9.30 and we’ve not yet had dinner

[Ticktockk]

Staying with family for Christmas and oh my, am I hungry?!
I tend to eat with the kids at home and this is now my bedtime 😅
What madness are you currently experiencing over Christmas?

Umm we often eat dinner at 9pm, especially at weekends.

That's why I very rarely stay with other people. And when I do it's for the shortest time possible and I keep emergency snacks and drinks in the car.

But… but… 10pm!

Opposite issue at my parents, dinner is served up by 6pm, which based on large breakfasts and lunches is early!

Yes this! How can people work full time and/or have clubs etc after school and cook a meal from scratch for 6pm?? We both work and have three busy kids - we eat at 7/7.30pm on school nights… 6pm often no one is home! During holidays I assumed 8pm is normal for most families once kids are a bit older? That’s the norm for us!

@Ticktockk yeah 10pm is late, but not unknown in our house.

Mr Monkey has just finished his dinner but he didn't finish work until 9pm this evening. I ate before he got home at about 8.30pm

Tomorrow’s plan…………8 am to the cafe for huge fry-up. 9am stock up on loads of snacks.Secret them about your person. 10 am find hiding place in your room for said snacks. 3pm ask if any one is up for a long walk. Hope they refuse for more secret shopping. After tonight’s dinner draw up a chart of scheduled loo breaks to disguise visits to your secret larder.

Yes! This is an excellent plan for the day!

My brother used to do this. Fantastic cook but he'd only get started after 6pm, with much quaffing of wine and waving of cigarettes. If you were lucky it would be on the table at 10 and everyone would be wankered by then.

I did at least start buying in crisps to have when the first evening beers were cracked.

I am in bed by 8pm normally

are you a tween? What adult goes to bed at 8pm ffs

In Spain you'd be laughed at for saying that thing.

Tired ones. I often go to bed at 8pm especially during lambing season when we can be up from 3 or 4am.

Are you at my Mum's house?

We had dinner at 8.30pm, but to be fair, we only arrived at 7pm, and then I cooked it, because my Mum was making stuffing, one sister was at work, the other sister was outside somewhere, and my brother was sorting out spuds and onions in the shed. There were no complaints, and if there had been, people were welcome to eat biscuits or something.

Being hungry at night is horrible.
I read a book when I didn't have enough to eat {teenager}

The book was ''The upper berth'' and it mentioned Welsh rarebit as a cause for the protagonist seeing a Ghost.

Oh my goodness Welsh rarebit...the tangy cheesy goodness of melted matured cheddar cheese on toast with Worcester sauce... I was so hungry after reading that.

Food porn.

During term-time school weeks we aim to have dinner at 7pm. This is more usually 7.15 or even 7.30, depending on who gets back from work first and is able to start cooking.

I often go to bed at 8pm especially during lambing season when we can be up from 3 or 4am.

ok @HermoinePotter but that’s a very specific situation not applicable to 99% of people on here, so not sure why it’s relevant here on ops post about a late dinner

My parents have their dinner eaten by 430pm most days! As children we ate as soon as we got in from school but always had a supper of sandwiches, beans on toast or similar around 730pm ! I always thought it was 4 meals a day was very surprised to discover 3 is the norm!

My mum thinks it’s weird we don’t eat our evening meal before 6! It’s often after 7 these days now kids are adults but would never last till 9pm! Hope you’ve had something now OP!

My DH cooks the dinner and we never eat before 9.30, often 10 or 10.30. We both work at home and prefer to start work later in the morning and work into the evening (I am way more productive/focused later in the day/evening) so we can't really eat much earlier if we want to do that. I try to work only till about 8pm, but it sometimes runs over. On evenings when teen DS has an activity to be taken to we often only get back around 8.30.

DH often goes to bed by 11 (more physical job than mine), I usually only go by midnight. Especially now it's school holidays so no-one has to get up early!

If you gave me food at 6pm I would consider that a somewhat late lunch! Each to their own!

A tired one

I’m laughing, reading this whilst eating my dinner!

we usually eat late, but not this late. DH was out with relatives, offered to buy me dinner, but didn’t get on with it, so I said forget going on to eat (at 9.30) went home but prepped some presents for tomorrow morning.

YANBU. I hate eating later than 8 or maybe 8.30. It messes with my sleep and digestion and I'm absolutely starving and end up snacking or getting grumpy. We usually eat around 6 - 7. I know that's quite early for some but it means we can eat with DC.

Ha, are you staying with me? I ate my dinner at 11.05pm tonight. To be fair, I wouldn't do that if I had guests though

Put up fences, watch TV, feed donkeys, argue.

I’m just glad they’re in another country 😂

It's not common for families to eat at 11pm in France, but since exactly one person on the thread has mentioned exactly one French family that does that (or perhaps, did that once or twice when the poster was visiting, which may have brought added complications in itself), and there are probably 20 million families in France, it doesn't seem impossible. People vary. A lot. In their own home they are not dependent on restaurant times, and not everyone gets up at 7:30am for work.

For what it's worth we know a Spanish couple who eat at 10pm, and they are by no means exceptional in Spain. 🤷‍♂️