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

[Iminaglasscaseofemotion]

We usually do, but I wfh all the time and I'm usually starving by about 4.30. I finish work about 5.30/6 but can have dinner eaten before that if we are hungry.

[sqirrelfriends]

We start eating between 5:30 and 6 but only because of DS.

Before he came along no one was home until after 7 most nights.

[DaphneBridgerton]

We have dinner about 7pm

[Iminaglasscaseofemotion]

I hate eating late. Don't know how people can have a meal at 8/9 and then go to bed a couple of hours later. I would be sick.

[Godimabitch]

We tend to eat around 6pm. I like getting it over with so I can chill out

[Lweji]

I'm going to prepare dinner now.
Usually some time between 8 and 9:30 pm

[LizFlowers]

I don't think there's anything wrong in having a small snack before bed if you eat early, I'm sure I would want something, eg a bit of toast and marmite or jam, crackers and cheese, if I had dinner at 6pm - but I wouldn't eat dinner that early.

[Hardbackwriter]

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

I hate eating late. Don't know how people can have a meal at 8/9 and then go to bed a couple of hours later. I would be sick.

I think if you're still feeling stuffed from your meal two hours later you're overeating

[VenusClapTrap]

We eat between 5.30 and 6.30. I don’t like to go to bed with a full stomach; it makes me feel bloaty and I sleep badly. Obviously if we’re eating out (hollow laugh) then it’s later, but I’m always ravenous by the time we get to the restaurant! I couldn’t wait so long for my dinner normally without snacking in the afternoon. The kids get hangry if we eat late too, and I’d rather they had a proper meal than fill up on post-school snacks.

It’s much healthier to eat earlier, so that your body can crack on with digestion before sleep.

In the interests of full disclosure, yes I am a northerner, but I’ve lived down south longer than I lived up there. Dh is forrin. He doesn’t care when he eats, as long as cheese is involved.

[Googlebrained]

I'm eating now!

[cinnamonwhirl]

Growing up with northern parents it was tea at 5.00pm. I remember hearing the music to Radio 4s PM when we started. We used to have a supper with a milky drink and 2 digestive biscuits around 9.00 pm. A shock when I went to uni! Even now I prefer an earlier tea - 6.00pm. I get too hungry and would snack otherwise. I find it difficult with meals out in the evening as people tend to want later bookings, and by the time you get served I feel irritated with hunger.

[Frazzled2207]

Growing up we always had tea at 6. Then when I got married it was mostly 7/8. Nowadays it’s usually 6.30 pm but that’s only because
A. Currently a sahm so don’t need to factor in a commute home
B. 7-8pm is sorting kids out for bed time

Given a choice I would eat about 7pm

[gracelessladyhottramp]

@Same4Walls

I'm fascinated by this thread

Me too. Part of me also wants to know what time those eating at 4 or 5 go to bed. Even a perfectly average bedtime of 10pm would leave you a minimum of 4 or 5 hours after finishing a meal. Surely they would be hungry again before bed?

I don't eat again until lunch at 12.00 the next day - so I fast for 20 hours ... and it makes fuck all difference to my weight. Maybe I need a rethink.

[RavingAnnie]

Two things are weird about this. 1. Before 6pm is way too early for dinner, and certainly most people who work will not have eaten by then Even if you finished work at 5pm which is unusual, you still need to have commuted home and then cooked. Maybe in the days when the man worked and the woman stayed at home, eating at 6 was possible, but very much doubt that is the norm. 2. And who the fuck manages to eat at the same time every night, surely it depends on what you are doing in the day/evening, traffic or problems on the way home, what you are cooking, and how you feel. We eat any time between about 7pm and 9.30pm usually. Although tonight we were starving so my husband went to pick up a pizza and we ate at just gone 6. Go with the flow people, why does it have to be so regimented?

[Coffeeandaride]

I’m eating dinner now, if that’s any help

[Lweji]

I sat with DS for an afternoon snack at the time many people here were having dinner.

[Same4Walls]

I don't eat again until lunch at 12.00 the next day - so I fast for 20 hours ... and it makes fuck all difference to my weight. Maybe I need a rethink.

20 hours with no food is insane!

[BoomBoomsCousin]

We have dinner at 6:30 which is the earliest DH could get home by, pre-covid. Before kids we often didn't eat until 8ish. However, we have found as we've got older that eating later disturbs sleep more so am beginning to appreciate the desire for slightly earlier eating (but I can't get to pre 6 pm!).

[NCAnon]

Relieved to see so many later-eaters on here, most of my/DH's family seem scandalised that we don't eat til 7.30-8pm

[Lovemusic33]

We eat between 5 and 6pm, dd needs to do physio so needs time for dinner to go down before doing it. I don’t think I would want to be messing around with cooking at 8pm.

[Cairnterrorist]

I’m wfh so I don’t have a commute.

I stop just after 5, walk the dog, and come back and start cooking about 6.

If I ate any later than about 7 I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

I don’t eat anything extra before bed.

[Northernsoullover]

I've just finished mine. We usually eat between 8 and 9. I used to live in Spain so even 8 till 9 feels early.

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

@VenusClapTrap

We eat between 5.30 and 6.30. I don’t like to go to bed with a full stomach; it makes me feel bloaty and I sleep badly. Obviously if we’re eating out (hollow laugh) then it’s later, but I’m always ravenous by the time we get to the restaurant! I couldn’t wait so long for my dinner normally without snacking in the afternoon. The kids get hangry if we eat late too, and I’d rather they had a proper meal than fill up on post-school snacks.

It’s much healthier to eat earlier, so that your body can crack on with digestion before sleep.

In the interests of full disclosure, yes I am a northerner, but I’ve lived down south longer than I lived up there. Dh is forrin. He doesn’t care when he eats, as long as cheese is involved.

I found if I was going out for food and the table wasn't booked until say, 8pm... I'd be ravenous! I'd end up eating at home and not being able to eat the food I'd ordered.

[TryingNotToPanicOverCovid]

I wouldnt like to eat at 8. We quite like to watch an episide of something before bed and we're in bed at 10.

Also our kids have always had a bedtime by 8 so to eat then would keep them up too late, and we didnt fancy 15 yewrs of eating separately to them.

[thinkingaboutLangCleg]

I’ve noticed people tend to eat earlier as they get older, even if they don’t go to bed earlier. My aged PILs have theif main meal at lunchtime, eat tea about 5pm and have a biscuit or piece of toast around 9pm. DH and Ieat between 7pm and 8pm.