What do you call your evening meal and when do you eat it?

MexicoKaren

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Maybe this should have been posted in "off topic", I'm not sure. I've just been noticing that so many people are generously sharing with us what they have cooked for dinner, and the lovely photos start showing up pretty early (around 5 our time, which is Central time), and they keep showing up until pretty late in the evening. We generally have our evening meal between 8 and 9, and we call it "dinner." I know there are some regional differences here - so, what do you call it and when do you have it?
 
NE New Jersey and we call it dinner. Hub works nights so we eat any time between 4 - 6 PM except on his night off which can be slightly later.
 
My Mama always called the afternoon meal dinner and the evening meal supper but I spent a lot of years in the restaurant business and most of them called it lunch and dinner so now that's what I call it. Dinner is usually between 5 and 6 but has been as late as 8 or 9 when we've had a late lunch.
 
Last edited:
dinner and supper are interchangeable here.

my boy and dw prefer to eat between 5 and 6pm, but i often eat anywhere from 5 to 10pm, even as late as midnight if i'm busy working in the yard or get stuck working late at my job.
 
We have cocktails after work, before dinner/supper.

In the summer, we eat between 8 and 9, since we spend a couple of hours out in the backyard with neighbors when it's a nice night.

In the winter, it's between 7 and 8.

Interesting question, Karen!

Lee
 
Dinner... anytime between 7:30 and 9:30pm it all depends on what time Paul makes it home from work.

If I had my way it'd be 6:00- 6:30pm... I'm not a fan of eating right before I have to go to bed. :)
 
I call it dinner it can happen anytime from 8 til midnight.

Right now its just me in the house so there really is no rhyme or reason during the week.
On summer weekends we have alot of neighborhood pot luck type sidewalk cookouts and usually don't get the grill going til late when the sun goes down. This summer because a lot of people were financially strapped it was nice to have a come as you are bring what you have vibe on the block.
 
Thanks to all who shared parts of your lives with the rest of us...of course, it makes sense that our lifestyles dictate what time we eat. Being retired (I'm not gloating, really), we set our own schedules, and fall into a rhythm that feels natural. We used to get up at five every morning and try to be in bed by 10, so we ate around 6-6:30. And I was sure that some of you would call it "supper," like my southern Grandma did, but it looks like regional differences are blurring a little, probably because of global media. Interesting.
 
MexicoKaren said:
Maybe this should have been posted in "off topic", I'm not sure. I've just been noticing that so many people are generously sharing with us what they have cooked for dinner, and the lovely photos start showing up pretty early (around 5 our time, which is Central time), and they keep showing up until pretty late in the evening. We generally have our evening meal between 8 and 9, and we call it "dinner." I know there are some regional differences here - so, what do you call it and when do you have it?
Click to expand...


It was always called supper when I was growing up, and I still think SUPPERTIME when I am cooking and hungry, around 4ish- and I like to start cooking then and eat before 6, when I am at home.

Some folks around here refer to the evening meal as dinner, which comes before lunch and breakfast.

When I lived in England, there were 4 meals.
Brekkie, lunch, dinner (biggest meal of the day normally) and supper (that being something prepared and eaten around or before 10pm) usually cheese toast or beans on, depending who was hungry.

I never did get into the English idea of supper. Too late for me to be eating. I'd prepare something for Steve- because I got used to doing it and he needed that last meal to control his blood sugar throughout the night.
 
Here, the evening meal is called supper. We eat breakfast, with the midday meal called dinner.

However, things change, even in North Dakota, with some folks falling into the midday meal being lunch, and evening meal called dinner. Anything eaten later than dinner/supper is just a snack or a late lunch.

My take on the word "lunch" has the meaning of a light meal, like a sandwich or something on that sort. "Dinner" or "Supper" would be full meals, meat, potatoes, veggies, that line of a menu.

We generally eat in the 5:30 range, sometimes as late as 8 pm at times.
 
Our dinners can happen any time between 7 and 10pm depending on work schedules. On my days off I might have 2 light dinners, one at around 5 and another at 10.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top