In an ideal world, what do you think is the best time to eat dinner (or main meal of the day in the evening) ?

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

I think 7.30pm.

I rarely eat before 8.30pm but don't seem to be able to nudge it forwards. On the very rare occasion I do eat earlier (usually visiting elderly relatives, or squeezing in a quick meal before meeting friends at the pub), there does seem to be an awful lot of evening stretching out before bed time!

For me personally between 18:00-18:30 but realistically cos of work etc I'm often not eating til nearly 20:00

6ish here, latest is 630.

DD has to take medication in the evening with food so were are kind of stick to that time.

Kids eat between 5-6, and then I eat later with DH, around 830 usually. Would be nice to all eat together but one or the other of us is usually not back from work until 730 ish

6.30 to 7pm.

Ideal world when at home, 6-6.30.
We don't eat until 7.30 usually which always feels a bit late for me.

But when eating out 8ish Not sure why but 6-6.30 would feel too early then.

6:30-7pm

6pm ish. Then we have the evening to go out or do what we want.

It's evident that a lot of it depends on who does the majority of the cooking and what time people get in from work.

When people say to me "we always like to eat together as a family" I think oh dear, I always hated eating with my kids when they were little! I guess that's where our late eating habits started.

We are very rarely home before 6. Usually around 6.15/20 depending on traffic.
We usually eat sometime between 7/8pm depending on what's being cooked. We are use to this now.

Dh & I are rarely in bed before 11.30 / 12. so plenty of time to sit down once dinner is finished and we always, always clean the kitchen afterwards as there is nothing worse than coming down to make breakfast in a dirty kitchen full of last nights dinner debris.

We are up at 6.45 / 7 and leave the house at 8am weekdays

At the moment around 6.30 maybe a little earlier on OH's off days. I don't personally like eating too late.

I prefer to eat earlier, around 5pm if I haven't had my main meal at lunchtime- ideally I'd have my main meal around 2pm and a snack later (I don't have breakfast and quite happy to have just a main meal and a snack).

For me it's changed during my life. For the most part was around 6ish. Then started varying slightly, then a 'not so dear' dp's job it could be as late as 9, then over the years got earlier and earlier and now I prefer to be done and dusted by 5 if possible. Sounds terribly old fashioned I'm sure!

For me personally about 8, that's what we did pre-DCs. Now they are teens we are all out and about in the evenings with various sports and other hobbies so it tends to be between 5 and 6, which still feels far too early for me.