To think £3.25 isn't cheap for a dinner every night?

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DD (18) has a Caesar salad every night for dinner, I batch cook but she doesn't like any of the stuff so I buy her the stuff for Caesar salad. It works out at £3.25 (she likes this certain fresh hot and spicy chicken that goes on it.) She thinks this is quite cheap, I did mention that she is expensive with the food shopping and she got defensive saying that she eats cheap foods and that it isn't fair to say she is expensive! AIBU to the £3.25 every night is quite a lot for dinner?

If her preference is for cold food, that can easily be accommodated much more healthily and cheaply. There are loads of types of salad she could have.

I know this wasn’t the question, but why are you making her a special dinner? At 18, I would be serving her the same food as the rest of the family and if she can’t bear to eat it, I would let her know she is welcome to shop for her own food (and pay for it) and cook for herself. She’s too old to be coddled this way.

Well, she is still in school... I appreciate when I was 18 I had been working 3 years but things are different now. I don't "Make" stuff for her, I purchase her the stuff with the weekly shop. She then uses that stuff.

£3.25 each, while not mega money, isn't cheap to me. Cheap is £1 each or less

I think that's expensive, yes.

My DS (student, 2nd year) is home for easter break. He has bought chicken and bits for that same money that he will cook himself, that will last 3 days (of dinner).

My food per day costs less than that. £3.25 is stupid for a meal for one person at home. Why doesn’t she pay for it herself if it’s so cheap? Sounds like she has been spoilt.

Ok most people will not agree with me but for what it's worth-I say let her have the salad. If she is going off to Uni in September, then I guess she must be in full revision mode now, under alot of stress pre exams and just wants something she enjoys after a hard day of studying.
Maybe once the exams are over you can start looking at other salads/costs associated and tweak.

I regularly feed my whole family of 5 (2 adults 3 kids) for less than a fiver for the evening meal - main, side dishes and a pudding. But it takes time to prepare and usually revolves on what I found yellow-stickered in Morrisons this week. (Or previous weeks and frozen.)

£3.25 for one meal is serious treat time on my finances. If I multiplied that out to cover 35 main meals a week that would be £113.75!

Way over my budget.