Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Other subjects

Flip

1 2

Original poster

What time do normal families have their evening meal??

49 replies

Branster · 06/05/2004 20:59

I was just curious to see what time do normal people have their dinner. I'm personally not bothered if I eat at 6 pm or 11pm, but my DH thinks 7-7.30pm (at the latest!) is the norm. Is this true? After putting my dd to bed at 7pm, starting to cook a meal is the last thing I want to do. it helps if I have the time to prepare something during the day but this doesn't happen very often. Anyway, what time do you ladies have your evening meal and how do you choose the time.

OP posts:

tigermoth · 07/05/2004 00:58

dh and I are just about to have our supper, but it's on the late side for us. He was out playing crib. If we eat as a family, we're talking 9.30 - 10.30 pm. If the boys eat alone, they eat about 8 - 9 pm.

Hulababy · 07/05/2004 08:27

We eat with DD at about 6:30pm once DH gets in from work. She normally has something light around 3:30-4pm to put her on. It is really important to us to try and eat as a family together for dinner each day.

frogs · 07/05/2004 08:34

Ooh, everybody is different from us!

I make the kids' supper at about 5pm, and then eat with dh anywhere between 8 and 9. On special occasions oldest dd (8) is allowed to stay up for 'grown-up supper'.

Beetroot · 07/05/2004 08:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

toddlerbob · 07/05/2004 09:32

We sometimes eat our dinner at about 6pm if ds (14 months) is having a finger food day. Sometime though we eat at 7pm after he's gone to bed. Never later than 8pm though or I would collapse.

GillW · 07/05/2004 10:02

About 7pm, with ds (he's a night owl though so he's never asleep before about 9). Before ds it would be later - more like about 8.30, but in those days I did the cooking. Now dh mostly does it on weekdays as he gets home earlier than I do.

bea · 07/05/2004 10:21

5.30 - 6 ish... we (dd, dh and me) all sit together and have dinner... i hate thethought of cooking twice and i like sitting together to talk about what happenned today...

ds is only 12 weeks so he usually cries or gurgles through the evening meal!!!

kiwisbird · 07/05/2004 10:25

6.30pm -7.30pm dd 18 mths has her own dinner at 4.30 -5pm but if she is still awake she sits with us and snacks on what we have

katierocket · 07/05/2004 11:26

same as frogs and beety

WSM · 07/05/2004 11:36

21 month old DD eats between 5 - 5.30pm

The rest of the family (me, DH, DS1 and DS2) eat once DD has gone to bed. Food is usually on the table for 7 - 7.30 ish

WSM · 07/05/2004 11:38

I forgot to say that we eat at that time because DD's bath-time etc gets in the way of eating earlier and the boys bath times gets in the way of eating any later

elliott · 07/05/2004 14:14

what's a 'normal' family then??
Me and DH are both quite regular in our habits, before children we used to make tea as soon as we got in and eat around 6.30. With one child we would have one cooking with the other doing bath/bed and eat between 7 and 7.30. With 2 children bathtime is a two person job so we don't start cooking until after 7 and eat around 7.45....sometimes we all eat together around 5.30 or 6 but can't do this on a work day.

marthamoo · 07/05/2004 14:20

We all eat together - about 6pm, though often dh is late and we have nearly finished by the time he arrives. The only exception is at the weekend, if we have a take-away, I feed the kids around 5.30 and we eat after they have gone to bed. I just couldn't face cooking again after the kids are in bed - that's my flop time!

elliott · 07/05/2004 14:24

All of you who manage to eat at 6 - when on earth do you cook? Even now on maternity leave I would find it hard to prepare something at that time - and its completely impossible when we're both working.

AlanP · 07/05/2004 14:30

What's a normal family?

We can eat any time between en famille 5:30 to 10:00.

Depands on what time we get home;
who is cooking;
or how quickly the take away delivers

Jules1974 · 07/05/2004 14:40

Everyday is different. Ideally I like to eat at 5.30 and get DS to bed before the TV is turned on - Simpsons 6pm. By the time that finishes I have started mellowing out and its and battle to motivate myself let alone anyone elso to get the bed time routine happening. On the weekends we eat really early as we don't eat lunch very much. Tonight after DS came inside and had a shower at 5pm he lay down to sleep for an hour. When he woke I made him scrambled eggs - I'd had a coffee so I wasn't hungry. About and hour later DH comes out with "what are we having for dinner" - I bet you can imagine my response.

Wallace · 07/05/2004 21:05

Usually somewhere between 5 and 6pm. We eat as a family, but sometimes dh and I will sneak off into the sitting room and eat on the sofa. Also occasionally the kids get fed at the normal time, and we have something later.

Original poster

Branster · 07/05/2004 21:23

since i'm the one to have started this discussion, i am very proud to announce that tonight i've managed to get dinner served just before 7.30pm - it was actually 7.24pm. I feed dd between 5-5.30pm, then she's in bed by 7pm that's why i usually aim for dinner served at 7.30pm. well, tonight i've actually managed to do it on time. it's just really that it doesn't always take only 1/2h to cook an evening meal. all those meals they preapare on ready, steady, cook (how sad am i to watch this programme! i keep thinking i'll learn somenthing from it but can't remember a thing after it finishes), come on, they have all the pots & pans at the ready, hundreds of extra ingredients which they assume you'd normally have lying around in the kitchen (i.e. giant pot of various herbs and all sorts of exotic spices) and all those clever appliances. to be honest i often avoid using my food processor as it's so difficult to clean afterwards. and they never have to worry about the washing up. is it just me thinking evening meals are a bit of a problem to get reday on time? ah, you also have to remember to defrost meat on time if you haven't bought something fresh that day.

OP posts:

eddm · 07/05/2004 21:48

I'm amazed so many people eat so early. By the time dh and I have got back from work, picked ds up from nursery, changed his nappy, played for bit and had a coffee, done bath/bed for him, it's usally 9 before we eat. Although applying eczema cream does mean nappies and bath take much longer than before he had bad skin ? that extra 10/15 minutes every time adds up. I suppose I could start cooking when I get through the door but I want to spend some time with ds after being at work all day! And I desperately need a coffee after the commute.

Bozza · 08/05/2004 10:24

Between 6 and 6.30 as a family. Then we leave the kitchen and go play until 7.15 and one of us will do the bath routine while the other tidies the kitchen. Pre-DS, DH and I would eat about 7.30 to 8.00 pm but then I used to do exotic things like go to the gym after work.

I too like the idea that by 7.45 pm DS is in bed and the kitchen is tidied up.

Bookend · 08/05/2004 10:38

In the early days, tried to ensure that dh would eat with us (7.00 pm).....as he would not have seen the dds till weekend. It got v stressful and I would have to have a small pre-tea at 4.30 p.m.! Followed by bath etc. Dds now do lots of extra curricular activities after school so it gives me a chance to prepare before I pick them up. I run out of ideas and do the same boring food over and over again. I don't think they have noticed though. Dh comes back too late now so he reheats food and gets a chance to give the dds a kiss and bedtime story if they are awake! I find that the routine changes with the children. Good luck

OldieMum · 08/05/2004 11:20

Until a few months ago, we would feed dd (now 16 months) at about 6, put her to bed by about 7.15 and then start cooking dinner. We decided that we wanted to eat as a family, so now we eat together at 6.30-ish and put her to bed straight afterwards. We are all enjoying it more and it feels like less work. But I work part-time, and mostly from home. It would impossible to have this timetable if we were both commuting each day. Before dd, I was commuting between London and Oxford about 3-4 days a week. Dh cooked on my commuting days, but we still found ourselves eating at about 8.30-9.00.

eddm · 08/05/2004 11:26

Should explain, ds is only 9 months and has his tea at nursery. It would be too late by the time we get home from work. It's just me and dh who eat so late.

serenequeen · 08/05/2004 11:36

i would be astonished if working parents could sit down by 6.00pm to eat en famille! it certainly couldn't happen in our house.

ds eats his supper at approx 5.30 - 6.00 when he comes home from nursery. dh and i eat at approx 8.00 - 9.00 when he has gone to bed.

i think the age of the children makes a difference too. ds is only 2, so it's still important for him to go to bed early. as he gets older the priorities will shift and eating the evening meal together will come higher up the list.

Flip

1 2