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?

I can't fathom how a single portion of Caesar Salad made at home can possibly cost £3.75.

I can't understand how a single portion of caesar salad is costing £3:25? Even with buying pre-packaged chicken? I do think it's a lot for one person for one meal, but it entirely depends on your income and your budget as to whether that's acceptable to you. I would also be concerned that the pre-packaged chicken is creating an awful lot of plastic waste every week, again, simply for one person for one meal.

Is she going to be going off to uni? If so, presumably she won't be able to eat like this on a student budget?

She's 18. Stop.

£3.25 is ridiculous for ONE salad.

It's not however particularly expensive for one MEAL.

Why is it costing so much to make a single salad

... but why is she eating the same thing for dinner every single night? That would be concerning me a lot more than if £3 is expensive or not (it is for a single person's dinner).

I think that's about what our Xmas dinner is per head

If you spend around £6 for 2 chicken breasts, £3.25 for one full salad doesn't sound that much....

This article I was just reading on the BBC about how important fibre is ties in quite nicely with the subject of a Caesar salad every night which has very little fibre.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-46827426

On the cost front, I agree it's not cheap. I'm on a budget but choose to eat meat less often in order to be able to buy free range. Even for one of our meat meals I expect the whole meal's budget per person to come in at under £3. For a non-meat dinner I don't expect a meal to cost more than £1.50pp

I do understand how it costs £3+ to make:

Just on a rough estimate:
Chicken breast could easily be £2
Half a cos lettuce: 40p
Lots of shaved parmesan: 30p
Lots of Caesar dressing: 30p

I'm 25p off but far from astounded that the DD's salad might cost £3.25

I expect that the chicken is some sort of cooked portion or pre packed sliced breast meat, that is probably around £2 for a pack that’s not even one whole chicken breast, and an expensive way to buy chicken. Then you’ve got the lettuce, cheese, dressing and croutons, so not surprised at all that it costs £3.25 per meal.

Obviously you could buy a whole raw chicken for about £6 which would have enough meat to do a week’s worth of salads with at least the same amount of meat per salad, so a big saving, but you’d have to cook, portion and season it, so messy and time consuming.

It wouldn't be considered expensive in this house but we spend quite a lot on free range food, good quality meat, nice cheeses etc. We tend to economise on other stuff rather than food.

As PPs have said, it's relative to income surely. I budget £10 per night for an evening meal that makes four portions. Some nights it might be a bit more if using an expensive cut of meat or fish but other nights might be less if meat free or cheaper cut of meat. Overall it seems to balance out at around £2.50 per portion though. Some people will think that's a lot, others I'm sure will spend more. I would therefore class £3.25 as a bit on the expensive side for one meal if it was that every night. Would probably be more worried about how varied her diet was though, even if she is mixing it up a bit more for lunch and breakfast. Lots of the latest research on health suggests the bigger variety of food we eat the better. She will probably grow out of it though!

Why don't you add up the cost per person for one of your alternative meals to compare? You can then say her meals are costing twice as much as everyone elses (for example) if you actually find that it is roughly equivalent then there isnt a problem.

Like pp have said it depends on your life style, if it is significantly more then the rest of you then you have a point and you can quantify that with her.

If you spend £2 less person per meal then she does then that adds up to £700 a year!!

I like the idea above where she buys her own food, if its as cheap as she says then she wont mind will she :)

I would be slightly concerned about her eating the same thing everyday. not because of the nutrition, caesar salad is quite good, but because of the control aspect. Maybe a red flag for obsessive/disordered eating depending one what else she has.

She's 18 so she can eat what she wants at the end of the day, I'm sure she's aware it's not healthy. It's her own responsibility. It would irk me too that she's saying it's a cheap meal though- it is not and would likely tell her she can start paying for her own food at 18, like a lot of other adults are doing , at the minimum make a higher financial contribution if each dinner costs £3+ and all her other meals are free. Free food and what you want for dinner every day is quite a privilege and it would concern me she doesn't grasp that.
Treat her like an adult OP, she is one. I'm sure the novelty of the salad will pass at some point regardless.

Without resorting to the MN chicken... actually, of course I'm going to resort to the MN chicken!

Those little packs of pre-cooked chicken are both expensive and the lowest quality barn meat you can buy. Plus that's seven plastic trays going into the bin every week... the dressing and cheese is super-fatty as well. So on a lot of levels this isn't a great meal, never mind the cost.

You can get a free range chicken from Lidl for £5 that would do a week of meals...

That’s not cheap £22.75 a week and only one person in the household has one meal per day

It's relative to income and to food budget.

If you want to prove her wrong, do the sums and show her.

I think it is expensive for just one person, is she only having this for dinner everyday? It’s not really nutritious to have a Caesar salad every single day. Unless I’ve got the wrong end of the stick

Just compare it with the cost of what the family is eating. She doesn't understand in isolation, because she's comparing it to a meal deal or a meal out. When she realises that the family meal costs less than that for all of you, she'll appreciate it better. Help her find ways to make it cheaper- different lettuce, make her own croutons, sauce etc.

It wouldn't bother me too much,if I was in that position I'd probably let her have it as it's her home and has a right to eat what she prefers just like everyone else in the family.

I completely disagree that 18 year old are adults and should start paying for their own mean. Again, as for the budget, it's all relative. If they are in full time education, it makes no difference if they are 15, 18 or 24. At least it doesn't in my house!

If they have time to slob in the tv for hours, then yes, they should get a part-time job. If they are genuinely busy with studies and hobbies, they haven't got time.

18 is not a magical number when everything suddenly changes.

I think it is expensive. We are a family of 5 and if we spent £3.25 on each person's evening meal it would cost £16.25 a day or £113.75 just to cover dinner. Presumably you all eat breakfast, lunch, supper, snacks, have drinks, fruit and use toiletries, cleaning products and toilet roll. If you spend £113.75 a week on dinner before you buy the rest you are going to end up with a hefty bill. Either everybody else is eating much more frugally than her or you are spending a lot on groceries. So I agree with you. You may be able to afford her Caesar salad every night but she is not eating cheaply. She is likely to be spending more of your food budget than anyone else in your family.

she's probably judging it against what it would cost to order at Nando's - does she have any sense of what homemade food costs and what your weekly budget is?

I have an 18 year old, no way would I let them dictate to me like that I’m their Mother not their own personal cook. That’s whats getting me on this thread not the cost aspect. Very occasionally I cook stew, DS is really not keen on stew. So I say do you want stew or do you want to do yourself something. He will sometimes have stew and sometimes do himself something out of the freezer/ larder.

I also agree about the food control thing, people often eat the same thing for breakfast everyday. I’m looking at DH 20 year love affair with cornflakes. Do you know what she eats for lunch? I’m wondering if she feels this food is safe as opposed. When highly stressed I can only eat certain foods. I’m talking about bereavements and life changing events though.

I think it's quite expensive for a young person on a limited budget which is what she will be soon enough.

We do a mix of meals, some expensive some cheap, and I'd be irritated if instead of my 50 p meal someone insisted on the pre prepared dearer meal.