First Sunday of the month, after church and after lunch, I sit here and type up a months worth of meals. They are predominantly seasonal (soups, stews, oven-baked in winter, cold or microwave in summer...) and flexible. I also plan for leftover use. Like Sundays crock-pot roast will be Tuesdays tacos or enchiladas, leftover meats get chopped and tossed in soups or chilli.

Grocery lists are done bi-weekly (to coincide with paydays). Menu items use the least perishable items as we close in on shopping day. Like pastas with frozen veggies. Fresh stuff gets used first, or frozen right away.

I split groceries with the family I work with, and I cook M-T-W-F. It is awesome, because I'd cook anyway, and this way less is wasted, and I only spend about half the money. Plus, we all eat better, eat out less, and have lost weight. Well, except lil guy, who is learning to like veggies..... even if I have to hide them.

I plan for every two weeks.  then shop accordingly.  We have some leftovers but not enough for a full next meal since I have a large family.  One night a week I do leftover night and everyone can choose from what we have left (thank you Incredibles lol).  I am not the best at it but it seems to work for us

I used to do an excellent job of menu planning but I'll admit I'm not so good anymore. The hardest part, I find is deciding what to put on the menu that I'm actually going to feel like preparing when the day rolls around. Add to that a busy teenage family and I've all but given up on a plan and wish I could motivated to get back at one.

Anyway, I used to have a sheet with a week or two showing on it and add in commitments. (Like soccer at night, Scouts, etc.) Then I'd fill in the blanks, trying to have one day for fish, chicken, beef, pork and meatless as well as one for rice, potatoes, pasta.   I always had at least one child favorite and at least one really easy meal.

I use to sit down once a week and plan for the upcoming week, but now I plan for the month.  I use the following website to help organized my meal planning.

www.MinuteMenuPhttp://www.minutemenuplan.comlan.com

 

Hope this helps you out. 

I plan weekly...I don't get alot of time to spend on the computer at a time, so I start Wednesday, working on the menu for the following week bit by bit.  It's finished by Sunday, I print out the grocery list, and Monday morning I go to the store.  This is how it works when we have regular money coming in.  When I do it this way, then I'm able to take into account things that come up, redistributing leftovers and surprise changes during the week.

I am in the process of using the sidetrack sister in the kitchen their method takes a while to set up but then when you do it covers a year or more. And the good thing is when I get my menu planning every Thursdays I can pick the recipes I like and add them to my list! So it never really stops....Good Luck!

I do my grocery shopping every Wed or Thur, based on what is on sale and what coupons I have.  I then plan the next weeks meals based on what I bought along with what is in the freezer/pantry.  I will only have one "repeat" recipe per week, as I am just learning this cooking thing and love to try out new stuff!  I also have one leftover day, cuz I just hate to see the food wasted!  On nights when I have to work, I try to make the meals easy for my hubby, since he works all day.  I also try to have a day with each protein category--meat, fish, pork, chicken.  We are trying to cut the amount of carbs in our diet, so we limit those to none or 1 with dinners.

I have gotten a way from menu planning for a couple months now and do see my grocery bill is suffering every week.....I was doing great for a while in menu planning weekly but I have gotten into to rut again. It doesn't help any that the one grocery store in town seldom has any good deals on meat and my deep freeze is pretty bare. Hard to menu plan with a selection of meat sucks when I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it.

i usually do a months worth. I have 1 night a week slated for pizza nights, 1 night a week slated for taco(or mexican) night, 1 night for leftovers, & then I fill in the rest. :)