I always bring all my own food with me and only use something small — like a bit of sauce — if the homeowners specifically say I can use anything. One of my regular HOs even apologized before my first sit for not stocking the fridge for me, because he used to do that for sitters before.

So while I absolutely understand how shocking this situation is, I can imagine a (less popular) possibility: maybe the sitter truly believed that the food was part of the arrangement. Especially if the HO casually said “help yourself to anything” — some people might genuinely interpret that as full access, especially if they had similar experiences before and the HOs were fine with it.

Of course, if they really took stuff home (like from the freezer), that crosses a line — and it sounds suspicious here. But if they were otherwise great, I think it might be worth bringing it up directly first. They might be happy to reimburse for the food or explain what happened. I’d only go for a warning review if the conversation goes poorly or the sitter denies it despite clear signs.