A new YouGov survey explores which meal — breakfast, lunch, or dinner — Americans like the most, when they eat their meals, who they eat with, their most-loved and most-hated parts of meal preparation and what they’re doing while they eat.
Dinner is the most popular meal — 50% say it’s generally their favorite meal. 23% say breakfast is their favorite meal and 19% say lunch is.
On the other end of the spectrum, 35% say breakfast is generally their least favorite meal. 31% say lunch is usually their least favorite meal and 11% say dinner is.
The meal Americans are most likely to say they always eat is dinner: 56% always eat it and 30% usually eat it. The majority of Americans (59%) say they always (29%) or usually (30%) eat lunch; 56% of Americans always (31%) or usually (25%) eat breakfast.
Americans over 65 are more likely than younger adults to say they always eat breakfast (44% vs. 28%).
Most Americans (57%) say their breakfast is most often something they prepare freshly themselves. Fewer say this meal is usually prepared fresh by someone else in the household (15%) or ready to eat from a package (13%). Women (62%) are more likely than men (51%) to say they prepare this meal freshly for themselves each day.
Lunch is also a meal Americans are most likely to say they prepare fresh themselves (48%), rather than enjoying it prepared fresh by someone else (13%) or ready to eat from a package (13%). Women (54%) are more likely than men (41%) to say they prepare a fresh lunch for themselves.
53% of Americans say their dinner is freshly prepared by them and 28% say this meal is typically prepared fresh by someone else in their household. As is the case with breakfast and lunch, women (62%) are more likely than men (44%) to say they cook this meal themselves.
Lunch is the meal Americans are most likely to say they obtain from a restaurant or delivery service.
Among people who say someone else prepares either breakfast, lunch, or dinner for them, 54% say their spouse or partner typically prepares meals for them. Men (59%) are more likely than women (46%) to say this. 26% say their parents prepare meals for them, 5% say their roommate does, and 4% say their children do; 9% say someone else does this.
Around half of Americans typically eat breakfast alone (53%), and a similar share (52%) say the same about lunch. Dinner is a different story: 33% eat this meal alone, but most (55%) eat it with family. 36% of Americans usually eat breakfast with family and 26% usually eat lunch with family.
Where in the home, workplace, or school are Americans typically eating their meals? 39% usually eat breakfast at a table and 18% eat it on a couch or recliner. 36% of Americans usually eat lunch at the table and 20% usually eat it on a couch or recliner. 51% generally eat dinner at the table; 25% usually eat on the couch or in a recliner.
Three-quarters (76%) of Americans typically take less than 20 minutes to eat breakfast, including 10% who eat in less than five minutes. Nearly the same percentage (73%) eat lunch in 20 minutes or less; the largest share (41%) say it usually takes them 11 to 20 minutes to eat lunch. Americans generally spend the longest amount of time eating dinner: 30% take 21 to 30 minutes to eat and 13% take 31 to 45 minutes to eat.
The most common time to typically eat breakfast is at around 8 a.m., which is when 15% of Americans eat their breakfast. 13% eat at 9 a.m., 13% eat at 10 a.m., and 13% eat later than 10 a.m.
Most Americans (62%) typically eat lunch at 1 p.m. or earlier. 20% eat at 1 p.m., 14% eat at 12:30 p.m, and 17% eat at noon.
Two-thirds (65%) of Americans eat dinner at 7 p.m. or earlier. The most common time to eat dinner is at 7 p.m. (17%). Americans 65 and older tend to eat dinner earlier: 68% eat at 6:30 or earlier. About half as many adults under 30 (32%) eat dinner in the same time period. 42% of adults under 30 eat dinner at 8 p.m. or later.
What are Americans typically doing while they’re eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Their most common breakfast activities are watching TV (47%), looking at their phones (34%), and talking to the people they’re with (26%).
Americans' most common lunch activity also is watching TV (46%), followed by looking at their phones (35%), talking to the people they’re with (33%), and listening to music or podcasts (18%). Adults under 30 are more likely to look at their phone (44%) than to watch TV (40%) during lunch.
Most Americans (63%) watch TV while they eat dinner. 41% talk to the people they’re with and 28% look at their phone. Adults under 30 are more likely than older Americans to look at their phone (42% vs. 24%) or listen to music or podcasts (24% vs. 14%) during dinner.
For many, the most pleasurable part of food preparation is the making of the meal: 24% love this and 36% like it. Fewer love planning the meal (15%), shopping for ingredients (14%), preparing ingredients (15%), and cleaning up after the meal (8%).
The aspect of meal prep asked about in the survey that Americans are most likely to say they hate is cleaning up after the meal; 21% say they hate this. Far fewer say they hate planning (7%), shopping for ingredients (7%), preparing ingredients (4%), and making the meal (4%).
Related:
- Minding their manners: Do Americans follow traditional dining etiquette?
- The unwritten rules of eating out: What Americans think about restaurant etiquette
- How often do Americans eat leafy greens, and which ones do they think are the best?
- Most parents wish they were having family dinners more often
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted January 9 - 13, 2025 among 1,106 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (gorodenkoff)
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