What would your punishment be for this....

[Soubriquet]

We have discovered that food the dc don’t want to eat has been shoved under the wardrobe

It was found purely by chance.

We don’t normally move the wardrobe to hoover under it because it’s so big and cumbersome. It’s been under there so long it’s gone mouldy

They are both grounded tomorrow but what else could happen?

They have been eating in their room because there isn’t real room in the living room (very small room) and we eat different times as I’m in bed early due to night shift work.

The first thing we have done is squeezed a small amount of space in so they can no longer eat unsupervised. It will be an extremely tight squeeze but a necessary evil

5 and 7 and they are eating alone in their bedroom!

And you want to punish them!!!????

I think you need to re-evaluate the whole situation

And teach your kids about wildlife and putting food in the garden / out the window!

We ate together right up until it became too hard when they all got jobs/started driving. I can't imagine sending them off to eat alone at that age.
There'd be no punishment from me but there'd definitely be a rethink around meal times.

I would teach that any unwanted food is collected in a bag and used as compost or fed to other animals that could eat it :-)

Im also thinking that the food is probably not for their taste/age. my little one doesn't eat somr of the foods that other adults happlily eat in my house. for example he didn't eat rhubarb crumble today said it was spicy. frozen food isn't nice. if you're busy yourself and dont have time to cook I'm thinking if they're just getting unhealthy frozen meals and bland tasteles food

Kids are naughty, its not always about sitting down and trying to understand them. I used to do this because I didn't want to stop playing and go to the kitchen bin. Once I knew my mum had seen it, I stopped. Simple.

kids can learn quickly, my 3 year old knows that leftover food doesn't go into the bin, its collected in a bag for wildlife :-) and he puts it in that bag himself. Also think about other creatures who in winter don't have enough food

Why would you punish them?
I can’t think of a single reason why this is their fault.

I don’t understand in your first post you said it was food the children didn’t want to eat then in the second it is food they chose to eat.
Either way the hiding of food is down to fear of some sort rather something that needs a punishment.
Grounding them for hiding food is not exactly opening up the lines of communication.
I think you need to address your own attitude to food.

When I was a child we had mass on Mondays at school so we could not have breakfast before school.
We brought sandwiches to eat in the classroom after mass.
My mother always made the sandwiches from the Sunday roast and I did not like meat plus she always left fat in and it made me feel sick so I would push the sandwiches to the back of my drawer under my desk.
I think I was about 7 years old.
One day there was a funny smell in the classroom. The teacher pulled out all the food from my desk drawer and I was made to look stupid in front of all the class. It was a bad day that day and I never forgot how she humiliated me.
She called me stupid and thick and I believed her

@TryingNotToPanicOverCovid

Absolutely wouldn't punish.

I'd try to seek to understand why hey didnt feel they could tell you they didn't like it or were full. You really don't want to head towards eating issues.

Are they on their own all day?

This

Just tell them that they shouldn't push food under the wardrobe because it goes mouldy and smelly and attracts pests. I don't think they need to punished.

@PeggyHill

Just tell them that they shouldn't push food under the wardrobe because it goes mouldy and smelly and attracts pests. I don't think they need to punished.

Exactly

Big heavy furniture should be screwed to the wall to prevent it falling on children.