Mealtimes

[sahm99]

I am wondering at what time you eat dinner, and if it is your main meal...

 

I am in a planning mode for the next school-year, and think I should be a bit more structured...

 

For the time being we have dinner anywhere between 6 and 9!!!

 

Thanks!

[Rich with Kids]

I try to have dinner ready by 6. The kids hang out at the pool down the street sometimes until 7:30, but I at least have it ready. During the school year we eat around 7:00.

[DawnM]

I try to eat by 6pm. Dh is home about 7 months a year by that time. The other 5 months are busy season and he either gets free dinner at work (they feed him twice a week for dinner during busy season) or he takes dinner in as he knows he won't be home in time.

 

We have kind of started a tradition now of dinner at 6pm and a light dessert at 8:00pm.

 

Dawn

[dirty ethel rackham]

I try to have dinner ready at 5:30, but it is usually ready around six. I am not the most structured or organized person in the world, but our activities force us to get dinner on the table so we can eat before heading out to Karate/rock climbing/boyscouts or whatever.

 

ETA: it is our main meal of the day.

[CathyT]

My husband gets home at 5 on the night he doesn't exercise on the way home at the gym or he comes home and exercises by riding his bike. We eat once he has completed his exercise then we eat at 6. Sometimes I feed the littles earlier at 5 and then we can have some great talks with the older kids at dinner. We use dinner to catch up with eveyones' days and plan our evening together...

[Carrie12345]

We eat anywhere from 5:30 to 7:30pm. I happen to be a terrible meal planner :tongue_smilie:, but other factors also come into play. We may wait for dh to get home (whenever that may be on that particular day). We sometimes eat a late lunch. We might be running around town in the late afternoon.

 

I like the idea of a regular meal time, but it just isn't all that high on our priority list.

[scmama]

At my house, dinner is usually served by 6pm. Unless its a really hectic day. I try to start dinner by 4:30 the latest, but some times I can't get around it. But it's never later than 8pm, unless we have spent the day out and about and we just can't get back early. During this time of year, I try to hold out for dinner until dh comes home. Also, dinner is our main meal. :)

[Parrothead]

I'd like dinner at 6. Dd's and Dh's schedules are not always conducive to a strict dinner times.

[mommaduck]

First, I have to say that ....lunch is our main meal and ....dinner is our main meal are the same thing depending on where you are at ;) I almost clicked dinner and then realised you had "lunch" down as the next one.

 

 

USUALLY dinner (aka lunch, not supper) is our main meal when DH is on 2nd shift and supper (aka dinner) is our main meal when he's on 1st or 3rd shift.

[Leanna Tomlinson]

We have dinner at 7:00. It has taken me years to realize that 7:00 works for our family as much as 6:00 is "dinner time" in my mind.

 

I would love to have dinner earlier, but I can't count on dh to be home before 6:30. He likes to change clothes and sit down to watch the news before dinner. I usually have everything ready, and the kids put it on the table while we finish the evening news together. I usually have the kitchen cleaned except the dishes we are using at the table, so clean up doesn't take too long into the evening.

[Mom2J112903]

Here we have Breakfast, Dinner and Super-no lunch. Yep, depends on where you are what you have. ;)

 

Breakfast is at 7/730, depending on what time we get up and going. Breakfast is no later than 730a however.

 

Dinner is either at 11a or 12p-depending on the day as J has OT across the river at 1030 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

 

Super is either at 4p or 5p-again, depending on the day. When DH has to close (he is in managment) it is at 4p since that is when his break is. When DH is either off or opens, it is at 5p.

 

Bedtime routine for J starts at 630/7p.

[Mynyel]

I try to make lunch our main meal and then we eat "dinner" typically after 7pm. Course we don't eat breakfast till about 9-10am either so... :)

[nono]

I answered 8 or later because it's summer now, and we eat pretty close to 9 p.m., because it's finally getting dark. If you asked again in the winter, it'd be somewhere between 7 - 8 p.m.

 

We like to all eat together, and our kids often do a "dinner show" after they eat. It's great fun! My husband and I get a chance to unwind before getting everyone out for our evening walk and putting the kids to bed.

[Desert Rat]

We eat dinner between 4-5pm. We have evening sports that start early and run several hours. It's either eat early or really late. We choose early.

[KellyinPA]

I'm shooting for 6pm this year. Dh works from home so is almost always here except for a late meeting or travel. 18 dd's partime job ends at 6 each day and it's only a few minutes away so if I start getting dinner on the table at 6 we'll be eating shortly after. But I'm flexible, if we have something out of the home that night we can move dinner time up or back, depending.

 

This is the first fall in "forever" that we don't have to be concerned about sports schedules interfering with life. Very happy about this!:D

[Daisy]

Breakfast is before 7am, usually closer to 6am.

Lunch is usually around 12:30pm.

 

We eat dinner between 5 and 5:30pm. During the summer our large meal of the day gets moved to lunch time (unless hubby is teaching summer school) because of the heat.

 

For those of you who eat late, do your children stay up later? I want my children to have at least a couple of hours after dinner before they go to bed.

[Crimson Wife]

The kids & I usually eat dinner anywhere between 4:45ish and 6:15ish. It all depends on what's going on that day. DH usually doesn't get home until after 7 (often after 8) so he eats separately.

[AHASRADA]

We usually eat dinner around 8-8:30pm, sometimes 9, but never before 7:30. Our lunch and dinner are basically equal, so neither is really the "main meal". In fact, I always plan and cook enough at dinner to have leftovers as lunch the next day, so they are in fact the same meal :lol:.

 

I tend to eat a bit earlier in the AM, but the dc and dh often don't finish breakfast until 10am, and we have lunch between 12:30 and 2, based on hunger (each of us scoops our portion of leftovers and zaps them when ready for lunch). Sometimes dh doesn't eat until 3 or 4 if he's busy :001_huh:.

 

I don't finish school with the dc until 4pm, and need to attend to chores, as well as have some "down time" before I can begin to think about cooking. I also have tutoring students most afternoons, so I am not free to cook until around 6pm anyway. On karate nights, we don't get home until 8:20, so those are really late dinner nights.

 

The dc have an "after-school snack" between 4:30 and 5, and dh has coffee with a cookie or pastry between 5 and 6. 6pm seems insanely early to eat dinner, but 7:30 would be nice. Logistically, though, it never works out that way, and on the rare occasion that it does, no one is hungry yet anyway :tongue_smilie:.

 

BTW, dd10 goes to bed between 9:30-10, ds13 from 10:30-11, and dh and I between 11-12:30, so it's not that unreasonable. We just eat dinner as the last thing we do in the day, after we have finished all our activities, etc., unlike those who eat, clean up and still have some evening left. I must admit, I do my dinner dishes in the AM. I am not a night person, and I just cannot do dishes after 9PM!

[myfunnybunch]

I voted 7:00 even though we usually eat a little closer to 6:30. :)

 

We would normally eat around 5:30-6. This year, we have exchange students and must provide a dinner for them, and the bus they catch gets them home at 6:15 at the earliest, so we eat about 15-30 minutes after they arrive.

 

Cat

[JoyfulMama]

We eat earlier, as dh works nights. This gives us/him time before he runs out the door, as it's almost like breakfast time for him.

[Ellie]

We actually usually eat between 5 and 6, although I voted 5 or earlier. It makes me crazy to eat later than 6. And yes, it's our main meal.

[Crissy]

It depends on the time of year.

Because we like to have dinner together, sometimes the boys' activities cause our dinners to be quite late.

These days Jeffrey is working until 8pm, and Hunter's baseball games go that late as well. That means dinner is usually on the table at 8:45. UGH!

 

I prefer to have dinner at 6pm.

[shannatheshedevil]

I need the "other" option. My husband works shift work, so if he's working the night shift, lunch is our main meal and it happens about 2:30 or so. If he's on the day shift, dinner is our main meal and it happens about 7. I'm very big on eating as a family, even if we have to alter our schedules to accommodate one person.

[leighp]

I'm planning to make lunch our main meal. We have activities almost every night of the week, so it will be easier to have a big lunch and light dinner.

 

We'll see how that goes though once we actually get our school year started. Might have to eat a lot of crockpot meals! ;)

[nono]

For those of you who eat late, do your children stay up later? I want my children to have at least a couple of hours after dinner before they go to bed.

 

Yes. In the summer, our children go to bed around 10 p.m. after we eat, watch their evening "show" (if there's a performance they want to do), and then walk the dog. Plus it's about 1/2 hour of story time, so they aren't asleep until about 10:30ish.

 

I would have never expected me to be so lax about this, but it just works for the 4 of us and our lifestyle. Both of our children will select quiet time or a nap during the day if they need it. (ds does so about 5x a week...he doesn't quite need a nap every day anymore). As long as everyone is good, and not cranky, we go with it. Occasionally, I will schedule an early dinner so as to get the kids to bed by 8:45, but without it being dark out, it's always a challenge to get them to sleep. In the winter, no problem! ;)