Keeping Your Groceries Safe from Your Children with Autism

by Christine Roach

I don’t know if I’m the only one out there, but I used to feel like I was just dumping my grocery money down the trash every week because as soon as I would put the groceries away, my children would be getting in the fridge and the cupboards and eating anything they could get their hands on or thinking it would be fun to sit with the groceries and line them up on the floor or hide them in secret spots. I can’t tell you how many times I would find rotting fruit in some odd place or catch my child trying to get into the raw meat or eat cheese or something that wasn’t on their diet.

Luckily, I figured out that I could buy fridge locks at the store (i.e., Wal-Mart or a home improvement store). There are several options that are usually found in the childproofing aisle in the baby department. My favorite lock for the fridge that usually runs around $5 is Safety 1st’s Multi-Purpose Appliance Lock.
It works great for my younger kids. Just a tip though, make sure your refrigerator is very clean or the adhesive tape on the back won’t stick. Also, we usually use super glue as well because my kids figured out that if you pull really hard, you don’t even have to know how to undo the lock because it will just pull right off of the fridge.

These worked for a couple of years; unfortunately, my oldest son recently figured out the real way to unlatch these fridge locks, so we have had to upgrade to a more expensive fridge lock. I could only find it online at marinelock.com. These are great because they come with a padlock and key, as well as an adhesive back and super glue, so there is no need for drilling into the fridge to install the lock.

As far as the cupboards go, the simplest locks for those work with cupboards that have handles. I drilled holes in my cupboard doors and then screwed in handles. The cabinet locks that work the best for me and are the most difficult for my kids to figure out are the Safety First Grip N Go Cabinet Locks. I love these because not only can I use them for my food cupboards, but I can also put them on the cabinets that have medications or household cleaners and other things that my kids might ingest that would be dangerous for them.