What time do you eat dinner?

[Amy]

We always eat between 5-5:15 pm. My nieghbors think Im crazy and eat somewhere around 7pm. I ready for bed at that time! LOL

What time do you eat?

[TriciaK]

We usually eat at 5:30. On nights that ds has soccer practice from 5-6 we end up not eating until 6:30-7. I don't like eating that late, but also do not like to rush dinner. That is valuable time where we all sit together to talk about our day.

[JAK]

We eat at about 5:30 too. That way the kids can have their baths, read books and dinner dishes are done before the kids go to bed at 8:00.

[Mickey]

4:30 or 5 when dh is out of town and 6:30 or 7 when he's here.

[kat]

Usually about 6:00. On dh's bowling night it's 5:00. That really puts a strain on me because I don't get home from work til 4:10. We also eat out too much. We eat out on Wed., Fri., and Sun., and alot of times on Sat. as well. Isn't that awful. In the summer though I do a lot of cooking and bread making. Can't wait.

[netmechwife]

If its up to me I usually try to have it at 5:30 but usually it gets pushed back to 6:30 or 7 or even worse 8. depends on how much my dh tries to do or is doing before supper. He isn't very good at stopping things he is working on. His idea of 5 min. is a half an hour. But I think that is why he does so well at his job. He is very intense when doing things. So is my 2 yr old Sammy. (wouldn't you know it drives dh up a wall when ds doesn't hear him bc he is so intense...)

[AnnW]

Pretty much 6:00 on the dot..if ds has a 6:00 game we will eat after...or if it's an 8:00 game..then it's around 5:30. In the summer, maybe 6:30 or so.

[BevJ]

Usually around 6:00 p.m. in our house.

[KarlaB]

Usually btwn 5:30-6:00. When dh is coaching we eat close to 6:30...if dks and I wait for him. :)

[KathyT]

I am finding that as the girls get older it is increasingly difficult for us all to sit down and eat together. Dh isn't usually home til about 6:15. The girls like to eat by 5:30 the nights they don't have any activities.

For those of you who hold off til dh is home and eat later (after 6) how do you hold off the hungry kids? A late afternoon snack?

[KarlaB]

Originally posted by KathyT
For those of you who hold off til dh is home and eat later (after 6) how do you hold off the hungry kids? A late afternoon snack?

I do let them have late snacks, but then they sometimes don't eat dinner as well, so that's usually why we go ahead and eat without him. Otherwise they just want more and more snacks. I'd rather have them eat a good meal. :)

[DanaTx]

We usually try to sit down by about 6:00pm except during softball, then we eat whenever the game(s) over.

[AnnW]

My kids get off the bus starving so they have a snack after school..that holds them. If we are eating after baseball, I give them another snack at 5.

[RCT]

between 5:45 and 6:00 pm......most everynight.....we are creatures of habit here... LOL :lol:

[darlene]

Well, we have dinner at 12:00! LOL :biggrin:
On the other hand, we have usually have supper 5:30 - 6:00.

:)

[MaryL]

My boys eat lunch early...as do I. The lunch period my ds and I have is from 11:00-11:30 a.m. (My childcare provider has kids in the same school, so she is on a similar schedule because of their lunch periods.) Anyway, we get home between 3:30-4:00...and my kids are hungry. If I give them snacks, they don't eat as well, so I usually try to have supper at about 5:00-5:15. Dh gets home later, and eats when he gets home. He doesn't mind, and he travels a lot anyway, so we are used to eating without him. My boys go to bed between 7:30-8:00pm, so I wouldn't want to feed them much after 6:00 anyway.

[Diane]

I agree that it use to be a lot easier to have a set time to eat a meal together when the kids were younger. Now... it's a real treat for us when we can all actually sit down to the table and eat a meal together at the same time. We see more of our oldest dd now than we did when she lived at home but unfortunately it's not always at the same time that my other dd's are home. My ideal time to eat is between 4:30 and 5:00. The earlier the better because my middle dd has classes two nights a week and has to be there by 5:30 She doesn't get home from work until 4:30... so if she doesn't sit down to eat at least by 4:45... she won't have time to eat before she has to leave for school. (driving time really gets her) She also works 1 night a week so she needs to eat early in order to get to work on time too. My youngest dd is a cheerleader so has nights when she has to be back at the school by 5:30 - 6:00 in order to catch the bus to go cheer, or she's busy doing something with her bf. When my oldest dd comes home to eat it usually isn't until later so she's usually digging in the refridgerator looking for leftovers. LOL Either that or if dh has a later appointment, he may not be home in time to eat with everybody else either. So... between work, school, games or whatever... we all may end up eating at different times. All I know is that if I don't have supper made/done early, there will be some people going without eating, and I don't want that. Ugh!!!

I have found that with this schedule I've become somewhat of a lazy cook. Because I'm not done doing day care until 4:30... I usually don't have that much time to throw a meal together, so I've resorted to buying a lot of premade things from Simeks, Sam's or Schwanz. (something I can just pop in the oven at 3:30 and have it done by 4:30) Either that or I use the crock-pot. I guess it just depends upon what I have time for. Sorry to go on again.

Diane... :wave:

[Linda/NE]

Must be a bunch of city slickers huh? LOL j/k

I'm lucky to even have supper (dinner) started at 6! IF I had it my way though we would eat at six. But since we keep farmer's hours we rarely eat by 6, except if we have something going on. Occasionally in the winter we may make it by then.

This time of year we've averaged eating around 7. When dh could do more field work it was sometimes 9 or 10 before he came in. I always fed the kids early though. Sometimes we get busy working outside and don't eat until 8:30.

Generally the rule is that the kitchen closes at 5 (last time for snack) so that the kids will be hungry enough for supper.

[Ryleigh]

Weeknights we usually eat around 6:00, depends on dh's schedule. Sat. we often go out. Just McD's or something quick, or somewhere just casual. Sunday is usually brunch a MIl's house, and just a light meal later in the day when we feel like munching.
I'll miss the Sunday brunch when we move.