what time

thats exactly my point. Its a sign of the times that this has to be the case and it is a shame

But it's always been the case. People have always worked shifts/commuted distances. As I said above, my parents both worked and didn't get home until around 7pm so dinner was around 7:30 and that was over 30 years ago.
 
But it's always been the case. People have always worked shifts/commuted distances. As I said above, my parents both worked and didn't get home until around 7pm so dinner was around 7:30 and that was over 30 years ago.

you don't think that more people don't have dinner together and at a reasonble hour these days than 100 years ago for example?

It was for a long time the case that working hours were practically the same for everyone and as jobs and lifestyle has changed we now live in a society where more and more people have to work unsociable hours.
 
Dinner at 7 has always been when my family sit together and eat.

In the UK I think the first thing a lot of people think about when they decide to go out to dinner is getting a baby-sitter. Here, in my experience, that hardly ever happens. The whole family dines out as one. I've been dining in a restaurant many, many times and seen a family of kids, parents and grandparents arriving together way after 10. The country may be broken but the family unit is still very strong.
 
In the UK I think the first thing a lot of people think about when they decide to go out to dinner is getting a baby-sitter. Here, in my experience, that hardly ever happens. The whole family dines out as one. I've been dining in a restaurant many, many times and seen a family of kids, parents and grandparents arriving together way after 10. The country may be broken but the family unit is still very strong.

thats totally not for me. Our children have such a great routine and if they are kept up late are miserable that night and the next day.
 
you don't think that more people don't have dinner together and at a reasonble hour these days than 100 years ago for example?

It was for a long time the case that working hours were practically the same for everyone and as jobs and lifestyle has changed we now live in a society where more and more people have to work unsociable hours.

100 years ago is a bit extreme though, given it was a very different era. People have always worked unsocial hours, don't know whether it's a case of more having to now though. People don't work unsociable hours due to current ties, they work them due to the nature of their jobs. Doctors, police, firemen, bus/train drivers have always had to work unsocial hours and not everyone can work locally so even those who work 9-5 have to travel distances to get to their place of work.
 
100 years ago is a bit extreme though, given it was a very different era. People have always worked unsocial hours, don't know whether it's a case of more having to now though. People don't work unsociable hours due to current ties, they work them due to the nature of their jobs. Doctors, police, firemen, bus/train drivers have always had to work unsocial hours and not everyone can work locally so even those who work 9-5 have to travel distances to get to their place of work.

100 years was just plucking a number out of the air.

My point is that more and more as time goes on families spend less time together at the dinner table at a reasonable hour. I'm not saying that everyone in the world always did, of course there were jobs with unsociable hours all through history, but it's just more acceptable these days to expect to work longer into the evening.
 
100 years was just plucking a number out of the air.

My point is that more and more as time goes on families spend less time together at the dinner table at a reasonable hour. I'm not saying that everyone in the world always did, of course there were jobs with unsociable hours all through history, but it's just more acceptable these days to expect to work longer into the evening.

That may be the case, I don't know. It would be handy to hear of examples where this is the case other than because of the nature of peoples' jobs. Mine, Mark's and Neil's are a case in point but they are lifestyle choices and there aren't kids involved. If we had kids, then things would be different as far as working around the equine responsibilities.
 
The "reasonable-ness" of the hour is alot less important (except, it seems, to you Joe :D)) than the fact that time IS spent together, surely?

What works for me and mine obviously won't work for everyone, and nor should it. Should we all be sitting around our tables as one, on the dot of 6pm every evening? If I was home all day I still wouldn't want to eat that early.

Things change and people change with them; that's little reason to begin bemoaning the state of family life in general, I think.
 
You're also assuming that in an ideal world everyone wants to eat early. I'm just not sure that's the case.

Going back quite a few years, my sister and I would eat dinner separately at 6pm. Once I turned maybe 11-12 (bit of a guess) we began eating later at the same time as our parents at 7pm and that continued ever since.

Whilst I was at uni I'd more commonly eat dinner sometime after 8, and often after 9, despite always being home from university by 5.30 at the very latest. I've just never felt the inclination to have a big meal before 6, no doubt due to the fact I've always had later meals, just as I suspect you have probably always eaten earlier in the evening.
 
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Personal choice. Why, can I not have one? :thinking:

No course you can't your a woman. See it's things like letting woman have choices that start wars. :D




















Leavin :exit:
 
No course you can't your a woman. See it's things like letting woman have choices that start wars. :D

Hush you. You're all mouth and no trousers :p
 
Personal choice. Why, can I not have one? :thinking:

why the second question? I was just curious as to why, don't get so paranoid.

Can you elaborate though?

For example, I can tell you that I prefer to eat earlier because otherwise I feel full and bloated when I go to bed and I also don't like the thought of doing washing up late and want to relax
 
I am home all day and as week speak i have just started my pie filling witch means that today dinner will be 7.30 as i was a little late getting in from lunch out.
 
You're also assuming that in an ideal world everyone wants to eat early. I'm just not sure that's the case.

I'm curious about people that given the choice would still rather eat late? Like lets assume you are up at 7am and you go to sleep at 11.30pm

Would you have more than three meals in that time? if not and you had breakfast at say 8-9am you'd likely be hungry for lunch around 12-2pm then if you dont have your dinner till 9pm you are going 7+ hours without a meal.

I wouldn't be able to last that long and would no doubt snack in between
 
As a teenager we ate around 6pm, if my Dad was home from work we would all eat together, if not he had it when he got home. With my first marriage and children we all ate together a lot but it is ggod to get the kids fed changed and bed sometimes and have a bit of quality time with the other half at the table. Although after a while a change of job change of shift meant change of routine. Now me and the wife eat around 6.30-7.00pm. But we never decide what we are having until that evening. Take today for example, I left the house at about 04.30 and have not long got in. I had a small cheese roll which I made this morning, a packet of crisps and a small selection of fruit from out of the back of my van, as it is at the moment I feel stuffed, I could well go for a full blown meal later or just as easily be happy with a couple of poached eggs.
 
why the second question? I was just curious as to why, don't get so paranoid.

Can you elaborate though?

For example, I can tell you that I prefer to eat earlier because otherwise I feel full and bloated when I go to bed and I also don't like the thought of doing washing up late and want to relax

Well, one big difference between us there then is that I do not eat until I am full. I eat until I am no longer hungry. And if it gets so late that I can't be bothered to wash up, then I'm not so precious that I won't leave it in soak until the morning.
 
I'm curious about people that given the choice would still rather eat late? Like lets assume you are up at 7am and you go to sleep at 11.30pm

Would you have more than three meals in that time? if not and you had breakfast at say 8-9am you'd likely be hungry for lunch around 12-2pm then if you dont have your dinner till 9pm you are going 7+ hours without a meal.

I wouldn't be able to last that long and would no doubt snack in between

Everbody`s metabolism is different Joe, as is their job and how much energy they burn up and need to replace. In saying that I reguraly work me knuts off and dont even bother eating during the day, come home and may either feel starving or I will just have a snack in the evening or maybe nothing at all. I know! It probably aint healthy but but if I go past the point of not eating when I really should then I just wait until the next available meal time and decide then what I want.
 
For example, I can tell you that I prefer to eat earlier because otherwise I feel full and bloated when I go to bed and I also don't like the thought of doing washing up late and want to relax

You mean, you need to leave room to stuff them crappppy Oreo things down yer neck before bed Joe :D
 
Well, one big difference between us there then is that I do not eat until I am full. I eat until I am no longer hungry. And if it gets so late that I can't be bothered to wash up, then I'm not so precious that I won't leave it in soak until the morning.

but ... and this is just out of curiosity, don't get offended and start saying "am i not allowed to have opinion etc ...... what reasons make you WANT to eat late, even if you didn't have to?
 
I'm curious about people that given the choice would still rather eat late? Like lets assume you are up at 7am and you go to sleep at 11.30pm

Would you have more than three meals in that time? if not and you had breakfast at say 8-9am you'd likely be hungry for lunch around 12-2pm then if you dont have your dinner till 9pm you are going 7+ hours without a meal.

I wouldn't be able to last that long and would no doubt snack in between

I was up at 06.30 between then and 12.00 I had 1 cup of tea and about 4 coffees. At 12.00 I had 2 slices of toast and marmalade. Girls got home from school at 03.30 (ish) and lunch was finished by 16.10. But, it was tarragon chicken and rice, with steamed broccoli ;)

I've just had a coffee and 2 Quality Street that happened to jump out of the tin ;) Dinner tonight will be at about 21.30 when we get back from their dance classes :) I'll go to bed about 11.30
 
but ... and this is just out of curiosity, don't get offended and start saying "am i not allowed to have opinion etc ...... what reasons make you WANT to eat late, even if you didn't have to?

Joe, I don't want to eat late, nor do I want to eat early. I want to eat when I feel hungry, and generally that will be more around the 7pm mark than the 6pm.
 
I was up at 06.30 between then and 12.00 I had 1 cup of tea and about 4 coffees. At 12.00 I had 2 slices of toast and marmalade. Girls got home from school at 03.30 (ish) and lunch was finished by 16.10. But, it was tarragon chicken and rice, with steamed broccoli ;)

I've just had a coffee and 2 Quality Street that happened to jump out of the tin ;) Dinner tonight will be at about 21.30 when we get back from their dance classes :) I'll go to bed about 11.30

that's insane!!! Isn't that really unhealthy to eat nothing at the start of your day and then eat a meal at 21.30am? I mean aren;t you supposed to eat during the most active parts of the day, whats the point of eating just before you are about to sleep for 7 hours? Or is that a myth?
 
Dinner is at dinner time, around noon.

Tea is at teatime,around six.

Brekkie is a no no for me.
 
:naughty:

sometimes it's nice to eat at the table too!

Better still when it aint your table :D

Going back to the eating though, some people just eat when they feel the need to, nothing else. Take Salt and Pepper for example, if you use it with meals you will notice over a short period of time ( on the same kind of food )you will in most cases use on average the same amount of Pepper. But when it comes to the Salt you will automatically put different amounts on your meals, your body knows how much it needs. As for eating late Joe take a look at this Whether you believe it or not is up to you but as always there are as many links out there to say it makes no difference as there are those that say it is bad for you :shrug:
 
I'm curious about people that given the choice would still rather eat late? Like lets assume you are up at 7am and you go to sleep at 11.30pm

Would you have more than three meals in that time? if not and you had breakfast at say 8-9am you'd likely be hungry for lunch around 12-2pm then if you dont have your dinner till 9pm you are going 7+ hours without a meal.

I wouldn't be able to last that long and would no doubt snack in between

Obviously everyone is different, and that's my point.

It's usually a long time after I wake up that I begin to feel hungry, so if I'm up at 7.30am it might not be until 11am that I actually feel the need to eat. Sometimes it'll be lunchtime (1pm) before I eat. Of course, some days I'll have something earlier because I might have a busy day ahead or whatever that means I either want the calories early or know I'll not have an opportunity to eat mid-morning, but in general I eat when I'm hungry and only so much as to stop me being hungry, not fill me up completely. Once I've had that first meal of the day then it tends to kick-start my metabolism and perhaps every 2.5-3.5 hours I'll feel hungry. Now assuming a bed time of 11.30pm, that means that if I don't have something to eat around 9pm I'll be lying in bed hungry, thinking about food and unable to sleep.

In a typical day I'll probably eat 4/5 times, with a piece of fruit or a packet of crisps sometimes in between. The whole 3 meals a day thing is something I just can't imagine living with. I'd have to eat so much for each of them to keep me going, that I'd be so full I'd not be able to do anything productive for a lot of the day.
 
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So what do you do, work wise?

I work from home, the little one is hungry so we try and eat together.

Are late eaters having a snack mid afternoon? I eat lunch around 12.30 i'm starving by 4.30!:)
 
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that's insane!!! Isn't that really unhealthy to eat nothing at the start of your day and then eat a meal at 21.30am? I mean aren;t you supposed to eat during the most active parts of the day, whats the point of eating just before you are about to sleep for 7 hours? Or is that a myth?

I only do breakfast if some one else cooks it for me ;)

The dinner at 21.30 will be light though. Lunch is our main meal of the day
 
I work from home, the little one is hungry so we try and eat together.

Then you are in a position to eat at 5:30. I have a 45 minute journey home from work and my wife commutes from Bedfordshire into Central London so why is it difficult to believe that some people eat at 8pm?
 
Yv stays up all night stuffing Jaffa`s, she is still going strong :thumbs:
 
If people didn't eat late at night most takeaway places would be out of business in a month.
 
rjbell said:
I work from home, the little one is hungry so we try and eat together.

Are late eaters having a snack mid afternoon? I eat lunch around 12.30 i'm starving by 4.30!:)

Lunch at 1.30, sandwich at 4-4.30, dinner at 7, and another sandwich or something at 9 most nights.

Do you not have anything after 4.30?
 
Lunch at 1.30, sandwich at 4-4.30, dinner at 7, and another sandwich or something at 9 most nights.

Do you not have anything after 4.30?


Yes i'm starving by 4.30 but wait for my tea at 5-5.30 then i will have a snack at 9pm usually a bowl of cereal.
 
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