Not that you’d ever do anything illegal obviously but what are some ways you’d recommend if someone wanted to steal large-ish amounts of food (to feed the max amount of people) from a grocery store that had cameras? Thank you for the work you do comrade 💕
Ooh, writing a fanfic?
Well one good way would be to have your character bring in a reusable grocery bag, fill it up, then either go to the bathroom and leave it outside the door or sit on a bench (like next to an in-store pharmacy or something) and look at their phone for a while, before walking right out. That’s a pretty low-risk way to get a lot at once, especially if the fic involves visiting several stores - but the character should still bring money with them, because if they’re caught they can just say that they zoned out and forgot to pay then go back in and take care of it, avoiding any problems. That excuse becomes a lot less believable if they don’t have their wallet on them!
There are also legal ways to get a lot of free food, though, which may be a lot safer for this character. Dumpster diving can sometimes get you a loooot if the store just culled their shelves - just don’t get discouraged if you run into a few empty dumpsters, it can take several stops before finding a good spot most nights, but that one good spot sometimes has way more than you need. @freegan-life has a lot of great resource posts about this
And your character could also start a food rescue! This is basically cutting out the middleman on dumpster diving and getting the food before it gets to the dumpster. The Food Not Bombs handbook is the best writing reference you could ask for for this kind of thing
Good luck with your writing! ✊💕
Some things to consider for your writing:
Safe dumpster diving practice
What happens when you get caught?
Some other tips
Another one for your fanfic, since a bathroom or bench isn’t always available. (This advice might not be right for every fanfic setting either, look at whether it’s a good idea where you are):
Have your character go to one of those grocery stores so large that no one keeps track of individual shoppers. They get a cart or basket at the door and put a large re-useable bag in it. Inside this bag is a second re-useable grocery bag, so it’s two layers of fabric basically. Preferably this second bag has long straps to be worn on one shoulder.
Fill up your double bag with your expensive grocery items. Then find a spot with no security cameras (every shop has blind spots, your character may want to find them on a previous visit so they do not have to look at security cameras on the day itself), take out the inner bag and sling it over your shoulder. Make sure there’s plenty of room at the top so the content isn’t visible. If it has a zipper or button up top, even better. Now fill up the second bag with a few cheap items, walk to the cash register and pay for them.
Again, if you get caught, pretend that you forgot about that second bag.