The family dinner worked well for my family, both when I was a kid and when my own kids were growing up. My dad and my DH both travelled during the week, when I was young and when my kids were in younger. So, the situation was similar in that the "whole" family was not often there for dinner during the week. I did exactly what my mom did: we had sit down dinners every night, no different than if my DH had been there. We ate in a healthy way, even then, compared to other families, though not quite as much as now. We never had fried food in the house, ate a lot of chicken and fish, and the kids always ate breakfast. We did have desserts, but I just stayed away from that, most of the time. If I felt like going out to eat, I took the kids, especially as they got older. We did go to fast food places at times, but it was always a treat, not a replacement for dinner on most nights. I always felt that they needed to be exposed to all kinds of food and restaurants. Both of them are serious foodies as adults and both enjoy cooking.
One of the reasons I hated the few years my kids were doing youth baseball is that it interfered with our family dinner time. I did not like having to eat at 8 PM when they were younger, nor did I want to feed my kids hot dogs in the car, as my friends did. Well, this issue resolved itself when DS #2 decided he hated baseball. Once he got into cycling, the emphasis was on healthy eating, all around.
Food has always been important in my life, in my family, etc, but not in an unhealthy way. My mom was very health conscious for someone of her generation and was a fabulous cook. My brother is also a great cook and he just bought his first home and is heavily into growing his own veggies in his garden.