Evening meal

Just curious to see how many eat their evening meal all together & when in general do you mostly eat that meal.

We all eat together when DH gets home so around 6pm & we eat it at the dinner table. Before #2 came along we'd half & half eat at the dinner table but mostly on our knees in front of TV, now with #2 TV is turned off or muted & we all sit together.

We don't really do it as a social thing but more because it's easier for #2 to eat for himself if he's not also trying to balance his food. Plus he seems to eat better & the social aspect goes a long with it all.

We eat around 5pm (any later and Tom gets really grumpy). During the weekdays I normally eat with the kids and DH eats later on after the kids have gone to bed- except for Fridays when he is home early so we eat together. Sat's we have dinner at my parents place and Sun we all eat together.  TV is turned off at dinner time.

we also eat together but cause hubby works shifts our main meal time varies but we eat all our meals at the table to keep consitant.

We always eat together around the table, usually somewhere between 5.30 - 6pm. The TV is usually on, but we have it on low volume and can't see it from the dining room.

because I've been on my own the last couple of months I've been feeding DD then putting her to bed before having my own dinner
when Dh comes home however we will be having dinner together when he comes home from work, its easier to cook for all 3 of us

At the moment I've been trying to feed DD in front of the TV while I watch Masterchef (yes I'm addicted) it's been a bit of a disaster as she is easily distracted by it.

Dinner will be at the table with TV off when Daddy gets home.

There's only me and DD so we eat together at the table. Its usually sometime between 5 - 5.30pm depending on what time we get in the door from work/daycare and how long whatever we are having takes me to prepare. And we I don't switch the TV on before DD goes to bed at night so its off when we eat. DD does take ages and ages and ages to eat her dinner though so sometimes I read a magazine if I am still waiting for her after 20 mins or so.

I would love to eat at the dining table but it would mean having dinner at 5.15-5.30pm (when DD has her dinner) but neither DF nor I feel like eating a meal that early. We've always had dinner between 7-7.30pm. So I give DD her dinner just before DF gets home from work, and then he starts cooking our meal while I get DD ready for bed etc. Then she goes to bed at 7pm and we get our dinner out. I quite like just the two of us eating together. It's really the only 'us' time we get. When DD gets a little older we will make more of an effort to have 'family' meals.
Honestly tho, we tried having dinner at 5.30pm but we'd both be hungry again by 9pm!!! haha

If DP is home in time then we both make tea at 5/5.30 to be ready at 6pm to eat at the table. If he is going to be home a bit later than 5/5.30 then I make it myself and we all eat when he gets home around 6pm at the table!

No tv on here either!

Lisa, I have found my body has adjusted! Prior to DP and I getting our own place we lived with family and dinner was always around 7/7.30 and DD wouldn't go to bed until 9pm+! Anyway at first I would be constantly hungry from 7pm onwards but after maybe a week I adjusted! At the ILs they eat at the table but tv on. At my grandparents it was eat where ever lounge, table, couch, bedroom, kitchen... TV was on. My grandma is pretty much disabled so she eats in bed in her room...

We eat at the breakfast bar with no tv. We eat at 5.30pm but depending on traffic and what site DH is working at it will often just be the boys and I eating together during the week, although sometimes DH will arrive home partway through the meal. At the weekends we all eat together.

I enjoy eating early, it means that the boys are in bed and dishes done by about 7.30pm, there is so much more time in the evenings to do things or just blob on the couch

ETA: although it does mean that DH and I end up having something else (baking or whatever 'treats' I have) at about 8/8.30pm

Edited by Linzy

DH and I have been talking about this and it will be interesting to see how things go with a kid and both of us working.

I would like to try for 50% of the time we eat as a family - but I dont get home from work until 5-5.30, so the earliest I could have something ready would be 6pm. DH cant guarantee he could be home by 6 every night if something went wrong at work.

Still just a wish list for us at the moment - bubs isn't even here yet!

But I do wonder how working mum's manage to get dinner on the table for the entire family early enough during the week. Now that must take some planning