You will find various different thinking about this.
Broadly speaking, before eating and 2 hours is seen as most helpful for T2s.
If you test at 1 hour, when eating carbs, you may see higher readings that then drop to acceptable levels at 2 hours.
Some people test at 0, 1 and 2 hours.
I am too miserly to waste the strips, so I test at 0 and 2.5 since I discovered that my peak is usually around then, because I eat very low carb and don't have an initial carb-peak...
So, basically, the 2 hour rule is an excellent guide, and will allow you to spot any problems with carb intake. Think of it as wearing trainer wheels on your bicycle.
Once you have mapped out what foods are issues for you, and dealt with them, you may want to do a few tests at 1 and 3 hours, just to see what happens... It is all useful info, but really it is only as good as the effort and understanding that you (we) are willing to put into it.
But the most important thing about self testing is to be consistent. Whatever testing times you decide to use, you need to stick to them, otherwise your results will be all over the place and won't help you to build up an overall picture of how your body is reacting to your foods.
Hope that made sense.
