How usual is it to have Dominos once a week?

[12purplepencils]

Aibu to think this isn't very healthy for a child/teenager? A medium pizza to themselves every single week without fail.

Or am I being judgy? Is this quite common and not a big deal?

I won't give my opinion unless asked but I don't think it's a great message to give to a young person that this is a good routine to carry on, surely would be better to have it fortnightly at least or a smaller pizza 🤔

Tons of sweets is more concerning

Do you get on well? If so, I’d recommend starting a family pizza night and making your own! I use Jamie Oliver’s recipe and make my own sauce too, usually have leftovers that go into the freezer

Thank you
We do get on but I'm not there much in the week as got my own dc and no plans to blend. I hang out there alternate weekends mainly.
I wouldn't make suggestions about changing it directly as would feel it's overstepping, child is also very fixed and rigid in his routines so I don't think would change to a different type of domino's pizza and they have supermarket pizza at other times. He at least doesn't have a meaty one think it's just Margherita.

I just wondered if other people/women coming into this situation would also think it's not great, but it seems like it's not as uncommon as I thought.

Context is everything. I was a waitress when I was 17 so would regularly eat a whole pizza on a Friday and sometimes Saturday. In fact I worked full time after Uni waitressing, so would have a pizza maybe 5/6 times a week, but was walking miles every day.

Agree it is crazy when you look at the calories. He is not naturally active, doesn't like any sport, it's really really hard to get him to go for walks although does scoot sometimes.

Ah - Domino's, KFC, Burger King, the kebab shop by the station. It's like sleazy, ill-advised sex. Great fun, and you hate yourself in the morning. Except you don't have to block any numbers or avoid that pub for weeks.

As nasty sins go, I think bad pizza is pretty harmless.

Most 13 year old lads I know eat multiple McDonald's, Subways, KFC etc in a week.
Most people I know also have a takeaway every weekend.
Not saying its ideal but it is normal in my area.
For what it's worth i would never personally get a pizza takeaway, sooo much nicer to make your own.

2-3 meals out of a pizza? Unless you're having a slice as a side to a massive roast or curry feast then this is typical Mumsnet competitive undereating.

A whole pizza in one sitting? I just pick off one slice of pepperoni and nibble at it each day, usually lasts me at least nine weeks.

Disgusting. Don’t you know it has added SATURATED FAT?!? I just nibble at the box

If it’s not your child it’s not your business.

The question wasn’t ’is this healthy’ though, was it?

it was querying whether this was something to be concerned about with regards to portion size and routine of eating

of course dominoes isn’t healthy

..:but it’s not really a massive deal if a 13 year old chooses dominoes as their takeaway dinner each week.

the above scenario is completely different to a 4 year old
being presented with a medium sized dominoes
pizza weekly. Massive portions for such a small child whose parents should be exerting more control over their eating

I would say it’s pretty unusual for people as a whole.

We would only have it once in a blue moon, although we might have supermarket pizza every 1-2 weeks. Just a thin crust one.

Domino’s is not only bad for you, it’s really expensive!

Edit - that said, it’s probably not that uncommon for a teenager to pick up an unhealthy take away once a week. I’d expect it to be the smallest size Domino’s though - due to cost if nothing else!

1 pizza a week isn’t going to make him fat. It’s the other 20 meals and whatever he eats in between.

A weekly takeway seems common, would say it's better to change it up but probably not too many health differences between them. All for a treat night supporting a balanced diet :)

Ds14 and Ds15 would love a weekly dominos am sure and maybe they do at their Dad's but I can't control that. I've learnt how to make pizza dough and those 5 ingredients (water, yeast, flour, oil & sugar) can't cost more than a quid to get us 3 pizza bases so including toppings maybe a fiver max. Its a no brainer- and they admit it tastes better than Dominos

I think YABU, mostly because you must have known that mentioning Dominos on here (or McDs or any other form of cheap takeaway popular with poor people) would bring out all the MN frothers and pearl clutchers ranting about less-than-zero nutritional value and 'swimming in disgusting grease' and suggesting unrealistic elaborate homemade versions such as panko-ing your own organic chicken goujons as though little Johnny will go for those over lovely processed uniformity (but then of course their darling Ptolemy and Octavia actually prefer sushi tinkly laugh ). Plus of course the whole 'wasting money' judgement that comes out regularly in any takeaway discussion...

Back in the real world I think it's quite normal for families to have a takeaway of some form once a week, maybe most people do vary it a little more than having the exact same thing every time but then again kids are fussy and might not eat a curry or Thai or whatever (or only eat chips/fried rice which is hardly more nutritionally sound). Whether it's 'healthy' is impossible to answer, no one meal is really healthy or unhealthy in isolation - depends entirely on context and the rest of the child's diet. For a child with severe SN and a very restricted diet it might be the healthiest thing they eat all week. Or it could be the child's weekly treat in an otherwise very balanced and unprocessed diet. And although I take issue with the idea there's 'no nutritional value' in pizza, there is obviously some, even if that was true there's more to food than the macros and vitamins, there's also joy and familiarity and comfort - maybe the weekly pizza is the child's comfort thing especially if they have to move between parents houses, or a bonding moment with their parent or it might be that a reliable and quick takeaway option is what gives their parent enough time and energy to get them to an activity or just to retain their own sanity, there are so many reasons for it.

Plus I think the circumstances in which offering any unasked for thoughts, however kind and gentle, about someone else's child's diet is a good idea is are so narrow as to be basically nil - I very much doubt the child will come to any long term harm from a weekly pizza even if the rest of their diet isn't great either, kids can do really well growth and development wise even on highly restricted diets that would make MNetters swoon, and if food doesn't become a battleground and source of conflict often any fussiness or limitations will improve just with time. As someone else said if you really want to help the child probably encouraging or supporting them to do more physical activity or sport might well be more beneficial and less controversial than their food?

My DD12 Could absolutely polish a medium pizza off. Infact she ate a 16 inch pizza all to herself once. She had that Strep throat that was going about 2-3 years ago. Never ate for a week just fluids. Started to feel better. I had a charity night so sent her to her dads to stay on the Saturday and he text me a picture of her with the pizza, then rang me and said jokingly have you not fed her and I said no she hasn’t eaten in nearly a week and he goes she’s ate that full pizza I’ve had none of it. That was a treat with her dad. I used to enjoy a weekly take away mainly a Chinese or fish & chips but we reduced it to once a month. Her bodies changing a lot and I wanna encourage better eating through the changes and so we cut down. I wouldn’t judge anyone’s eating habits purely because I’ve been the bigger kid and then went tiny due to bulimia xx

Depends really, if the rest of their diet is fab it’s a non issue, if the other 20 meals of the week are junk, then not great.

One of my kids has a job delivering Domino's this summer. From what I can tell his diet is pretty much consisting of pizza, bread sticks and cinnamon bun bites. He seems ok so far. Normal diet will resume in September.

I eat a lot but can only manage half a medium dominos. Although do have wedges too.

Kids would love to have it once a week but it's way too expensive!!
We prob have once a month though...

I would say it's a bit much but not shockingly so...

A large pizza is £25 here. Given that there are plenty of other brand pizza chains that do them a lot cheaper it’s a big price jump.

We grew up with chippy tea every Friday long as diet is fine rest of time I don't see the issue other then dominos is way to expensive think last i had one was last xmas

He is overweight and sometimes worries about it

Then it's too much.

Just knocking the pizza on the head would make a difference. One medium pizza is around 2000 calories.

My boys (18&20 and thin and sporty) like a dominos occasionally. I think it’s vile - hate deep pan gloppy pizza. We use a pizza oven (ooni basic) and the boys love it. DS has invited his mates round for a pizza party. A heck of a lot cheaper and better for them. More fun too.

The issue is that the young person is overweight (you’ve said) and they’re conscious about their weight.

a medium vege domino’s pizza is 1600 calories (according to their online stats)

a supermarket pizza express margarita pizza is 600 calories (according to my freezer stash)

swapping out the dominos pizza for a supermarket pizza or a home cooked meal would “save” 1000 calories a pop. Swapping that out and doing nothing else (and if everything else remained the same) would result in a slow weight loss of 1 pound a month. (Obviously the science isn’t exact for a growing 12 year old).