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 eat at 6pm (I have dc 12 and 6) and have done since eldest was v little.
Before kids I ate much later though - maybe 8 or so.

Before Dd we’d eat around 8 and up until 10
in summer. Now it’s from 5-6 as she gets hungry then it’s bedtime routine etc not long afterwards, it’s really early for me though

Haven't even started cooking yet.

On this subject there's always an odd sneery vibe towards those who prefer to eat their evening meal early.

We eat more or less at 6:30pm every evening, which is partly made possible because DH is now WFH so no commuting making it later. We all eat together with DC (ages 9 and 12). I grew up in Scandinavia and our dinner was always at 5pm on the dot.

I'm not particularly hungry later in the evening, I used to like a hot chocolate at about 9pm but I've ditched that now and just drink a full glass of water or have a herbal tea. I made a conscious effort to change my habit. Eating minimal carbs and a protein rich dinner also helps feeling fuller for longer. I've recently lost 2 stone by changing my habits.

Earlier eating is also much better for the insulin levels and giving your body at least 12-14 hours to fast before having breakfast.

5pm here. We eat with the kids, I don't want to be cooking twice. I suspect it will gradually get later the older they get.

No way - we eat late here. 830/9pm

Half 7 - 8ish here. Maybe a bit later....

How does he not get hungry before going to bed.

I also wouldn't want to be cooking while sorting kids out for bed. I think for health reasons we will stay 6ish even as they're getting older.

We eat at 6pm, but only because I finish work at 4pm. When I finished at 5.30pm with a 30 min commute home, dinner was after 7pm.

@TryingNotToPanicOverCovid

Depends on demographic I think. Commuters from london wont even be home . However yes in the town I grew up 5.30 was quite normal for dinner.

I was a london commuter. I had my dinner at the station at exactly 6:30pm as did most of my colleagues who wanted to keep healthy.

I used to eat late, around 8 or 9. But last 10 months or so I've been doing intermittent fasting and having my last meal at 4pm-ish. I prefer the earlier time but wouldn't work if I was commuting obviously.

We have, because we eat with DS at 5pm.

I think this is a throwback to the days when most women were at home and had dinner ready for their husband coming home from work.

We used to have early dinners 5 ish after dad got home, we'd also have tea and toast (or some other light snack) later around 9.

I don't eat dinner at a set time -depends when I'm hungry. Some days it's 5pm, sometimes 9pm, sometimes I can't be arsed and don't have any.

Just finished ours. We generally eat between 8-9pm.

why does it have to be so regimented?

I think for most people it’s habit and routine rather than a desire to be regimented. Your body gets used to being fed at regular intervals and so you get hungry at roundabout the same time every day. Most people then cook and eat when they get hungry, unless they are busy doing something at that point, in which case, yes, eating gets postponed. I don’t think many people these days go “Right! It’s six o’clock! Bang that gong and make haste to the dining room!”

RedHotChiliChips Wed 27-Jan-21 20:07:32
On this subject there's always an odd sneery vibe towards those who prefer to eat their evening meal early.
.......

I haven't seen that but not been posting on here long. What does it matter when people eat? It's up to them, they have to fit it around work and children.

Retired people tend to have their dinner earlier and that is sensible really because the advice is not to eat too late so it is well digested before bed. As you say, they generally have a top up at bedtime but it's only something small. My parents and in laws did that.

None of it matters as long as we are all adequately fed.

7am coffee
8am coffee

10am smoothie for breakfast
12pmlunch
5pm tea
8/9pm little snack

Works for me😀

I'm one of the early eaters and I make a point of not eating again after dinner (certainly not after 8pm). I'm usually quite pleased if I go to bed hungry because it keeps my weight under control!

By 6pm? Like, before 6pm? Has he been hanging out at nurseries and old people's homes?

How early would you have to get home to have cooked and eaten before 6pm? How many jobs and commutes allow that? Not many (even now, especially not in normal times),

We do eat early now, so as to eat with young DCs, so 6-6.30pm. In adult-only company, or alone, it would be between 7-8pm.

I don't sleep well if I eat later than 7pm. But then I am in bed by 9/10 and up again at 6. Generally don't eat breakfast so lunch 12-1pm and then tea 5-6.

Somehow I'm still massively overweight.

We eat at around 8

Always eaten between 6 and 6:30, apart from days with an early activity (karate class, or S1's county choir) when we eat later, or a physical activity (the other karate class) at 7 when we eat about 5:30.

When I was a child and teenager, village evening activities started at 7 or 7:30 so that must have been fairly normal.

We used to eat "tea" in my young days - slices of bread and jam occasionally followed by cake - and that was still 6ish, when my dad got in.

I work until 6pm, DH even later, so we normally eat around 7-7.30 as I like to squeeze in a workout or a run after work.

Around 6:30-7pm here. I think of this as quite early but I like to eat quite early.

For years DH had a job with a long commute and we had to eat about 8:30 or 9pm and it nearly killed me. I would be so hungry! He didn’t seem to mind, and he is a northerner and calls it tea, so in answer to a PP’s question no I don’t think that’s connected.