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

No way! I'm not even finished work then and in normal times where we're at the office I've barely even picked up DC from after school club then!

I eat at about 6pm, because I start work early I'm so ready for a proper meal by then. Also go to bed at 9pm to get a decent nights sleep so I don't want to eat much later than 6pm. It really must vary on your routine I think

I live in the North.
‘Tea’ has always been 5 to 5.30 when Dad got home so we could all sit round the table and eat together.

Now I get home at 5 and DH has tea waiting for me. But only because I go out again at 5.30 to see to the horses.
If I’m not working, in Winter, I do the horses first and we eat around 6.30.
If we get hungry later we have a light snack, fruit, yoghurt or such.

who on earth wants to be doing dishes in their kitchen late into the evening if you don't need to?

Dishwasher.
Also, it never takes me more than 20 min to do dishes from start to end with pots and pans.
If I eat at 8, the kitchen will be sorted ou by 9 easily.

I agree with a PP in that I prefer not to be rigid on meal times - different if you are catering for a large number of course - pre Covid times it would so depend on work plans, evening commitments etc etc. Now that I am furloughed and DH works from home we tend to eat around 7.30. I prefer to eat a bit earlier (in fact ideally I would rather have a 'main' meal at lunch time) .. DH tends to work until 6/6.30 and even though he's at home he still likes time to 'switch off' before eating. Trouble with eating too early is that, in these times, it makes for a even longer, more boring evening !

We have dinner early on a Wednesday as I have work at 6pm. Also I will do Sunday roast early. Other than that we eat after 6pm.

My kids eat at about 4.15pm as they are starving after school, and DH and I eat about 6.30pm. Cannot imagine eating at 9pm that's when I go to bed!

Does it matter though? Some people are getting sniffy. People fit meals into their schedule. That's what it says about out nation. Just like any other nation.

Do grown adults really go to bed at 8 !
I mean ones who have a normal schedule

@Marinaloves

Do grown adults really go to bed at 8 ! I mean ones who have a normal schedule

If they work early in the morning, normally yes. My husband and I were shift workers for ten years so have gone to bed anywhere from 7pm until 4am over the years. Now I work roughly 7-3 or 8-4 from home and he finishes anywhere between 2pm and 8pm but always has to leave for work by 6.30am. Not everyone works normal hours.

I do love the extremes, @Malin52 my DP would be right at home in NZ

But do you really only eat one meal a day

I am sure some of our eating patterns are habits and our bodies can adapt to variations, but my body would be out of the door to find a new owner if I only fed it once a day

I probably eat something about once every 4 hours, sometimes less, during the day, but i do like to mark the "official" mealtimes with a larger portion of food

Once I've eaten my evening meal though, regardless of time, I don't snack afterwards.

Oh and just to reassure PP who asked if my DP puts pressure on me to cook early for him, he doesn't, it's just a bit of a running joke between us. We share the cooking 50/50 and when it's his turn food will be on the table 6pm latest, whereas when it's my turn I try to aim for 6 - 6.30 but sometimes it does drift a bit.

Dc and I start to eat dinner between 5.30 and 6.30

Between 7:30 and 9pm. We like to have a drink first, chat and relax. Often prep the ingredients for the meal earlier in the day, or make something like a parmigiana to pop in the oven whenever we want it.
Different strokes for different folks.

We eat between 5-6 as we like the DC to eat with us
We don’t do separate meals for the kids and they go for baths at 7 so it’s perfect for our nightly routine.

We usually eat by then as we have a 2 year old. Before we had her we got hungry on the early side but probably not finished by 6 as that doesn't leave much cooking time after work

"Cannot imagine eating at 9pm that's when I go to bed!"

Same here Monica😂

4pm? Out of curiosity what time does your 3 year old go to bed? Surely he would be hungry again before he goes to sleep?

There is supper ???

He goes to bed about 17.45, he's awake at 06.00 regardless of his bedtime.

"Not everyone works normal hours."

Hard to fathom on MN it seems... Not many folk are accustomed to shift work and life around that. DH used to do four nights in a row in a previous role for his company. We had our dinner around 4pm then so we could all eat together before he left at 6pm. Crazy wanting to eat together, that!

What's wrong with grown adults going to bed at 8? It doesn't make you more grown up going to bed later! We should prioritise sleep. I'm generally reading in bed by 9 but lights out around 1030.

4pm? Out of curiosity what time does your 3 year old go to bed? Surely he would be hungry again before he goes to sleep?

My 3 year old also eats around 4-4.30 (as do we!) He goes to bed around 6.30. Rarely gets hungry again, unless he's been a bit picky and then he might have some toast! But it's rarely an issue.

Dinner / supper around 8, sometimes earlier or later though.
Growing up we used to have it about half 5 though.

We usually eat around 8pm

Dd demands dinner by 6 (dinner in school is 6pm as well between sport and evening study).

However, Dh and I tend to aim for 6:30/7pm for ourselves. So while dd is home, we are working to aim for 6 but not always possible and she's been doing her own thing a good few nights.

We're early though as my DPs tend to eat between 8 and 9, often even later, for their evening meal.

If I am cooking, I like eating early (6pm-.6.30pm) becauase cooking and clearing up is then out of the way. I don't like having it as 'something to do' in the evening.

If someone else is cooking, then anything before 7.30pm ok but much later and I tend to get reflux when I sleep so I prefer to have finished eating by 8pm at the latest

While working from Home I eat my last meal as early as possible. It's healthier as it's not good to go to bed on a full stomach.