Dutch people usually consume three meals a day, including one hot meal which is most commonly eaten in the evening.

Breakfasts are often fairly substantial, with a selection of bread and rolls, cheese and cold meat and pastries, while lunches also often include bread, cheese and meat but often accompanied by soup, or including the traditional Dutch krokets, which consist of meat dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. For dinner, basic Dutch cuisine usually consists of a fairly plain dish with meat, potatoes and vegetables, or a traditional Stampott or type of casserole, in which the ingredients are mashed together. Other favourite Dutch dishes include pea soup, hutspot (mashed potatoes, carrots, onions and bacon), rookworst (smoked sausage), boerenkool met worst (sausage and curly kale) and asperes met ham en eieren (asparagus, ham and eggs). Some form of dessert will usually be served after dinner in a Dutch household, such as yoghurt, fruit, cheese or a dairy pudding.

Dutch people also enjoy a variety of foods from the different cultures represented in their population, such as Indonesian, Surinam, Chinese, Thai, Turkish and Moroccan, and will sometimes buy the ingredients to cook these foods themselves, buy them ready-cooked from takeaways, or visit the many ethnic restaurants in Holland’s cities and main towns. Especially popular is the Indonesian rijsttafel, consisting of rice and numerous selections of meat, fish and vegetable dish, cooked with spices. Other national cuisines such as French, Italian and Japanese are also widely enjoyed. For more local tastes, there are numerous cafes or snack bars (eet-cafés) everywhere in the Netherlands serving french fries, kroketten and other snacks at low cost, as well as a wide range of restaurants suiting different budgets.

It is common in the Netherlands for people to drink water, milk, tea or coffee with their meals. Water is safe to drink straight from the tap throughout the country. It is unusual to drink alcohol with dinner except on special occasions. Coffee-drinking is extremely popular in Holland, and is usually served freshly brewed and strong. Tea is also widely consumed, and is generally taken without milk. There is still a strong tradition of taking coffee and tea breaks each morning and afternoon in many workplaces. Popular alcoholic drinks include a number of popular locally-brewed beers, and jenever, a type of gin, with the latter often consumed as a pre-dinner drink.