How to Plan the Best Holiday Go-To Meals List

Wouldn’t it be beyond wonderful to plan the best holiday go-to meals list to have at your fingertips for the holiday season this year? This quick post is going to give you a few suggestions to do just that. We’ll also chat about ways to simplify the hosting process while sharing ways for you to gain more confidence in hosting. And, lastly, we’re offering an awesome resource you’ll find yourself putting to use immediately!

Here is your FREE Holiday Go-To Meals Workbook!

We kind of coined the phrase Happy Hostess here on Quiet Hollow to mean those of us who are 50+ girls (some 60 or 70+), who might verge on introversion, but love to share time and a meal (‘holiday go-to meals’) with the people we care about. Happy Hostesses see hospitality as totally different from entertaining. Hospitality for us starts from a biblical perspective. Our purpose for opening our home, meeting someone for coffee, or having the gang over for lunch is to ‘bless not to impress’. Check out this post (How to Be a Stress-Free Happy Hostess) for a fun chat on the topic of Happy Hostessing!

Most of us quickly recognize the difference between fixing things up cute, cleaning your home, and even taking out the nice dishes as opposed to spending a ton of time and money to do all the fancy things so the people who come to your house for your event will be impressed and maybe a little jealous. We also recognize that is the exact opposite of what we’re called to do. Plus, it’s not even close to being as fun!

What’s a Holiday Go-To Meal?

Maybe you already have a mental list of your ‘company meals’. Our Holiday Go-To Meals is like that with a twist. It’s a list of meals that most everyone loves. These meals could have a family tradition story attached to them, or they could simply be a meal that you are confident will turn out well. It’s also something YOU like to eat. You’ll be more likely to look forward to the event if the food choices make you happy as well! ?

Start thinking about those holiday go-to meal ideas. At the top of my list would be my Homemade Chicken and Noodles. It’s a hearty delicious soup that uses my mom’s homemade noodles. I know it will turn out, it tastes great and it’s a perfect winter meal. Do you have something like that in your repertoire?

Of course, you could put together ‘a grocery store meal’; some occasions are in the emergency, last-minute category, and require emergency measures! So, every once in a while grab a freezer lasagna or deluxe pizza or even drive-through for a big order of Panda Express. However, if it’s not an emergency (and most won’t be), consider a yummy go-to meal for your guests.

Pin to Your Favorite Holiday Board! (Thanks ?)

What is NOT a Holiday Go-To Meal?

If you have saved a fancy recipe that you know will impress your mother-in-law or new neighbors, DON’T USE IT! This is the exact opposite of the Happy Hosting philosophy (remember ‘bless not impress’ ?) and the likelihood of you enjoying yourself, feeling confident, and having a tasty end result are very slim. I’ve fallen into this trap and it never turns out well! If you really want to use a new recipe, try it out on yourself or your husband. You will learn lots with your dry-run…ingredient adjustments, oven temp, and length of cook time are a few I can name. You might also find you don’t even like the recipe.

This even goes for heirloom/family recipes. Word to the wise: if the recipe’s new to you, resist the temptation to serve it to a group. Practice first! 🙂

How to Create Your Holiday Go-To Meals List

Get out your cookbooks, hand-written recipe cards, scraps of paper in that recipe box, or go to your online collection. I have all of those! Speaking of online collections…I use Plan to Eat. It “helps busy households get healthy dinners on the table. Collect and organize your recipes, add those recipes to your meal planning calendar and Plan to Eat will make your organized grocery list for you. Collect recipes from anywhere. Recipes can be added to your account from websites, cookbooks, recipe cards… or anywhere else! (description is taken from their website.) If you choose to add PTE we can be friends and share! I currently have 565 recipes saved there. ?

Whatever you use to store your recipes, even if it’s just your head, search for your holiday ‘go-to’ meals possibilities. And, then write them down with references to the source recorded (so you can find the recipe unless you know it by heart). I have an actual Go-To Holiday Collection in Plan to Eat that helps a lot. Also, I have a free gift for you that will help with this task. It includes eleven meal suggestions (shared by some of my best FB friends ❤️) and lots of room to list out your favorites and good ol’ stand-bys.

Check below for my Holiday Go-To Meals Workbook! (You’ll love it!)

Let’s Wrap This Up

There is so much to think about during the holidays. From gifts, to decorating, to hosting, to what to wear for events, to cooking for your guests! If we can find a few ways to enjoy this wonderful time of year while alleviating unnecessary stress, let’s do it! This post has focused on one small yet powerful tool of planning your holiday go-to meals list to crank down the stress meter in your life, home, and heart.

Here are a couple of other ways to find peace rather than panic during this time.

#1 is to sit down, away from everything and rest, calm your mind and pray. God says this too. “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10 He loves hanging out in the stillness with us. Playing worship music calms and refocuses my heart. That song Peace, Be Still by Lauren Daigle comes to mind right now. (You can find it on youtube).

#2 is to pick up your Bible while you’re peacefully sitting there and go back to what you are currently reading or pop into Psalms or one of the letters in the New Testament. I love Psalm 23. You just can’t beat it! Short, but packed with love and encouragement and hope.

So, I leave you sitting by the still waters with your soul being refreshed. Enjoy our two big winter holidays this year; the one that reminds us to be grateful and the other that celebrates the birth of the Baby who grew up to be the Savior of the world! ❤️

**Some referral links are included in this post. If you click through and take action, I’ll be compensated with no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support in this way.

Kathy Rowland

Finding a new purpose in living and joy in the day-to-day was the goal when author Kathy Rowland and her entire family (adult kids and grandkids) moved from the PNW to Texas several years ago. The focus of Quiet Hollow is to encourage ‘next chapter women’ – those who are retired, empty-nesters, or have found themselves without a spouse to jump back into life. And, she shares multiple tips, ideas, and possibilities toward that end. Kathy completed her almost 30 years as an elementary teacher and hopped into over a decade of volunteer work, side hustle-type businesses, and grandchild care before discovering her unique and fulfilling purpose for the next chapter of life. What you read on Quiet Hollow is a large part of that calling. Another part is the happy life she’s leading in Central Texas in the same neighborhood as the 3 big kids and her 5 grandkids. She and her college sweetheart husband made sure to add a pool to their new Texas home, so there are lots of noisy, splashy days in their little oasis of a backyard. Come join her on Quiet Hollow in a conversation about finding and living the life you were created to live in this later stage. The chats will be full of laughter, support, faith, and inspiration to create.