Last weekend they took my order before take-off for service immediately after departure. Then they served me something entirely different than I had ordered with an apology that they had run out of my preference.

To my surprise, I then saw the lady across the aisle who had chosen to defer her dinner receive my original choice of meal a few hours later.

So at least IME, there is no benefit to eating now or eating later, nor indeed of having status (I'm Gold) when it comes to receiving priority for meal choices. You get what they say you get when they think you should get it, or else you take your chances. But it's nicely presented so....