Do you and your spouse make the effort to eat dinner together when it’s just the two of you? This is becoming an issue in our house. I think we should, dh does not.
With few exceptions, dh & I have dinner together nightly. He averages about two dinner meetings per month, including business trips. Maybe once a month he meets with consultants or colleagues for drinks and gets home an hour or two later than usual. On those nights, I’ll often eat dinner and then sit with him to chat while he eats later. On weekends we may not be in sync for breakfast and lunch, but we always have dinner together.
Do you and your dh keep very different hours? Do either of you have a medical condition that requires meals at certain intervals?
Absolutely! Just as we always had dinner as a family, we continue to have dinner as a couple. We regularly eat all our meals together (except of course when we are at work, or some other obligation takes one of us away).
Are your schedules so different that it’s an effort to eat at the same time?
Practically speaking — isn’t it easier to make one meal for two rather than two meals for one at a time?
I have seen that happen a bunch.With two people at home, it is much easier to split a $6 Subway sandwich than to shop and cook, especially if one is driving right past the Subway every night.
Meals have always been a very big deal in our house, but I expect that we will pare down considerably when S2 flies the coop in 18 months.
Agreed…and guilty. But we still eat that sandwich together. The question is whether we eat together, not whether we actually cook a meal.
DH travels all week (he’s been my weekend boyfriend for 17 years), but we cook up a storm on the weekends as cooking is our hobby. We go through cookbooks or search online (epicurious.com is a good one), pick a couple of meals, shop for ingredients, and then have a blast preparing Saturday and Sunday night dinners. Friday nights are grazing nights. We make tapas-style small plates, turn on the music, and enjoy cocktails and grazing on the patio. It’s a culinary party at our house every weekend even if it’s just the two of us.
Why don’t you compromise? Eat together 3 or 4 nights a week (or 3 at home, one out 
), and do your own thing the other 3?
In empty nest phase, dinner together over a home cooked meal 6 nights/week and a date night dinner out once/week.
@ChoatieMom I absolutely love that! Sounds wonderful.
“Do you and your spouse make the effort to eat dinner together when it’s just the two of you?”
The way the question as posed, I have to answer “No, we don’t make an effort”, even though we only very rarely dine apart. DW is my best friend and I can’t imagine eating separately if eating together was possible.
I probably cook 4 nights a week, but he gets home mostly later so we never eat together. I sit and talk with him as he eats when he gets home. I’m just too hungry to wait. The other nights we just scrape things together from the frig and cabinet…like soup and crackers or a salad and go out one night.
@Sherpa - That’s what I was thinking…it’s not an “effort” for us either. However, I could see if they have very different schedules it might require an effort — OP hasn’t stated if that’s the case.
But I’m with you, I couldn’t imagine eating separately from my DH. Heck, even a quick snack between meals we’ll usually ask the other if they are hungry and want one too.
We always eat as a family if at all possible. It’s not a rule or anything, it’s just so much easier. One night a week (for now) D has activities right at dinner time, so it’s everyone for themselves, but otherwise we do eat together, even when it’s just H and I. My grown son travels for work and rents our finished basement, but we invite him to eat with us if he’s in town. Sometimes he accepts, other times he has plans. Works for us.
Smoking and grilling is H’s hobby, so when the weather is good he researches recipes and picks a night to make something. No worries about people coming to the table on THOSE nights!
We try and eat together as many nights as we can. We both have evening meetings but we try to get home and eat together beforehand. On weekends, we definitely eat together. We split the cooking. We work from home on different days so the person at home cooks and the other person cleans up.
Almost always. We have the occasional evening meetings or he has to eat dinner with a speaker, but that’s probably one or two nights a month. Cloth napkins, silverware, real food, wine on the weekends. I do most of the cooking since I work at home and like it better. I make sure to make enough for at least two nights.
Always
As long time empty nesters we have breakfast and dinner together every day, and lunch and afternoon tea together often. We are back and forth on a regular cocktail hour, depending on husband’s schedule. That doesn’t mean we cook every night. These days I regularly pick up something pre-made. I understand this can be complicated when a couple doesn’t eat the same thing. Frequently we don’t. Every morning I make one breakfast for myself and a different one for husband, but we still like to sit down together at the same time, after we’ve had our morning coffee together. I do understand how couples can get on different eating schedules for various reasons, especially as we get older. Also, we both much prefer to eat at a table, rather than on our laps on a coach. And I set the table with china and silver most meals. That is just a lifestyle choice, the most comfortable choice, that works for us. We have never really discussed it.
A must. 
^^it certainly feels civilized to me.
Retired, empty nesters here. We almost always eat supper (evening meal/dinner) together. However, we often do not eat the same foods. We seem to revert to our childhood favorites more often than when our family of three had me cooking nightly. H is from India and while I can eat what I cook of Indian cuisine I enjoy other foods more most often. I make the labor/time intensive Indian dals (lentils/beans…) which becomes a meal for us (if I like the particular dish) with portions frozen for H- at least two if not three meals. He then pulls those out while I have my meat with the other foods. His favorite vegetable is green peas, which I abhor in any shape/form. He now concocts his peas plus other veggies, spices (too hot for me) and microwaves them while I choose another vegetable. I also make other meals we both like- often making use of prepared/boxed items. He is NOT a foodie.
So- yes, we eat together. But- not the same items many times. I have been teaching him basic kitchen skills but do help out in cutting things (onion, carrot…)- he is brilliant in other things, but not in the kitchen.
There is a great freedom in no longer masterminding daily menus and providing new, fresh foods almost every day. Especially when H forgets some foods exist even if he likes them and his response to “what do you want for supper?” is often “food”, sigh. We see a lot of each other intermittently during the day but do use suppertime as a social event. I sleep in, do not drink coffee or tea (hate the tastes) so H does his own at his timing.
Separating the food eaten from the time spent eating together has been good for us. It is not the same as cooking separate foods for different family members or letting all cook for themselves when kids old enough- then it was good to have a cohesive one menu for all. btw- we always ate as a family (of three) when H usually got home from work (call days an exception sometimes)- 6:30 or 7:00 pm instead of feeding son early. The evening meal together is a given here while the items eaten may not be the same. Now we often eat later- no rigid schedule. I feel sorry for a few ladies I know who always cook and get supper on the table for their H at the same time despite retirement.
Oh- and I like to cook!