Hot meals at dinner or teatime? following on from when to eat tea....

[braveandcrazy]

Or should that be lunch and dinner time? (don't get me started on that!)

What does everyone think about their dcs having their hot meal at midday? Or do you wait until teatime? Or do they have both!?

Fortunately my dd is pretty flexible and doesn't mind switching from one to the other but I am interested what others do.

Normally cold lunch & hot tea. Think I got conditioned that way from sandwiches at school then work tbh

here it's cold lunch and hot supper, but can be flexible at the weekend.

Teatime here is a snack after school

Actually, I'm so laid back about this, I have no rules about hot meals at all. In theory, the heaviest meal should be at breakfast or lunch, with something light in the evening - but how many of us can do that with work/school etc? I cook a hot meal after work if I have time, but DD actually loves what we call our 'picnics' which might be a mixture of snacky foods - salad, cold meats, dips, pitta, cheeses, fruit to follow, perhaps some calamari or scampi, samosas, smoked salmon and cream cheese on little triangles of toast ...

Much more relaxed dining and washed down with a glass of juice or water for her and wine for DP and me!

DS's mostly have hot meals at lunch and dinner.

Before DS went to school, I would make him a sandwich/cold lunch and a hot dinner. Now (aged 4) he goes to school and gets a hot lunch, so I do him a cold sandwich-type meal or what I would consider a lighter hot meal, for example, pasta with a sauce, boiled egg and soldiers, egg bread/French toast, etc.

Supper - now that's a different one! Is that later than tea?

Maybe everyone has changed from the days of decent school dinners. I had a hot dinner at school every day and at the moment my dd gets a hot meal at nursery 3 days a week.

However, it is difficult to have a decent meal from scratch on the table by midday I think!

DS is only just coming up to 18 months, so he doesn't eat with us in the evening yet.

I tend to try to do hot meal at lunchtime, with something lighter for tea, but it's pretty flexible depending on what we're doing. Today we were out this morning so I just gave him a quick sarnie and then hot tea.

I think it's just semantics braveandcrazy, we've always called the evening meal supper, unless it's formal and then it's dinner.

DS is only 4 so we have supper at 6, my parents have supper closer to 7:30 or 8. Tea is a drink or a snack at about 4pm. Doesn't really matter what anyone calls it though does it

My ds eats better at lunchtime so will give him his hot meal then, with a something on toast/roll and soup etc at tea time (4.30 - 5pm). He is 3.7

I go with the flow for lunch. Always give him a hot dinner, though.

my 3 dc get very excited about 'hot lunch' at the weekend and i am pleased to have yhr faff out the way and have a cold tea, but pack lunch means it's hot tea in the week. not that i think hot food is intrinsically bettter for you which i sometimes feel is implied - i always get at least 2 veg/fruit portions in at lunch.

DS always has his bigger meal at lunch and then something less difficult at tea time. Lunch will often be lasagne, fish pie etc whereas tea could be baked mushrooms, veg, houmous, toast etc

We have cold lunch (sandwiches etc) then hot dinner. Other way round on one day a week dd goes to nursery

usually hot meal for both, maybe all 3, dd loves porridge for brekkie