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

We just finished at 5:55pm. We eat with the children and if I don’t feed them early they eat too many snacks! Also I’m hungry by now!

I've just eaten my dinner if I'm not in work generally 5:30 pm if I am it's 9pm (I shift work) and then only a light meal I get indigestion if I eat late.

so feed him early (or let him get his own) and you eat later.

7:30 - 8pm here

We eat at 5.30.

It depends on your situation to be fair. Work commitments family etc. I always called it Tea and ate in by 4pm until I married now we call it dinner and I cook something for my hubby n son at about 5 then make myself something later as I settle to.watch TV. 6 is a little late though

We eat between 5 and 6 most days.

Usually we do not eat until 7PM but I love eating earlier so I have more of an evening.

I think it's an upbringing thing. We used to have dinner at 6-6:30 when I was a kid and I know people were surprised we ate so late. When I worked in London, we used to eat around 7:30 or 8pm and people were shocked we ate dinner then. We sometimes keep "country hours" as it used to be called and have dinner as early as 5pm (for example on Sundays when we've had a very late brunch). I think the idea of an early evening meal does date back to those who had early starts and jobs in the fields who would be hungry earlier and want to save on candles, compared to the upper classes who would keep later hours. I know I have friends who fed their kids dinner when mine was having tea (as in drink and cake) who were horrified mine didn't eat dinner until 7-7:30!

@Brockaslass

It depends on your situation to be fair. Work commitments family etc. I always called it Tea and ate in by 4pm until I married now we call it dinner and I cook something for my hubby n son at about 5 then make myself something later as I settle to.watch TV. 6 is a little late though

Out of interest, would you still consider 6 late if you were going to a restaurant? I’m not sure all restaurants are even open at 5

Tea!? tea is not a cooked meal, bread based + cake or biscuits. It is becoming rarer.
I thought the name 'tea' for an evening cooked meal had dropped away.
The evening meal is cooked and called dinner or supper.
Usually eaten after 7.00pm
I am surprised that one or two people have used the word and cooked by 6.00.

It's very flexible here based (pre-covid) on any activities to schedule around. Rarely before 6, rarely 8, generally somewhere in-between.

We eat as a family and so we eat at 5.30, but I have always eaten at that time anyway because its what my parents did.

Mostly we eat at 5pm

We eat at 6pm these days as both at home and eat with our toddler.

Pre toddler we wouldn't be home at 6pm, it was usually 7.30/8

We eat at 5pm most days

austenwildfell

We eat our evening meal at 7.30 pm most nights. Sometimes a bit later on a weekend.

9pm is usual here - we only eat with the kids at weekends and then it's at 6pm.

I hate eating early - the evening feels boring and I get hungry again before bed!

It's tea here (northern) and we eat it between 5:30pm and 6pm usually. We have it later on Saturday if we're having a takeaway and possibly earlier on a Sunday if I'm doing a roast as I like to cook it and get all cleaned up and sorted before chilling out.

@austenwildfell

Tea!? tea is not a cooked meal, bread based + cake or biscuits. It is becoming rarer. I thought the name 'tea' for an evening cooked meal had dropped away. The evening meal is cooked and called dinner or supper. Usually eaten after 7.00pm I am surprised that one or two people have used the word and cooked by 6.00.

Now you’re potentially starting an argument here. It’s definitely tea . Sometimes dinner (eg if going out) but never ever supper. Yes I’m up north

We eat with our kids, about 5.30. So yeah, we’ve eaten by 6. Occasionally we eat later. But not often.
When I was a single parent I always ate later though. But I think in this instance you obviously have to compromise between the two if neither one will move to the others time.

Around 7.30/8pm here.

We eat anywhere between 6.30 and 8.30 depending on what happening that evening, clubs etc (when we’re not on lockdown).

Dds are teens. We did eat a bit earlier when they were small. Probably around 6pm

As a child I think we had dinner around 7pm (both parents worked so it couldn’t have been any earlier logistically) & as an adult I always ate around 8.30/9...until I met DH who is a builder, finishes work early (or at least what I’d consider early and is obsessed with eating around 6. It took me about 15 years to work out it was making me gain weight as I’d be hungry again before I went to bed & as I’m clearly naturally greedy I’d often eat the dinner at 6pm despite not actually being that hungry.

As soon as I worked it out I swerve the early dinner more often than not & he eats with the kids (or now one of them as our eldest isn’t hungry at 6pm either) & I have something later. I also don’t really want a massive meal in the evenings. As soon as I made that change I lost about 2 stone (much needed). I feel your pain OP, this need to eat at a specified time regardless is weird (obviously kids need regular meals I guess, but it doesn’t work for me!)

Wow seriously long thread! DH & I often don’t eat until 8pm & it can be as late as 9.45 depending on how things are going with DD12.