The purpose of this research was to determine if evening meal patterns and meal management decisions are related to the marital and employment status of mothers. Two hundred eighty-two usable questionnaires were completed by mothers who attended elementary school parent-teacher meetings in a suburban city in North Texas. The questionnaire gathered data about family demographics, family evening meal patterns, and factors affecting meal management decisions. Little difference was found between meal patterns of employed and nonemployed mothers in single and two-parent households. Factors found to affect meal pattern decisions were values, traditions, time, energy, nutrition, and family influence. A traditional family evening meal was important to the families studied.