How many meals do you eat a day? And what do you eat for them?

[roniather0bbersdaughter]

I was raised by my grandma and she was an aristocrat, but poor by the time I was born. Each meal was a grand affair. I’ve carried it on out of habit but it’s a half-hearted copy of what she did and it only just really came to me that I seem to eat many more meals than other people (which explains why I’m fat). It’s always been:

Breakfast: Usually a mug of cereal, or a piece of bread with butter. Eaten right when I wake up and washed down with a cup of tea (never any milk or sugar.

Elevenses: Usually some sort of sweet bun, or bread with honey. Again with tea.

Dinner: Always two courses. First being some soup with a bit of baguette, second being the proper dinner. We always drank buttermilk, but I rarely buy that now and generally have water.

Tea: As in, afternoon tea at about 4:00-4:30. Cakes and biscuits and that sort of thing, w/ a drink of tea of course.

Supper: Basically sandwiches, nothing hot unless there’s any soup leftover from dinner. Of course this also included drinking the final cup of tea of the day.

What do you all eat? If you eat only 3 meals a day do you snack? Do you usually eat your main hot meal in the evening?

At the moment I am eating one meal a day.
Unfortunately it starts at 8am and wraps up around 9pm.

Breakfast
me: two eggs, 50gr smoked salmon, six cherry tomatoes and tea
14 DD: nothing
16 DS: protein/fruit smoothie

Lunch
Me and DD: ham or chicken and cucumber sandwich, small bag crisps and water or soup and half a sandwich.
DS: 150g wholewheat pasta, light mayo, sweetcorn and tuna

Dinner
Me and DD: some chicken thing, veggies and potatoes. Couple cookies for dessert, chocolate or fruit. I'll have wine she'll have juice.
DS: chicken breast or salmon fillet, veggies and rice

Snacks: fruit or tea or diet coke, maybe toast.

I used to eat in a far more structured way when I was caring for my aged Dad - 3 meals a day: breakfast, light lunch, dinner (1 course). No snacks. Now I'm 'free eating' - what I fancy, when I fancy it. Yesterday was:

Breakfast (at 1 pm) - Tesco's lemon yoghurt
Lunch (at 3ish) - 2 cheap raspberry yoghurts, 3 large strawberries
Supper - Tesco rhubarb yoghurt
Night food (in bed, around 1 or 2 am) - 5 slices Italian salami, 5 slices german salami, tiny piece of Danish Blue cheese, 2 small bunches of grapes

Today it's:

Breakfast (12 ish) Tesco lemon yoghurt
Lunch (3ish) 5 slices Serrano ham, small bunch of black grapes
Dinner (will be) Beef and black bean stir fry
Then there'll be the Night Food - probably more salami, grapes and a bit of cheese

Plans for Sunday are a yoghurt for breakfast, and then roast lamb, spuds, Yorkies, parsnips, carrots, broccoli and gravy for dinner. Probably Night Cheese later :D

I'm losing weight slowly eating this way, which wasn't really the intention, it's just a result of not having to cater for anyone else's needs (DH tends to feed himself most of the time, no kids) and eating what I fancy. Loving it :)

3 meals a day but not breakfast lunch dinner, more lunch 1, lunch 2 and dinner 🥳

Lunch 1 homemade soup and a sandwich around 12pm

Lunch 2 something rice or noodle based around 3pm

Dinner some form of meat and veg together with some form of potato around 6pm

I tend to avoid snacks as best I can and have reasonable sized meals.

Depends on the day. Work days would be cereal and fruit and a yogurt for breakfast. Rarely anything till lunch which might be a hot dinner and dessert (work in a school), could be a sandwich or salad then usually nothing till evening meal which is invariably a hot meal but not usually a dessert unless its a weekend. Often will have a snack for supper, toast, cereal etc.

Weekends are different. I exercise on a Saturday at 10 so usually don't have breakfast so might have a brunch after. Today I had a banana before exercise, toast with cream cheese after and a couple of shortbread's I made this afternoon. Dh is busy cooking curry for tea. I've baked so we will likely have cake for supper.

@Samtsirch

Usually three meals a day as follows:

Breakfast - granola with yoghurt and chia seeds or wholemeal toast with peanut butter
Lunch - sandwich and crisps or a salad
Dinner - meat with carbs and veg or pasta, curry, stir fry etc

Having said that, I always seem to think I'm hungry in between meals and after dinner and I'm beginning to think I need to eat 5 small meals a day instead. This would look like:

Breakfast: Same but smaller portion

11ish: Banana and nuts

3pm: toast with avocado

7pm: usual dinner but smaller portion

10pm: boiled eggs/cheese and apple etc

Always a big mug of coffee when I wake up. I probably have breakfast 90% of days...usually a wholemeal bagel with cream cheese or a couple of crumpets. Sometimes if have time I have porridge from Pret.

Now I'm at home I end up having a cup of tea mid morning. For lunch I usually have some sort of salad or mezze type things- hummus, olives, etc. Followed by a coffee to give me energy for the afternoon.

For dinner usually a traditional type meal; curry, stir fry, pie or fish with vegetables, etc. Most days have something sweet too. Try and have fruit after dinner.

Wow op what was it like to be raised by an aristocrat? I'm probably wrong but I'm imagining you in a huge house with loads of silverware - like downtown abbey (or how I imagine it to be, having never actually watched it).

I eat one meal a day - dinner. Then I try to load myself up with chocolate or biscuits before I fall asleep, to add extra calories. It's a very unhealthy diet, though I try to make my dinners varied and include a lot of vegetables. I am trying to make myself have a sandwich in the middle of the day now, but it's a bit of a mental battle that I'm trying to overcome. I do want to gain weight but I fight against eating. Most days I don't eat a thing until 7pm at the earliest - I used to not eat until 10pm.

My dd eats 3 meals a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. She isn't someone who needs snacks in between, but if she knows we have treat foods in the house then she will ask for them. I do give them to her if she asks, but I don't offer, and I try to steer her to fruit instead of biscuits etc.

We have our main meal in the evening during the week because we are out at work during the day. At the weekends, it depends on which shifts family members are working.

When I was a kid I remember eating the same sort of things at a similar time to you OP. Which reminds me, my afternoon cup of tea has gone cold.

There's no natural programming as to when we should eat. 3 meals a day is a man made concept structured around making sure that slaves ate enough not to starve/collapse, but didn't sit around snacking all day.

Our bodies release a hormone called ghrelin at times when it has learned to expect food. So, if you eat at the same 3 times every day, your body will release ghrelin at those times. It makes you feel hungry, so it ensures that when food is available, you feel like eating it.

You can reprogramme your ghrelin release within a week. If you want to start eating twice a day, pick your times and stick to them. You'll have a very hungry few days, whilst your ghrelin fires on the old schedule. And after that, you'll get hungry twice a day, at the specified times.

I graze, and probably have 4 small meals with a few handfuls of 'snack'. But I've fasted before, done one-meal-a-day, etc. It's very quick to change.

Two through the week....lunch about 12 of salad / roast vegetables & chicken or salmon. The same about 6pm.
Similar on Sunday but have toast & avocado / eggs on Saturday. Plus may have crisp with wine on Saturday evening.

the way we ate growing up was
breakfast: warm milk and pastries.
10 o’clock fruit, biscuits
12/13 lunch, small salad starter and then cooked meal. With a glass of wine for adults
4 o’clock snack usually bread with jam or a piece of chocolate.
8 o’clock dinner. Starter, ( salad or small soup) cooked dinner on weekends there could be dessert and cheese as well.
So we had snacks but scheduled.
No I coffee for breakfast.
Salade/ soup for lunch
Cooked dinner.
Dessert and cheese course i love but only on weekends.
I think it’s good to make a big deal about meals. A lot of people eat so bad and boring food now a days. It needs to be fairly small portions though to not get to many calories.

I start the day with hot water with lemon.

Breakfast: healthy cereal & whole milk, toast, fruit. Sometimes I have porridge.

Snack: nuts and fruit.

Dinner: usually some sort of healthy sandwich or something like beans on toast, veggie pasta etc.

Snack: fruit or a bit of toast sometimes too.

Tea: anything really but I try to keep it healthy. Jacket potato, quorn dishes, cauliflower cheese, vegetarian chilli con carne with lentils - a few examples.

I don't usually have pudding but will have chocolate if I'm on my period.

I usually drink 3 or 4 cups of tea over the course of the day and like peppermint tea in the evening. I drink loads of water. I'm a healthy weight and love my food!

How on earth do you find time to leave the house OP?

You must spend most of the day cooking, eating and washing up!

Breakfast: Yoghurt/fruit
Lunch: Generally something like a sandwich or cheese and biscuits or salad
Dinner: Main meal which could be anything. Although in lockdown, I'd say at least twice a week it's a very light meal like scrambled eggs. We never have dessert at home.

Between-meal snacks if I have them are fruit or a cereal bar. At !east six mugs of black coffee between waking up and lunch time. Fruit/herbal tea after that.

Breakfast: bowl of muesli and banana with milk
Second breakfast mid morning: slice of toast and peanut butter
Lunch: cheese and ham toastie and apple or yoghurt
Snack: another apple, handful of cheese nibble things or nuts
Dinner: spag bol type of thing with some veg
Evening: share a big bag of crisps or have a 1/4 of a Lindt slab of chocolate

For reference I’m an ok weight on that and it’s staying stable. I’ll have a slice of cake as well if there is cake around.

I grew up on 5 too.
And soup (proper broth) as a starter is usually for special occasions. No one bothers just for nothing now. I also grew up with lunch being the main meal and just having something small for dinner, but because in UK it's usually the other way around, lunch breaks are adapted to it, I guess so had to switch it around.

Mind me I am now on 1500cal so portions are much smaller than what they were...
Depending on what time I wake up. If early (6) then
Breakfast- slice of bread and 1 egg
Elevens (I love the name!) which is actually at about 10 - fruit
Lunch - salad or soup
3pm - something small like veg and dip or ryvita things with soft cheese and slice of ham (proper ham) or crapload of watermelon... Depends on a day... And if I have watermelon...
6-7 dinner- main meal. Anything from stirfry to mash and meatballs or curry.

If I wake up later, I skip the elevens.
Some bit of cheese and fruit later as a snack if I go sleep late.

Usually on a typical day I would have:

Breakfast - cereal, porridge, fruit and yoghurt, or toast usually although I skip it if I'm not feeling hungry or I'm in a hurry.

Dinner (lunch) - a sandwich or a salad with prawns or chicken, sometimes soup or some pasta.

Tea (dinner) - normal family style meals. Fajitas, roast dinner, spaghetti, curry, etc.

At the moment with lockdown I'm having:

Breakfast
Cup of tea with biscuit(s)
Fruit
Dinner
Boredom snack
Tea
Cupboard/fridge surprise supper

That’s a LOT of bread op & a lot of meals. Main meal in the evening in this house

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with nuts/seeds & coffee

Snack: coffee & slice of homemade loaf made with mashed banana, porridge oats & a few chocolate chips

Lunch: small roll with ham or egg mayo, small packet of crisps, coffee (decaf)
Or homemade veg soup & small roll

Apple or banana if peckish.

Dinner: depends. Salmon, small baked potato & salad or veg
Or. Beef casserole with mash & veg
Grilled chicken & salad
Curry
Followed by a freddo & a decaf coffee

Weekends I have wine in the evening.

OP If you have elevenses & then afternoon tea around 4 what time do you have lunch? If you spend all that time making a proper meal for midday how do you get anything done? Are you a SAHM? What do you have if you have an appointment at 1pm?

Breakfast: piece of fruit, porridge, eggs x 3 (often the eggs move until later in the day)

Midday: protein shake

Lunch: chicken breast (sometimes fish), brown rice, spinach

Dinner: same as lunch

Supper: porridge with protein powder

I usually have 3 meals a day.

Breakfast tends to be yogurt with fruit, sometimes cereal.

Lunch: a cheese or ham sandwich (1 slice of bread) or just the meat/cheese without bread, with salad or some sort of vegetable.

Dinner: when DH is here we always have some sort of meat/fish/chicken plus salad/veg, sometimes with potatoes/rice/pasta. When he is working away I usually don't bother with meat. I might make an omelet or put together something like a plate of cheese, bread, hummus, carrots, cucumber.

I don't really have snacks. If I'm hungry I might have a banana or something.

I drink 3-4 cups of tea a day. A glass or two of wine on weekend nights. Also I usually have something sweet after dinner 2-3 times a week.

3 meals a day. No snacks.
Breakfast - cereal or toast. Juice.
Lunch - something like eggs on toast or cheese toastie. Piece of fruit. Squash.
Supper - big meal eg spag bol, a roast etc. Glass of wine.

Breakfast 1 piece of toast with marmalade. Lunch Crumpet and a banana. Dinner fish/chicken with lots of veg. Rarely snack but if I do it will be grapes/apple.

I have tea first thing and a coffee before leaving for work.
I then have a small tub of nuts plus fresh fruit for breakfast at work - I start at 8am.
Lunch is a sandwich, usually with a packet of crisps.
I drink tea/water during the day.
Our main meal is about 5.30 (I’m home by 4.30).
It’s the usual protein (meat), some sort of carb and veg or salad.
That’s it usually, might have the occasional treat in the evening but only approx twice a week.