Would you/could you cook after 8pm

[Fuwari]

Sorry, saw it on the DM website! (I admit I go there but see it as a trashy mag!) Apparently one of the measures for avoiding blackouts over winter is asking people to either cook their evening meal after 8pm or to eat cold food. For me personally this wouldn’t work. I eat early, around 6. I’m usually in bed by 9. So there’s no way I’m going to be cooking my evening meal at 8. I’m quite happy to take any other measures, they mention also not using dishwashers/washing machines between 2pm and 8pm. But I don’t see how I could shift my dinner time to fit in with this. Just wondering what other people think?

Regularly eat after 8. By the time I’ve finished work, got home, exercised and sat down for 3 minutes it’s probably gone 8, but then I don’t have lunch til 2ish either so I can’t stand when people want to go for dinner at 6 because I only had lunch 4 hours ago and then I need to hold out til morning!

My toddlers go to bed about 8:15, so by the time I've tidied up, it's about 8:45 when I start to cook dinner. Tonight was chicken stir-fry. Frequently is a chicken salad.

Nothing weird about the time people eat their tea. You’re rude saying that

It’s pretty rare for us to start cooking much before 8pm. Both working full time pretty full on jobs so by the time we’ve finished work and got home/had a moments down time, it’s usually pushing 8pm and then you’ve got to
prep and cook so usually eat 8.30-9ish. This is even more so if there’s a gym session or dance class after work. So basically it wouldn’t affect us but I think there are quite a lot of people who eat earlier.

We always do this on weeknights. Cook after DC are in bed. Which is about 8.30 these days.

At weekends we eat earlier, as a family but in the week DH isn’t home in time for when the DC are hungry.

Oh and when we were younger and both worked long hours it was regularly 9/9.30 before we started cooking. We are good at quick meals!

No, I go to bed early and wake up early in the week. I'm in bed for 9pm. I eat around 6pm.

Are you serious? Having your “evening” meal at 4pm is definitely weird.

What is weird about someone's personal preferences? I like to go to bed around 9 in the week and wake up around 5am. I'm a morning person. Even if I go to bed later I still can't sleep in past 7 so I'd rather go to bed early and get a good night's sleep.

I do at the weekends about 8-9ish but not during the week.

DH isn't home until 7.45 most evenings so i regularly don't start cooking until 8pm. I had supper at 9.45pm last night (which was too late even for me, slept really badly afterwards).

I never know how people manage to eat at 6pm and/or eat with their younger children every night, I don't clock off work until 6pm!

kettle gate is fake news
he's talking about nuclear power

twitter.com/LeftBrexit/status/1565693568802586624

I tend to eat around 8 but most people I know eat earlier.

I’m rarely home before then after work and all the other things needing doing - kids clubs, exercise, shopping, seeing other humans outside of work, generally getting life sorted? I rarely have time for breakfast or lunch so I’m raring to go at dinner time - 8.30pm-10.30pm being prime eating time? Tonight eating was around 9.15om after all daily activities were done, the small children went to bed straight after dinner, the teenagers have just gone up at 11.30pm or so, I’ll be up for another hour or two. If you go to bed at 9pm how do you fit everything in!

That’s my normal dinner time

Yep normal for us too. DC heading fir bed, start cooking, trays on laps abd some telly for an hour before bed at 10:30 /11. Up at 6

I don't understand how people eat at 5/6pm. Or I do, if they're not working. But surely someone has to be working? I never finish before 5:30 whether working from home or in office, I thought that was just normal.

I definitely find being in bed by 8pm weird but that's just my personal experience, for me at 8 it feels the night is just getting started.

But everyone has their preferences

Not go be a drama queen but I honestly feel these energy crisis could destroy the British way of life, everything from regular showers, to only needing to wear your coat outside, cooked mealtimes, local pubs, fish and chip shops . It feels a bit as if it's all being taken away.

We’ll survive. Even if we end up with brown outs, energy rationing and a three day week we’ve been there before and come out the other side.

People forget we’ve been living through a long period of relative stability. Until recently that wasn’t the norm.

Yes but I'm a night owl! Finish work at 6 then by the time I've exercised and showered it's usually 7.30 anyway

Clearly most mumsnetters are unemployed. Me and dh don’t finish work until gone 8pm home and cooking at 9.30! That’d be us living off smoked salmon bagels then

Yes, for some meals at least. I already try to cook enough to cover next day's meal as something to quickly heat up in the microwave, so it would be a question of adapting this approach.

Reality is that if we have power off during the early evening hours there will be no choice anyway.

I wonder how that would work, practically? If there is literally not enough power to go around, how exactly would they ration it? Just curious.

Well the traditional way would be rolling blackouts. So the power would be turned off at particular times. I think they’re hoping people will be sensible and comply with rationing requests but I can’t see people complying at all, far too many will just do what they want to.

Reading the news about out in weaponising energy supplies, I’m working on the basis that we’ll have periods without power.

I normally start cooking at 7.45 so 8 would not bother me. My adult son works shifts and so comes home at 8.30pm and I like to cook for him too.