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?

I don't finish work till gone 10pm so yeah I could cook after 8pm easily. Dinner break could be a sandwich and then a hot meal after work I'm used to eating late at night anyway so it wouldn't bother me

Cooking after 8pm would play absolute merry havoc with most people's intermittent fasting.

@verdantverdure surely you just skip breakfast and then it’s fine? If you eat dinner at 9pm and have your lunch at 1pm that’s an 8 hour window.

A few people have mentioned work. I wfh and finish at 5:30 so I just cook then, eat at 6. When I did work in an office, I would get home around 6 and cook straight away. If I came in and sat down I wouldn’t get up again!

I was a lone parent for most of DC’s childhood so I just ate with them. No point waiting to eat alone. They’re adults now and generally they both eat around 6-7 too. I think we’re just used to it after all these years.

@XenoBitch No way. I have my tea no later than 5:30pm. are you six?

Yes no problem during the week but No at weekends as everybody needs time to relax and that means No cooking on a Saturday but a Sunday is different as I’m always happy to cook a roast .😄

I think the idea is that it spreads out the peak use at the national grid level, so it doesn't change the amount of energy used but it smoothes out the usage.

Most people get up and go to work, get their kids to school around the same times, then usage goes down in domestic homes and up in offices and businesses.

Then usage goes up in the evening when everyone is home and cooking a meal.

In the 70s, before anyone could record their TV programs the power usage would peak in the add breaks, due to people making a cup of tea.

People saying they always eat at 9pm after kids are in bed. Surely the kids have had a meal though in the evening, So you must be cooking for them earlier?
The whole point of the thread is talking about people not cooking 2-8pm to reduce energy load, it’s not age related.

The main way to reduce ‘energy’ load on the grid would also be to encourage people to cook double at once, and just reheat same meal the next day. It will use a lot more energy on Monday to make full lasagne, but hardly anything on Tuesday if people just reheat other half in microwave for example

If this does happen then having a freezer stocked with cooked meals will be a massive help.

Although rolling power cuts would play havoc with freezers..

We eat between 8 and 9. The dishwasher usually goes on at about midnight or later.

I do have an image of those who simply must have their dinner at 5pm eating alphabetti spaghetti on toast with smiley faces.

Nope. Kids are hungry when they get in from school so I have dinner ready for them so they don't snack on crap. Light supper around 5.45pm then bath 6pm for wee ones. Usually they are asleep just before 7pm. Up early each morning.

I eat breakfast around 6.30/7am, lunch 11.30am. we are all different 🤷

DH does 7.30 til 3pm. Asked to adjust his hours from 8.30 til 4pm. It was interfering with extracurricular classes, meal times etc

No I couldn't. I eat early and go to bed early too. I wouldn't sleep well if I had to eat late.

The only clear thing here is how rude you are.

do you know each and every person commenting on this thread? Do you know the hours they work? Their lifestyle?

oh and here, a 🏅seeing you work so hard whilst others don’t

No, I won’t be cooking after 8pm.

Never that late. Always at 6pm.
I'm happy to batch cook pasta sauce and heat it in the microwave and cook a saucepan of pasta for me. But no way will my younger teen be ok with it every night.

Not if you go to bed very early and get up before 6. It's just practical.

Your user name is very apt.

I usually eat at about 7.30 but I can understand why other people eat either later or earlier to suit their lifestyle. There is mo reason to be so rude about other people's choices.

Sorry. Ignore that. It is @LilacPoppy Who is being the bitch.

Absolutely not. OH needs to be in bed by 8.30 as I think a lot of people working shifts or up early

It may work for some people but not us

Far too late for us. OH is in bed then anyhow.

I'm surprised how many people eat by 6pm but then I guess it demonstrates how many different working patterns and shifts there are. I work standard 9- 5.30 and have a 45 min commute so the earliest I could start cooking was around 6.30. But reality is one of us is doing sports/activity every day of the week finishing between 7pm and 8.30 so we tend to eat after that.
If I ate a meal at 4pm, unless it was a huge roast or Christmas diner I'm sure I'd be starving before I went to bed

DD is a teen so we do eat around 7.30-8pm but obviously that means starting cooking around 7pm.

I don't think I could stretch starting to cook to later than 7.30pm, I would just eat constant snacks and that's not healthy either.

DD is not a big lunch eater and has food issues so making sure she has a decent dinner is important for her.