Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Quis custodiet the custard?

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I'm not your lunch

Because missing lunch due to theft sucks
  (+13, -1)(+13, -1)
(+13, -1)
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I've had one too many of my Lean Cuisines get eaten without me. Now, that's just sad, when somebody goes and steals your Lean Cuisine. Making off with the take-away box from FATS Barbecue I can see, but my fat-free spinach canoli? C'mon.

So to fight the problem, we cobble together a "mousetrap" frozen lunch package that looks just like any other frozen quick-prep food product, that clicks a quick picture of whoever opens the package and emails the picture via prepaid cell connection to the recipient account you designate. Set it and forget it. You can either have the picture sent to yourself - so you can nab the bastard - or predesignate a recipient besides yourself, so you can send your suspect a photo of himself caught in the act. That assumes, of course, that you guessed correctly who the freezer thief was.

Don't forget it so long that somebody eventually decides it's junk and tosses it. Then your pictures will be of the squasher truck's compacter plate getting closer and closer.

elhigh, Sep 22 2008

32-P http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus
[normzone, Sep 22 2008]

Anti-Theft Lunch Bag (design prototype) http://www.skforlee...work/lunch_bag.html
Another approach. Doesn't really work for packaged frozen food, though. [jutta, Sep 23 2008]

[link]






       Just make something covered with cottage cheese and smelling of fish, vinegar, garlic, and wasabi...   

       ...then pack your real lunch under it.
Spacecoyote, Sep 22 2008
  

       suggest title: Decoy lunch
Voice, Sep 22 2008
  

       Why not place a video spycam inside your ref too so you can evaluate the motive of each opener? In this high-tech environment, a still shot is not fair enough and definitely too crude.   

       ...Unfortunately, those just too curious are often made suspects...
rotary, Sep 22 2008
  

       Cost of Lunch: $1.45.   

       Cost of pre-paid connectivity (per event): $ 4.00.   

       Seeing your boss eat your Tofu and grilled vegetable bagel drizzle with cumin vinegrette: Priceless.
4whom, Sep 22 2008
  

       There's some things money can buy...for everything else, there's Halfbakery.
Spacecoyote, Sep 22 2008
  

       [rotary], the camera is actually inside the package. Nothing happens until you actually open it - curiousity is just handling and looking at it the package. Opening it is something else again.   

       I know it isn't cheap, but if it prevented the loss of several lunches, that's money well-spent.
elhigh, Sep 22 2008
  

       Alternatively, you could just use a dye-pack rigged to the tear-off zip strip on the carton. It wouldn't be too hard to identify the culprit in the office when he/she has to walk around all afternoon with the public stigma of blue stained hands.
jurist, Sep 22 2008
  

       Problem is that you may not even get your one shot, the fridge is bound to be outside the cameras temp minimum. Go a little simpler and add a camera outside the fridge that records everything. Then sit back and watch the show. You can go even cheaper and put in a baby monitor and watch all the fun. Some can add on a VCR for evidence.
MisterQED, Sep 22 2008
  

       It's much easier to just inject a smidgen of 32-P into the otherwise normal luncheon item. It's then very easy to tell who the culprit is. Or was.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 22 2008
  

       [+] for the overall concept behind the idea, but why not get a meal cooked with SmartWater ?
8th of 7, Sep 22 2008
  

       A few of the annos remind me of the time I took a sharpie marker, colored a handful of jelly beans black, then asked my friends who wants them. His teeth were black for the rest of the day.   

       Alternately: Take lean cuisine box (or favorite microwavable dinner), remove food (via mouth), in place of food in container place gasoline and crumpled aluminium foil and re-seal. Mark very clearly: Do not microwave/eat! This is not yours. Then simply blame whoever sets the room on fire.
swimr, Sep 22 2008
  

       Why cell phone? Use your company's wifi. You can even rig up a little solar panel, and charge it off the refrigerator's light.
Worldgineer, Sep 22 2008
  

       motion-sensor, tiny speaker, swirly hypnodisc...
"This is not the lunch you are looking for"
FlyingToaster, Sep 23 2008
  

       "This lunch has been here for three or four seasons. It is for sale, if you want it."
lurch, Sep 23 2008
  

       A burrowing spycam suddenly lurch from lunch to launch a church-projector picture image of the culprit among the pulpit overweight servants...
rotary, Sep 23 2008
  

       Yes, [rotary], very James Joyce, very Bollocks.
8th of 7, Sep 23 2008
  

       I'm on it! I've had one too many of my Hungry Man dinners taken here at work. Refigicam will be built by the end of the week.
Blisterbob, Sep 23 2008
  

       Just place a sticker on your (opaque) lunchbox which reads "Stool Sample, March 2001"
monojohnny, Sep 23 2008
  

       Why has no-one suggested RFID? Has their therapy been effective?   

       I'm suggesting a camera or two on the fridge door. When the door handle is pulled, take a photo of the person. When the door is closed, take a flash picture of the inside of the fridge, including the contents. Send files to computer network.
baconbrain, Sep 23 2008
  

       Why do you need a flash ? There's that little light, surely ?
8th of 7, Sep 23 2008
  

       The little light goes off when the door is closed. You'd have learned that as a kid, if you had a mean big brother.   

       I suppose you could activate the light for the camera, or take the photo just as the door closes.
baconbrain, Sep 24 2008
  

       //that clicks a quick picture of whoever opens the package//

Not being a consumer of 'Lean Cuisine' (sounds 'orrible if you ask me, guv), I assume we are talking about a cardboard sleeve? If so then I foresee a problem with getting the camera angle right, especially for a single shot. Which end is the packet going to be opened from, and which way up will it be at the time? Also, wouldn't the camera have to be attached to the microwaveable container and therefore likely to explode when it goes into the oven (I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, just pointing it out).

I like the overall concept but I feel that the detail needs a bit more work.

</Dragons Den> I'm out! </DD>
DrBob, Sep 24 2008
  

       [bacon] //RFID// Perfect! Add one to a meal, then walk around the office after lunch with an RFID scanner.
Worldgineer, Sep 24 2008
  

       [UB] Brilliant - doable, vicious, subtle. <gleeful cackle>
elhigh, Sep 25 2008
  

      
//Also, wouldn't the camera have to be attached to the microwaveable container and therefore likely to explode when it goes into the oven//
  

       But that's it! An exploding Lean Cuisine would identify the thief in an instant. The body, see, that's the thief!
ldischler, Sep 26 2008
  
      
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