The sneakiest places we’ve found kids hiding their food.

It wasn’t until my children’s school introduced a “no rubbish” policy that I found out what was really going on. The “no rubbish” policy laid everything bare. The new policy stipulated that all rubbish and uneaten food was to be placed back into kids’ lunchboxes for parents to dispose of. And it turns out that my children had been doing all they could to not eat some of the fruit and vegetable sticks I was packing for them in their lunch boxes.

I discovered that my oldest didn’t like bananas, my middle child didn’t like carrot sticks and my daughter didn’t like apples. They didn’t even bother to nibble them.

After being subjected to my usual rant about how a healthy diet is one filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables, they got smarter. They started trying to swap these items with friends, with mixed results.

"It turns out that my children had been doing all they could to not eat some of the fruit and vegetable sticks I was packing for them in their lunch boxes." Image via iStock.

Then they started placing them in different parts of their school bags. You know all those little compartments and zipper sections? Fruit, veg and other unwanted food items would be placed there for me to find whenever I bothered to open every single one of them. Then there’s the pear that went through the wash because it was in a school uniform pocket. RIP pear.

Not very clever when it comes to hiding unwanted food, are they? They could use a bit of advice from these former-children and parents about the places they hid their food and where their children are stashing items.

“I hated broccoli and often used to collect it in my lap during dinner to tactically flush down the toilet after.” Lauren

“I once hid boiled chestnuts under the couches at my grandma’s house.” Valentina

“My nephew often puts veggies in the table drawer where the remote controls go.” Anne

“My son has a “secret stash” in the spare bedroom behind the door. I am very rarely in the spare bedroom with the door shut so it goes unnoticed. He is a bit of a bowerbird so he collects food he wants for later or toys or just random household objects. We first discovered the stash when we lost three dustpan and brush sets in a month (they are his objects of desire). I couldn’t work out where they were going until I caught him stashing a pear there. I now have to check it regularly just to make sure there isn’t gross food there.” Tegan

"He is a bit of a bowerbird so he collects food he wants for later or toys or just random household objects." Image via iStock.

“My friend always tells me this story about how she HATES the smell of bananas and her mum constantly packed her a banana in her lunchbox that made her sandwiches smell like bananas. So she would never eat it and after school she would throw her sandwich behind her wardrobe. WEEKS later her parents heard her yelling out in her sleep, walked in to check and found her yelling, “It’s behind the cupboard,” or something and pointing in her sleep, moved the wardrobe and found like, 30-50 sandwiches piled up in there.” Freya

“I grew up in one of those homes where you had to finish everything on your plate or you had to sit there until you did, or get it for breakfast. This was normally okay because my mum was an excellent cook, however when it came to cooked carrots, they ended up in my pockets. Sometimes I even remembered to put them in the bin before my clothes went in the wash.” Janine

“I have found peas underneath the watermelon in the big bowl I serve it in. It’s sort of cute they think that’s a good hiding spot.” Katie

“Under the dinner plate. I mean, why? Seriously, not a good hiding spot. And makes it hard to clean up after dinner.” Melanie

“I found out (from a teacher because they got in trouble for doing this) that the cucumber slices I had been giving my son with his school lunch were being flung across the schoolyard like little Frisbees.” Maree

Us parents will just have to be content that our kids are getting most of the fruits and vegetables their little bodies need… When we have our eye on them.

What’s the strangest place you've found your kids hiding food?