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?

It's not expensive but it mounts up if it's every day. Maybe she needs to buy it herself? Or you buy the lettuce (let her go to the shop and pick the ingredients), chicken and cheese and she can prepare it herself, rather than ready made.

Yes I'd say it is. I have to stick to a budget of £70 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids, mostly I batch cook fresh food. And think she needs to eat different things, however when I think about it I used to eat Pasta-In-Sauce every evening when I was 18 at uni :-)

It’s £100 a month! Eurgh.:.yeah, it’s expensive. That’s 2 weeks grocery, cleaning products and toiletries for me and DD...my daughter ASD&SPD and can be beyond specific.

She's taking the piss.

You can buy a pack of 3, chicken fillets. Already marinated and cook at home. It will work out around £6 a week for the chicken.

Do that to save money. And.tell her to lump it if it isn't good enough

I think £3.25 for a dinner each night is expensive. As a once/twice a week meal, I wouldn’t think twice about it, but every night it’s a lot. There are 5 of us, some nights are cheap (eg pasta bake, pasta is 50p a bag, veg 50p, 2 jars of pasta sauce £2cheese for on the top, £1, so£4 to feed 5 of us). Compared to a roast lamb dinner, which Could cost around £15 depending on the cost of the joint, but the ones in Aldi today were around £10-£12 for a leg. I do a variety over the week, cheap and expensive, but on average it costs far less than £3.25 for a main meal per person.

It will have loads of packaging and be as low welfare as it’s possible to get.
Good advice from Bertrand.
We take rescue chickens from the Hens Trust and they are the most tragic creatures - featherless, listless and virtually dead. (Though it’s wonderful to see them in a few weeks when they’ve grown feathers and are enjoying life)
Please think of chicken welfare.

Does she really eat this every single night? You never have a Sunday roast or take away? I would really worry about her eating the same thing on repeat. I did this when I had anorexia. Not because I loved the meal but because I was scared to eat anything else.
Can you suggest a couple of alternatives a week? On the premise of being cheaper if necessary but more importantly to increase variety?
Jacket potato with topping?
Chicken cous cous and veg?
Omelette and salad?
Even beans on toast.
What is she eating for breakfast and lunch?

Just under £23 a week for a daily meal seems expensive to me. Does though depends on your finances. The precooked chicken doesn't seem all that healthy. Get her to flavour and cook her own, would work out a lot cheaper.

If she lives with you and doesn't pay rent, you choose what to buy or she gets her own stuff.

Life is so short and precious, why waste it worrying about what your daughter eats for tea. She'll soon be leaving home and then discover what is cheap and what isn't for herself. Wrap her in love-as I'm sure you do!

I think there are double standards on MN.

On one thread a woman talked about the fact that her husband demanded a diet that was very high in lean meat and low in carbs as part of a 'health regime'. He wouldn't eat carbs as these were regarded as unhealthy. The couple had a limited budget and the poster was filling up on cheap stuff in order to make the money go round. Everyone said you're daft to be enabling this selfish behaviour

There's a similar sort of pattern here, except but because it's a young person rather than a partner - more people are saying, 'Ah but you have to love your daughter. You can afford it really. Don't be mean.'

If there's limited money for food in a family it needs to be allocated in a way that's fair for everybody.

If all she'll eat is Caesar Salad every night with a particular type of chicken on it then, I'm sorry, but you have brought her up to be too fussy!
She'll have a shock if/when she has to shop for her own food, presumably in the not too distant future if she's planning to go to uni.
And wth does she do when you go out or she eats out with friends, ie: they all head to Pizza Hut or Nando's? Does she not eat with them? If she does and is still insisting on only having this at home then she is definitely being a prima donna when it comes to food.
If she doesn't eat out cos she can't have the salad then I would be seriously worried that she has some sort of eating disorder.

I would want to know what else she eats in the day.

Your daughter must be comparing the cost to "eating out" I guess... Why don't you show her the cost per head for the other things you cook for the family and the budgeting of the weekly shop? If she is making the Cesar salad herself that does sound quite expensive as I would pretty much expect you can buy shop made for that price... For me it seems quite pricey to have every day for little nutritional value (yes I know proteins in the chicken calcium in the cheese...I was more thinking fat content coupled with salt and lack of nutrients from the salad... Apart from a little fiber and lots of water salad does not bring much)...

I don't mind eating the same things every day if I like it. A salad with proteins from the cheese and chicken and carbs from the croutons doesn't sound that bad.

I would probably ask her to buy and cook a chicken rather than buy it pre-done, buy a piece of cheese rather than slivers, make her own croutons from stale bread, etc. That would bring the costs down.

"I would really worry about her eating the same thing on repeat. I did this when I had anorexia. "

Oh dear. I've been eating the same thing for breakfast for at least 10 years and I'm not anorexic. People who bring their own sandwiches for lunch usually eat the same thing every day or rotate a few options. Eating the same thing for one meal a day does not mean someone has an eating disorder!

No it doesn’t mean you have an eating disorder, clearly as stated, I suffered from an eating disorder and know only too well that what you eat is a minor snippet of a symptom and does not in anyway compare to the termoil inside someone’s head.

However, I stand by what I said. Unlike breakfast and lunch it is highly unusual to eat the same everyday for your evening meal, particularly in a family environment where everyone else is eating a different meal.

Thank you everyone.

Yes she eats this pretty much every night. Yes of course we sometimes go out and she eats out. It isn't that she won't eat other foods she just will always pick this. She doesn't like the stuff I batch cook though and does usually opt for "cold" food but of course she will eat out and even have the odd meal with us.

Breakfast she usually has something like eggs on toast and lunch she buys that at sixth form. Usually a "meal deal" type thing I think.

So she does have a variety and isn't just on the Caesar salad. She is an average weight and seems healthy.

Thank you for agreeing it's expensive. I also didn't realise it was "shit" chicken because it was predone, so if I mention that to her, I think that will put her off anyway, so yes I think it might be good to maybe teach her to do her own. Maybe I've not done things properly and should have done this longer ago. She does go to uni in September and it would be good to do this before then.

I seriously would insist she makes her own food if she is unwilling to eat what you are cooking. My 13 and 15 year old make there own tea if they don't want what we are having.

Ive just managed to get my 17 year old to try bbq pulled pork and she loved it..homemade of course.
Hopefully OP uni will be an eye opener for her to realise how expensive it is and maybe she will try new things whilst with friends etc.

Uni in September? I’d just leave her to it, wait til Xmas and just ask her then, once she’s had a term of budgeting, whether it’s expensive

If she's eating a meal deal for lunch and with her caesar salad, that's about £45 pw just for lunch and dinner, say 50 pw to include the eggs and toast for breakfast.

Doesn't sound too bad, but may be unaffordable on a student budget and it's still a lot for the quality of food she is eating.

Agree its expensive and I spend a lot on food. I dont do whole chunks of meat or fish every night. Like you I batch cook as cost per meal is much lower.

Its the ready cook chicken thats upping the cost. Replace that with a small chicken you cook yourself it might work out cheaper. But depends how much parmesan and sauce she has.

Sounds like an unhealthy tea anyway. She needs to learn that salad isnt healthy if you cover it in cream and cheese!

She'd be better off with rocket salad, squeeze of lemon then some tomato cucumber eggs (or chicken ). Bit of crusty bread, bit more balanced and less saturated fat.

Ekkisandr , I take your point and experience is a harsh teacher!

Still I think that showing her a cheaper way of doing the meal would be best done before leaving for university. It's cruel to let kids loose with their cash without teaching them some economical ways!

Ellisandra! Apologies.