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

[MatchFound]

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 she gets an allowance, tell her that she can buy any special meals she wants out of that

but that sharing normal family meals remains free

I make batch family meals, all variety and she doesn't want it, always wants the salad.

Why does she always get what she wants?

You may well be right about the cost and its fair that you are making her see that. I can see that it might be annoying but also at 17/18 in a house where someone else (usually Mum) has done most of the cooking, shopping, meal planning, for years, in comparison they are inexperienced at all of these things.
In addition, teens are under a lot of pressure to lose weight, stay healthy and they are getting their information from all over the place, some of it not particulary good information .
Could you direct her to some decent food websites.. with more recepies... where she can start planning meals within a budget and send her out to buy the food herself. AT 18 good experience for her anyway to realise the time and thought that goes into this process anyway.. She will probably make some mistakes but will learn. Gook luck!

I make batch family meals, all variety and she doesn't want it, always wants the salad.

Well let her go out and buy it then. You cook the evening meal and if she doesn't want it she sorts herself out. She can buy it, pay for it, prepare it and clean up after it. This would not be a problem in our house.

Does she at least make it herself?

make a diy version of it, or get her to,
cook chicken, salad, bottle of Caesar sauce

She's 18. She can learn learn how to spice and roast a chicken, which should bring the price down.

@mclaleli, I'm not saying that she needs to be treated like a toddler, I'm saying that the person paying for the meal (and budgeting for the family) has the right to decide if it's cheap or not.

If the DDhas no idea of the family budget she's not really in a position to say and it's up to the OP if she wants to go through the family budget with her. If not, then the DD's opinion is only that - an opinion.

DIY caesar salad would be cheaper

If you can afford it, I wouldn't lose sleep over the cost

I'd be more concerned about the lack of variety & lack of nutrients

Give her the information.

The food budget for the whole family per week is £X.

Your evening meal costs £3.25 every day.

The main family evening meal costs £x per person.

It is expensive and you either A) can’t have it every night or B) need to accept cheaper ingredients or C) contribute to costs.

She’s 18 and you’re doing her no favours in the future if she doesn’t understand budgeting and food costs.

Give her the budget info

if you feel now is too soon, then don't ask her to make it, but after exams are done, she has to make it or pay it from her allowance.

It's quite a bit for one meal - we share a £2 Caesar salad bag between 2, and spend £2 on chicken so £2/ head

I think it’s fairly cheap to be honest, but I think it depends on income really.

I do batch cook but mostly for my little ones as they eat early. Me and dh eat later and some nights we have salmon or steak that’s more than £3.25 each!

I wouldn’t buy ready cooked chicken personally as it will more than likely be the lowest quality chicken so I’d rather buy a good quality chicken, roast it add my hod sauce or whatever marinade and use that in my salads. That also is down to personal taste & budget.

People are saying its relative depending on the budget. That's true up to a point, but even if £3.25 is a cheaper evening meal for you, it's still grossly overpriced for what it is. Cheap, shit chicken. This is nothing like the posters who spend double the average because they like quality. I would begrudge paying £3.25 for what it sounds like you're getting.

If I were you OP I'd be telling her you're buying the ingredients from now on. Whole chickens rather than packs. Teach her how to season and cook it herself if she doesnt already know. By all means purchase preferred brand of hot sauce too. It'll still be cheaper.

There was a TV programme quite a while ago about people who eat the same thing - a woman ate green Thai chicken curry every single night because she loved it so much, and still got excited every time she had it. Competent adult, cooking just for herself, so no other issues and ate other things during the day. It lodged in my brain, and I remember it every time I cook it - still wonder if one day she thought, ‘ ‘ nah, I’ll have a change ‘

Honestly, I'd buy 2 fresh chicken breasts or one medium fresh chicken, one jar of Caesar dressing, one bag of croutons, a lettuce, a small block of Parmesan, cucumber and a six pack of tomatoes each week. Would probably be about £10 worth. She can make her salad out of that. Once its run out, she has the choice between buying extra ingredients (with her own money) or eating the family meals you provide.

Unless you have a financial constraint, I would be more concerned about her eating habits to be honest and the lack of variety in her diet.

It's really not normal to only eat one type of meal. As much as I'm sure she's perfectly healthy it's very unusual to be unwilling to eat different foods.

Yes she makes it herself I admit I do let her pick it though. Maybe I shouldn't have ever given the option

Caesar salad can be just as calorific as any other meal if she has dressing and cheese on it, so if she is doing it because she thinks its low calorie she would probably be surprised. Agree with others here that you could make this yourself for far less money and also she is old enough to make it herself.

you say she makes it herself... I mean marinading the chicken etc. I got the impression that you buy the prepacked stuff hence the expense?

sorry to be THAT poster, but I shop at Aldi and depending how much chicken she has in the salad, buying a fresh chicken and doing the cooking and spicing would be much cheaper!

PS she is more than old enough to make it herself with the cooking of chicken - a pp says "when she is old enough." WTAF?!

Oh... no. The chicken is predone

She could do with learning to season and spice a chicken anyway, particularly if she likes spicy food. If you like things plain then I guess it doesnt matter so much about the seasoning, but she doesnt, so learning how to prepare and spice things is a useful life skill.

I don't think that's expensive runs and hides

If you can afford the salad and your DD eats it, then no big deal.

She probably thinks it’s cheap because at 18 yo, she hasn’t yet had to budget/consider total household budgets. 3.25 compared to a dinner she’d buy when out is probably cheaper, so she’s only comparing to what she know.

I’m sure you’d prefer her to eating the salad to picking at meals you’ve cooked that she doesn’t like and snacking on rubbish instead afterwards.