyone else on your fingerprint list — want to open it up.

3. Keep a lockbox in the main fridge or pantry

Okay, you may not be able to padlock the entire kitchen fridge to keep roommates away, but you might still be able to padlock your stuff inside the refrigerator, with several types of boxes depending on what you want to store. This small $25 metal lock box slides in and out of a fridge easily, supports padlocks and has enough room to protect all kinds of leftover sandwiches or other goodies.

If your fridge has big compartments with enough room, you can try this $20 lockable, 56-quart Plano trunk instead. It’s large enough to hold a variety of food items while still being easy enough to maneuver in a fridge or pantry.

You can also find dedicated clear food storage boxes for the fridge with little wheel locks ($25). But they’re kind of clunky to use and don’t have the advantages of a fingerprint lock, so we prefer the boxes above if you can make them work.

For more information on keeping your sanity while renting, take a look at our guides on dealing with roommates stealing from your room, how to use security cameras in an apartment complex, what landlords have the right to do with security systems and the best home security systems for renters.