To think most people *haven't* eaten dinner by 6pm??

[JumboShiitake]

According to DP "most people" have eaten dinner by 6pm.

Referring to adults, not children.

He's obsessed with eating at a time I consider pretty early.

I'm giving him the side eye

I aim on weekdays for 6-6.30 and 7-7.30 on weekends but I'm home all day atm. I have a house full of bottomless pots of teenagers if i left it much later I would fear for my safety 😂 (they can and do cook but I'd rather keep that teeny tiny bit of control of the food budget atm)

I ate at 8:30 today, which arguable is late for me. My usual time is around 7pm. If I eat any earlier, I'd have the munchies by 9pm!

Nope, I agree with you!

We probably eat between 7 and 8, but more often than not its 7.30-8

In commuting times we wouldn't be home before 6.15 earliest.

@ImAllOut What I took from what @Marinaloves posted is that the British are a bit regimented as a nation. I have family in four other countries (and live abroad myself) and they do all seem to be a bit less fixed on what time things happen and adjust their routine to fit what they want to do that day. If dinner is at 9 or 10pm, so be it! (Although I seem to end up eating four meals a day because of it whenever I'm visiting...)

I think we'd probably find a lot of this ties to people's professions, historically. Shift workers would probably eat earlier if they were up and out from 7am and got home at 4pm. When I was small we ate dinner at about 5:30 or 6 if my father worked 6-2, but a bit later if he was on 2-10 and wasn't there. My Mum finished work at 4:30 every day.

We eat any time between 5 and 9. Dinner by 6pm is unusual in our house.

I prefer dinner after 7 but my sister prefers hers between 5 and 6.

We eat dinner 8/8.30 ish.

We have our tea around 7.30 don't finish work until 5

About 7.30-8 here! My mum always used to make tea at 5pm on the dot and I was always hungry again by bedtime.

Around 8pm for us.

8 - 9 here!

Cripes some of these replies are making me edgy!

When I was growing up dinner was about 7.30. Now for us (a household of four) it's usually between 7,30 and 8pm...but there have been 9pm and even 10pm dinners in the last three months...lockdown has literally thrown the rule book out the window...and no one's complaining!

Most people aren't back from or if wfh finished work by then!

Depends on our schedules (pre-covid).

I finish work at 3 and only tend to eat once during the day about 11am so I'm pretty hungry by 4pm. Adult DS and I talk when we both get in a plan a time to eat dinner. If he had a late lunch then I would have a small snack and then eat together at 7pm ish but we do often eat at 4pm too !!

Growing up we had our tea back of 5-6. These days any time up til about ten or we won’t bother. Still working class, still in my hometown. All that’s changed is personal preference. Live and let live. We are all picking on others for the time we like to eat, is it actually that hard to fathom that we all live different lives and have different needs? that biscuits for me because I ate my tea ages ago

We are both still at work at that hour.

I eat when I'm hungry. If I'm on an early shift I'll get home at 5 and start cooking immediately. I only want to eat twice a day and like going to bed early so eating at 4-5 pm is ideal for me
I couldn't eat later than around 6

never before 5 and only on special occasions (out to dinner with friends restaurant meal) after 6.
so 99% of the time fully eaten by 5:30pm.

Work in healthcare do 12 hour shift here finishing at19:45. Don't get home till 9 as have to now commute compared to when living only 20 minutes away. Probably won't eat till about 21:45/22:00. I would class that as a very late dinner.

On days off we'd eat anywhere between 7 and 8. Growing up my mom use to have dinner ready by 5pm 6pm at the latest on a Friday after she's done the weekly shop.

Husband works 4am till 10am 6 days a week. My sleep schedule has automatically synced with his and I get up at 3ish with him, we aim to eat dinner at half 4, and to go to bed between 6 and 7ish.
Not everyone works 9 to 5, so ofc it would mostly depend on peoples working hours.

In “normal” times, l’m not in from work until 7:30, so it would be too early for me. And it doesn’t cook itself.

We eat at 530/6, DD is in bed usually by 7 and we like to eat as a family, I'm lucky that I can be home by 430 most days, that does mean getting up at 445 to start work though.

Pre-pandemic, when I was commuting, DH and I had dinner 8.30/9pm every night. Since I've been WFH we eat with the children at 6.30/7. "By" 6pm would definitely be too early.

We eat at about 5.30-6pm. We like to eat as a family and have a toddler. I think it's important if possible to eat together as we always did growing up.

Home at 7.30 after commute. Eat between 8 and 9. I don't eat breakfast or lunch.

Here in Nz everyone eats crazy early. If you go to a restaurant at 8pm they will look at you weirdly, check the kitchen is still operational and be turning the music off and putting chairs on tables by 8.45 while checking their watches and glancing at you worriedly.

I've driven to a local restaurant in winter for 7.30 only to find the place in darkness and the last member of staff closing up!