Most Americans eat three meals during the day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast begins between 7:00 and 8:00 am, lunch between 11:00 am and noon, and dinner between 6:00 and 8:00 pm. On Sundays "brunch" is a combination of breakfast and lunch, typically beginning at 11:00 am. Students often enjoy a "study break" or evening snack around 10:00 or 11:00 pm.

Breakfast and lunch tend to be light meals, with only one course. Dinner is the main meal.

For breakfast Americans will eat cereal with milk (often mixed together in a bowl), a glass of orange juice, and toasted bread or muffin with jam, butter, or margarine. Another common breakfast meal is scrambled eggs or an omelet with potatoes (hash browns) and breakfast meat (bacon or sausage). People who are eating light might eat just a cup of yogurt. Lunch and dinner are more varied.

When eating at a formal dinner, you may be overwhelmed by the number of utensils. How do you tell the difference between a salad fork, a butter fork, and a dessert fork? Most Americans don't know the answer either (it's the number of tines or prongs on the fork). But knowing which fork or spoon to use first is simple: use the outermost utensils first and the utensils closest to the plate last.