Hellobee Boards

I look through pinterest and then write my ingredients on a piece of paper.

I have a binder of printed out recipes with a list of things we make a lot. I also go to my pinterest food board and check out recipes there. We usually plan 3-4 big meals. Enough that there are leftovers for dinner and lunch for the week. I also will try to pick things that involved ingredients we already have on hand. Once I decide what to make, I just write down what I need to buy at the grocery store.

I sit down on grocery day and think about all the dinners I want to make for the week. I check the pantry and fridge for ingredients, and then write what's left to get on my list.

I usually see what's on sale at the grocery store and plan my meals around that.

I do it the same way @mrskc does. I look through what we have on hand (we often have a lot of meat from Costco and/or produce from the CSA) then search through my cookbooks or pinterest boards for something that sounds good. I add missing ingredients and other staples to the grocery lists. I usually make about 4 meals/week so we eat leftovers some nights. I've done it this way for years and it works well.

My meal planning is a little different.... I plan for the whole month ahead. First I look in my pantry and freezer and list as many meals as possible I can make with what I have or with minimal ingredients I would need to purchase. Then I fill in the rest of the meals for the month with our favorites or seasonally/situationally appropriate meals (like a holiday or a meal we can take on the go for the night we'll be driving on our way out of town).
Next I list the ingredients I am missing for the meals and group the dinners by common ingredients for planned leftovers. Like making a roast in the crockpot one night, and planning for the leftovers to be use in BBQ Sammie's two nights later. Or planning my meals that use the same fresh ingredient to be made close together. I list the meals over again by these groupings and stick it on the fridge. As the month goes on, I cross off what we make and check the weekly grocery circular for items in the to-buy list going on sale. If they go on sale, I pick them up and we make the meals that go together. If they never go on sale I usually end up making those meals at the end of the month.
During the month, in addition to buying the few things we need to complete the planned meals I shop the sale ad using coupons and only buy what is a really good deal. Then I start over the next month with what is still in the house and what I bought the previous month. I leave a few blank slots in the month for dinners out or spontaneous meal ideas. After doing this for a few years now, I dont think I'll ever do it differently!

I have a calendar for that month in MS Word that I populate with meals I want to make, then once I'm happy with the layout (e.g no two meats/cuisine back to back) then I go back and write down my grocery list.

i have a note in my iphone of all the meals we like, and whenever i see a new recipe on a blog/pinterest/in a cookbook that i want to try, i add it to the list. then, every week, i plan ahead the next 2-3 weeks with meals from that list, updating as our plans change (adding or subtracting a meal if we know we'll have an event one night or won't be home). meals we just ate then go to the bottom of the list. i do a big online grocery order once a week that i update as needed, and order it fridays to be delivered on sunday.

i also keep a notebook that i constantly reference when i need menu ideas. first, i made a master page where i listed all the meals i know how to make without needing a recipe. then each week i sit down and plan out my meals for the week. first, i look at my pantry and fridge to see what i already have and plan my meals around that. i usually do this on friday night so i can do my grocery shopping on saturday.

i write down the meals for the week on a whiteboard that i hung up in our kitchen, that way everyone (including me) knows what's for dinner each night.

On Saturdays we brainstorm what we are going to eat for the entire week. We try to use stuff we already have in the freezer and base it from that. We only have a handful of meals that we eat on a rotation, so it's not too hard! Every once in a while I try something new. Then we make a list and we buy everything on Sunday!