Woman eats roommate’s food when her spending runs dry

DEAR ABBY » A couple of months ago, I moved from my mother’s into an apartment with a friend I had rekindled a high school friendship with a few years back.

The first month in, I noticed she had eaten a few of my freezer meals, so I confronted her about it. She started crying and told me she was waiting for a new debit card in the mail and had limited cash to get her through until the card arrived. I told her she should have said something, and I would have happily let her have some of my food, but for her not to ask was rude because I rely on those freezer meals for quick and easy lunches at work.

I finished the box of meals and bought a new one. It was a large box with six packages inside. I intentionally left it unopened to see if she would steal food from me again. Lo and behold, a month later, I went to open the box and saw she’d taken two of them.

How do I confront her a second time? She doesn’t have a car so she Ubers to work, which adds up, and she spends hundreds of dollars on her anime hobby. If I can’t trust her with small things like food and snacks, how am I supposed to trust her at all? We just signed a two-year lease, and I cannot sublet. — Hungry For Honesty

DEAR HUNGRY » I am sorry to say this, but your roommate has proven she can’t be trusted. Are her problems financial or emotional? Cross your fingers and hope she can come up with the rent each month. If you can afford it, purchase a small refrigerator for your bedroom, install a strong padlock on the door and use it to secure ALL of your property until the lease expires. If your roommate asks why the lock and fridge are being installed, confront her again then.