What do you call your meals?

January 8, 2008 12:09 AM

For those who have 4, 5, 6 or more meals a day, what do you call your meals?

Do you simply say, '4th meal' or '2nd dinner'? This question probably applies most to athletes. Meals, not snacks.

posted by gttommy to Writing & Language (27 answers total)

Best answer: I call them "meals," or if someone's asking me why I eat so much I'll call them "light meals."
If I'm feeling saucy I'll call them breakfast, elevensies, brunch, lunch, supper, dinner, dessert and a light snack. Sometimes I call every meal lunch, just 'cause it seems to amuse my boss.

Mostly though I just call them meals.
posted by lekvar at 12:18 AM on January 8, 2008

Best answer: Breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, a snack after work, dinner, a snack before bed.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 12:58 AM on January 8, 2008

Shouldn't dinner come before supper?
posted by ericales at 1:10 AM on January 8, 2008

Best answer: I go with the normal Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner at those typical time intervals and call anything else a snack, no matter the size. BR: 5-7AM, L: 11:30-1:30, D: 5-7PM. It's just simpler that way.
posted by crustix at 1:12 AM on January 8, 2008

Best answer: i'm a huge fan of the word 'dunch', both as the meal between lunch and dinner, and its other meanings.
posted by knowles at 1:14 AM on January 8, 2008

Best answer: There's always the hobbit meal times: first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper.
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:24 AM on January 8, 2008 [4 favorites]

Best answer: At least one meal between lunch and dinner should be called Linner.
posted by Defenestrator at 2:27 AM on January 8, 2008

I eat 4 meals a day excluding snacks. The morning meal breakfast. Noon meal lunch. 7ish meal dinner and I usually just say I eat at 11 or 12 and don't give it a specific name.
posted by bindasj at 2:32 AM on January 8, 2008

I used to eat a meal around 11 p.m. to midnight which I called a "midnight snack."
posted by grouse at 3:16 AM on January 8, 2008

"food"
posted by aye at 3:31 AM on January 8, 2008

I don't think of them with names, so much as '1, 2, 3, ...'. But I do separate them into meal categories which defines what kind of food seems appropriate. The first one is breakfast, the second one is breakfast/lunch, the third and fourth are lunch, the fifth is lunch/dinner and the sixth is dinner. If I was talking meals to someone else, I'd go with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, because it's easier.
posted by jacalata at 3:32 AM on January 8, 2008

I'm a big fan of second breakfast. Everything else without a name I just call a snack, even if it's the size of what most people would consider a meal.
posted by bassjump at 5:37 AM on January 8, 2008

On the sub we called the fourth meal 'rats'. Because that's what it usually tasted and look like.

Actually, it was an abbeviation of 'Midrats' which is shortened from 'Midnight Rations'.
It was a full meal, because there was a full shift of crew every 6 hours.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 5:57 AM on January 8, 2008

Breakfast, Bunch, Lunch, Linner, Dinner, Bed Crumbs.
posted by bkeene12 at 6:30 AM on January 8, 2008

Breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, usually an afternoon snack, dinner, unspecified snack. Late lunch in our household is indeed called linner.

You said, "Meals, not snacks," but they're all about the same amounts for me: not much.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:48 AM on January 8, 2008

I just call it gluttony. According to diet books, all the meals are supposed to be more like mini meals, but mine are full size. How can someone count a protein bar as a meal? Come on. If you're gonna have a meal, have a meal. And call them meals.
posted by HotPatatta at 6:52 AM on January 8, 2008

Breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, dinner, dessert.
posted by dame at 6:58 AM on January 8, 2008

I just eat from the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed and still somehow end up being short 300 calories in my diet.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:33 AM on January 8, 2008

There's "second breakfast" in the morning, everything else is "snacks":
breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, snacks, snacks, dinner.

That's in a two ironman triathlete household, btw.
posted by lothar at 10:12 AM on January 8, 2008

Mod note: A few comments removed. More answery, less silly, please: we are aware that you have read Lord of the Rings.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:19 AM on January 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, with snacks (or cocktails) sufficing for everything else.
posted by scody at 11:34 AM on January 8, 2008

When not at school (mealplan forces me into a rigid B/L/D/Midnight Snack setup), I eat 5-7 small somethings to eat, like a bagel or some toast right when I wake up, then a hardboiled egg or two a few hours after that, then a sandwich a few after that, etc. I just call them all "something to eat" indescriminately.
"i'm going to go get something to eat" or "it's time for me to eat something," or the like.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 12:00 PM on January 8, 2008

My two young, grazing children have:
Breakfast
Elevenses (or just breakfast, continuing, no special name)
Lunch
Snack
Dinner (or Supper)
Last Call
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:22 PM on January 8, 2008

I name them after whatever I'm eating. Something like this:

10 AM Breakfast (toast)
1 PM Lunch (noodles)
5 PM Breakfast (bowl of cereal)
8 PM Breakfast (another bowl of cereal AND some toast)
10 PM Dinner (stir fry)
1 AM Dessert (chocolate)
3 AM Breakfast (waffle)
posted by anaelith at 2:17 PM on January 8, 2008

In high school, I went to a magnet school and my long commute meant that I ate breakfast a bit after five AM. There was a whole group of us in a similar situation who would meet in a teacher's room at morning recess (10ish) and eat second breakfast together. They all laughed the first time I called it "second breakfast" because, yes, Tolkien nerds, but after a while we all got to the point where it was natural. "Oh, you didn't bring any second breakfast? Here, have some of my granola."

We also had a 5pm pre-dinner at home called "avocado club". Needless to say, this always involved an avocado, and usually some assortment of tortillas, salsa, butter, cheese, apples etc. So, my meals during high school were:

Breakfast
Second breakfast
Lunch
Avocado club
Dinner
posted by crinklebat at 11:38 PM on January 8, 2008

When hungry: eat. When tired: sleep.

A monk told Joshu, "I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me."
Joshu asked, "Have you eaten your rice?"
The monk replied, "I have eaten."
Joshu said, "Then you had better wash your bowl."
At that moment the monk was enlightened.

I call it 'eating' but use 'lunch' and 'snack' at work. But I pretty much 'graze' all day long, no meal names.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:21 AM on January 9, 2008

I've heard of a first breakfast and second breakfast before, but I think all the other times of day have more interesting names, like elevenses and tea.
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:47 AM on January 9, 2008