Do you have a set dinner time??

I've noticed this in many of the dinner threads. Do you all eat at the same time every evening?

When my kids were small, we ate at a set time to keep them on a schedule. Now that it's only my 19yr. old at home and he works nights alot DH and I eat any time we want. If my son is home we try to eat together. There's times we may have dinner at 4 and sometimes at 10 PM. It's basically when we're hungry. DH is on pain meds 24/7 so he needs to eat smaller meals throughout the day and may not be hungry at 6 PM.

So............what time do you eat your dinner/supper???

I shoot for 5pm..... doesn't always turn out that way but generally we do... kids ya know?

Sometimes 4 or 4:30, when DH has been on the road a couple days he gets home HUNGRY and I am a sucker for a hard workin' guy begging me for a home-cooked meal.

My dinner time is between 6:30 and 10:00, so no set time here. Of course living by myself has great influence over me being able to use a calendar to set my dinner time by. And if I decide late and need to thaw something.

No schedule since the girls move out on their own years ago, but it's usually between 5 & 7 p.m., or it doesn't happen. Neither of us likes to eat a late dinner, so it's before 7. The variable time is mainly because I rarely know when I will be through with a customer. DW used to get upset because she would cook without asking me what my day looked like, and would get upset when dinner was ready at 5 and I showed up at 6:30. Now she calls me if she's going to cook, and I can "ballpark" my arrival time.

Just 2 humans in the house. I work in NYC, I get home when I am done DW gets home usually @ 6:15. Dinner tim is usually dependant on how long to defrost.

Bear & Liar will eat any time any place anything. Bear is fond of paper towels.

We usually eat between 7:30 and 8 p.m. DH has his projects, as well as running and/or cycling after work. I get home shortly after 6, then have something thawing while I sit with a glass of wine and watch the news or read the paper till 7 or so. Then I start making dinner.

I usually aim for between 6:30 and 7pm, DW will eat later if she is home late.

homecook said:

When my kids were small, we ate at a set time to keep them on a schedule.

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That's where we are at now, so it's between 5:45 - 6:00.

we try to eat between 5 and 6pm, but we run as late as 6:30 or 7 if we're out. the little guy starts to get unreasonable and cranky if we wait too long, so that's always our cue that we need to eat.

when i was growing up, dinner was 6pm, sharp. you'd better be home, washed and dressed (no tank tops, no dirty or ripped shirts or pants/shorts) at 6, or dad was gonna be pissed.

i'm a heck of a lot easier on my family, though. because of my crazy work schedule, i'm often hungry at different times than my wife and son are, so i don't expect them to follow my routines.
actually, i eat more like they do in certain areas of spain. a light or no breakfast, small lunch around 1pm, dinner at 6, then a second supper around 10pm.

Around 7:00 PM, but that is subject to change!

buckytom said:

when i was growing up, dinner was 6pm, sharp. you'd better be home, washed and dressed (no tank tops, no dirty or ripped shirts or pants/shorts) at 6, or dad was gonna be pissed.

i'm a heck of a lot easier on my family, though. because of my crazy work schedule, i'm often hungry at different times than my wife and son are, so i don't expect them to follow my routines.

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That's exactly how it was when I was growing up......and half the neighborhood too. We all knew to skedaddle at 6!!

We almost always eat between 6-6:30. It's just easier to get dinner finished, and on to other things...

When I was growing up it was 6 PM on the dot every night. Now, especially with the kids grown and gone, it's whenever we feel like it.

Most of my child hood breakfast, lunch and dinner had set times. Once I got married it stayed pretty close on the dinner time being 5 PM. Now since going into the storage business we open at 9 AM and close at 6 PM so we eat about 7 PM. Weekends though are very different as we are only opened till 2 PM on Saturday and closed Sunday so we eat around 4 to 5 on Saturday and 3 to 4 on Sunday. We also eat a brunch in stead of breakfast lunch on most weekends.

When I was growing up, it was almost always around 5 pm, year round.

That was because if there was any homework to be done, it got done-then, we were allowed some tv or outdoor time- then it was, be seated and in place, don't talk with your mouth full and clean your plate!

With 5 hungry rambunctious mouths to feed, we knew how much time Mom invested in her cooking and the care she put into every meal. So coming home from school was always a treat because there was always that welcoming smell of food.

During the summer months, you didn't dare come to the table late, or with outdoor grime on you.
When I was very young, we spent a lot of our summer time at my grandparents home in southern Indiana, it was the same thing, be seated at 5.

During my first marriage, I carried on that same dinner "time" habit, because of our sons, school and other activities that happened later in the evening, and fortunately the ex and I worked the same day shift and were both home around 3, so the 5 pm dinner hour is firmly planted in my memory.

Now, however.. since it's just me, I can eat at whatever time I want, wherever I want, which can be anytime between 4 and 7 depending on if I am at work or home

We have always eaten late, usually between 8 and 9.

Since all members of my household (that's wife and I) work our dinners can be from not eating at all to having dinner anytime between 8pm and 11pm.

We don't have a set dinner time. In the summer, it's usually between 8 and 9 pm. In winter, it's usually earlier, between 6 and 7. When the big kids were young, DH worked long hours so I set dinner time around his schedule so we could all eat together. Of course, there is snacking and small light meals happening throughout the day because everyone has different time constraints and commitments.

Wow, I don’t feel like such a freak anymore!

As a kid, like many here, we had a set in stone time of 5:30. Seated, clean clothes, no shenanigans, and clean your plate. The help clean up.

Now, it’s only DW and, and we can’t have kids, so we eat when we feel like it. Typically between 9PM and 11PM. We haven been known to go a little later depending on what we’re doing.

I typically get home from work around 6:30, then have a glass of wine or beer….or go straight to work on a secondary project. If I’m lucky, I’m definitely relaxing in front of the tube by 9, then we’ll start cooking around 10 or so. Things sure have changed since I was a kid.

BTW - Great thread Barb!!

Funny how most of you mentioned cleaning the plate. We got a full breakfast at 7 AM with lunch at school except during the summer which was 12 sharp. If you didn't finish you dinner that became your breakfast the next morning. My grand mother put the food on your plate, no self serve in her home. After dinner we could go out till 7 PM then had to be in take a bath do our home work being in bed by 9:30 to get up at 6 AM doing it all again, it never deviated either. Even after I got married if I went over she was always shoving food at me too. I was lucky in that I burned up the food so never had a weight problem. I was thin as a kid I guess she thought I was always hungry. The woman could cook too, spending a whole year teaching my wife how to cook for me. Dawn did learn too but swears it was like to boot camp.