Tips and Tricks for Meal Planning During the Holidays

Learn smart, realistic tips for meal planning during the holidays and the busy winter months from ParentsCanada’s editor in chief, Katie Dupuis, and Stacey Green of Stacey Green Living.

December has a way of compressing time. Between school concerts, holiday parties, late workdays and the general chaos of year-end life, getting dinner on the table can feel like one task too many. That’s exactly why ParentsCanada sat down with food expert Stacey Green of Stacey Green Living to talk about realistic meal-prep strategies for the busiest season of the year.

The takeaway? You don’t need a colour-coded meal plan or perfectly balanced dinners every night. You just need a few smart systems, a stocked freezer and a lot of grace.

Here are the most useful, doable tips from the conversation about meal planning during the holidays.

1. Plan the busy days, not every day.

You don’t need to map out every meal in December—just the days that are guaranteed to be chaotic. Stacey suggests taking 20 minutes to look at the month ahead and flag the days with rehearsals, practices, long workdays or back-to-back commitments.

Those are the nights you hit the easy button.

Slot in freezer meals, slow-cooker dinners or something you can reheat without thinking. When you know in advance that a day is going to be exhausting, you’re far less likely to end up stressed, hungry and ordering takeout at 7 p.m.

2. Batch cook once, eat twice (or more).

If you’re already cooking, cook more.

Doubling a pasta sauce, soup or stew and freezing half means future-you gets a break. Stacey recommends Sunday batch cooking whenever possible—even something as simple as a big pot of sauce or soup can carry you through multiple meals later in the week.

Frozen meals don’t have to be fancy. They just have to exist.

3. Embrace the “half-and-half” dinner.

One of the most popular tips from the conversation was the “half-and-half” approach (a favourite of our editor, Katie): Buy one part of the meal ready-made and handle the rest at home.

Think:

Rotisserie chicken + homemade sides

Store-bought ravioli + homemade sauce from the freezer stash

Prepared protein + simple roasted vegetables

It saves time, energy and often money—and it still feels like a real meal.

4. Prep food while it’s fresh.

If you’re buying rotisserie chicken, Stacey’s advice is to deal with it immediately. Pull the meat off while it’s still warm, separate it into portions and refrigerate or freeze it right away.

The same goes for produce. Washing, chopping and storing vegetables as soon as you bring them home makes them far more likely to get eaten—especially by kids. If it’s visible and ready, it moves faster.

5. Freeze your future ingredients.

Not everything needs to become a full meal before it goes into the freezer. Stacey recommends freezing chopped onions, peppers and mirepoix vegetables so they’re ready to toss into soups, sauces and stews.

Even homemade stock is worth freezing on its own. It can become soup, risotto, pasta sauce or anything else when time is tight.

6. Let kids help—early and often.

Getting kids involved in simple prep tasks doesn’t just lighten your load, it builds skills and confidence. Chopping cucumbers, washing vegetables or helping portion ingredients are all age-appropriate ways to help.

And yes, everyone needs to know how to cook—regardless of gender.

7. Give yourself permission to serve “whatever works.”

This was one of the biggest themes of the conversation: December is not the month for perfection.

Freezer fries and chicken fingers? Fine.
Cereal for dinner before a concert? Totally okay.
Snack plates, picnic suppers, sandwiches or “deconstructed” meals? All valid.

Nutrition happens over time, not in one chaotic week before the holidays.

8. Shop your kitchen before you shop the store.

Before the December madness fully hits, take inventory of your fridge, freezer and pantry. Chances are you already have far more meal components than you think.

Using what you have reduces waste, saves money and makes weeknight decisions easier when you’re short on time and patience.

9. Repeat the meals your family actually eats.

This is not the season to experiment. Stacey recommends leaning into tried-and-true favourites—the meals you know will get eaten without complaint.

If you want to try something new, pick one lower-stress night and save the rest of your energy for holiday baking or special occasions.

10. Remember the real rule of December.

The unofficial rule, according to Stacey and ParentsCanada?
Just get through it.

Feed your family. Lower the bar. Find joy where you can—and let go of the rest. A bowl of cereal or a sandwich supper doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re parenting in December.

And that’s more than enough.