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I use laminated meal plan sheets with sticky notes so I can keep all my ideas in one place and move things around really easily. It works well for us!

ETA: And we start meal planning on Wed/Thurs for the next week when we get our flyers. We base our meal plans off the sales and what we have already.

We usually meal plan on Thursday since Friday is our shopping/pho night We usually try and decide what we are having for each night the following week Saturday to Thurs keeping in mind any late work nights or other functions. Once we have figured out the main dish for each night we check what protein we already have frozen and add anything we need to our grocery list. Usually, we buy fresh produce every week and pantry items as needed.

We just use Notes on the iPhone for our meal list but we use the Our Groceries app to track our perpetual shopping list. It syncs between our phones which was critical. I try to make sure we add things to the list as we go so we don't run out of stuff. Surprisingly, this approach has also helped to reduced our groceries budget and reduced trips to the grocery store to weekly!

I plan breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole week and then make the list based on that. It's annoying and time consuming and sometimes boring to have the whole week planned out. But i "shop the ad" at the supermarket and it allows me to save money, time and we have very little wasted food.

I use a piece of paper with meals and ingredients for grocery shopping and I keep it on the fridge. I just decide what we're eating each night depending on how much time I have and how tired I am. I never ask dh because he and ways pulls the I don't know card too!

I grocery shop every Friday, so every Thursday night I sit down, look at our week and how many lunches/dinners we need. Then I decide what meals I will serve - DH gets to throw in his votes at this point.

Then I go meal by meal and write down what ingredients I need and don't have in the pantry. I like to use http://www.tastespotting.com for meal ideas too, and you can search for dishes by a specific ingredient.

At the beginning of each month, I do a Walmart run and pick up all home supplies - toilet paper, detergent, napkins, personal beauty supplies, etc. Makes each week less overwhelming since I just have to pick up meal items.

@hotchildinthecity: I'd like to start planning g our breakfast and lunches but 3 or 4 days of the week we have enough dinner leftovers for our lunches so I feel like that would create waste for us. Would you mind sharing an example plan?

I write it down on a sheet of paper when I'm doing the actual planning, then I transfer the actual menu onto a whiteboard that is in our kitchen so I have that visual in front of me.

@Mrs. Sunshine: leftovers are totally part of my plan! So I made a huge batch of mole chicken in the slow cooker yesterday and I'll be eating it for lunch for at least two days.

This is the plan I typed up for this week. Breakfast is some combination of eggs/bacon/avocado/english muffin, or a green smoothie.

Sunday

Lunch: Amy's Pizza and Salad
Dinner: Slow Cooker Chicken Mole

Monday

Lunch: Chicken Mole
Dinner: Steak, Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

Tuesday

Lunch: Chicken Mole
Dinner: Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli

Wednesday

Lunch: Chicken Salad
Dinner: Husband dinner event/ me takeout

Thursday

Lunch: Chicken Salad
Dinner: Turkey Burgers + Salad

Friday

Lunch: Turkey Burger
Dinner: Sausage and Bacon Butternut Squash Soup

I bought a chalk board picture frame and have it in the kitchen. Sundays we figure out the menu for the week and write it down - I love not asking myself after a long day "whats for dinner?"!

@Bao: It's a print out from Etsy.

Before, i just used my regular planner! And i'll do breakfasts in bulk, too, but lately i've been getting up so much earlier than E, i have time to make real breakfast (like eggs!), so i don't have to plan those. But if I have time on a weekend, i'll make a batch of something and portion it out throughout the week. or boil up a dozen eggs. Lunch is ALWAYS leftovers....and I also cook on the weekend (we don't eat out often) so i have a batch of homemade hamburger helper style noodles/beef in the fridge and also some cauliflower-cheddar soup in my arsenal (hence the leftover night we have weekly)

I usually type it out and take that to the store with me (I grocery shop normally on Saturdays or Sundays)

So I will do

Sat Lunch: usually sandwiches/soup/stuff we have on hand
Sat Dinner:

Sun Lunch:
Sun Dinner:

MOn- Fri

I write out each meal idea and the below type out the ingredients I need to buy. This allows a little big of flexibility say we decide the tacos don't sound "good" on Monday we can switch it out with Tuesday meal. I freeze meat, so I have more flexibility there than some people do who only like fresh meat.

@LuLu Mom: I freeze meat then forget to defrost it at least twice every week!

@Chillybear: that sounds very efficient. Are you both able to review the pepperplate app? I'd like to somehow make meal planning a collaborative effort.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I've been using the pepperplate app for awhile now. I believe that my husband would just need to sign in using the same account. It has a shopping list/meal plan feature but i never use that aspect. For me, What i really love about it is how easy it is to add recipes i find online into the app, Esp from my desktop at work. It has a tool bar button and if its a supported site for example allrecipes or skinny taste it seamlessly adds them with a photo. If its not from a supported site it just takes a few clicks to copy/paste and drag over a photo from the website. It took me a few days to add in all my family recipes that were haphazardly all over the place but now that its all in one spot and cloud based its great for sharing recipes. Like if i brought a dip to a party and someone want the recipe i can email it through the app. You can also assign the recipes catagories so if i'm stumped for an idea i can search "crockpot" or "Appetizer"
I also love that i can access it anywhere so if i see andouille sausage on sale i can immediately pull up the jambalaya recipe and grab the other ingredients. Or if i'm down the shore and want to make something the recipe is right there

@Chillybear: no, I'm happy you did lol...when you add a recipe does it automatically pull out the ingredients to place in a larger shopping list? I checked my Publix app and that'that's the only thing it's missing- meal planning.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: When you chose a recipe and click the "export" icon (square with arrow) the choices are Add to planner, add to shopping list, email recipe, print recipe, share of FB, Share on Twitter.

When you add to planner - it asks you to scale the recipe (ie 1/2 or double)then you can choose a meal (morning, mid-day, evening) and a date and it shows up on the calendar. if you add it to the shopping list the amounts also show up and its in categories (produce, dairy, etc) and its easy to edit.

I googled a printable weekly meal planner and I fill it on the weekend, sometimes I'm lazy and don't get to it until Monday (like this week). I make extra for leftovers for lunch, or I buy something specifically for lunch like some chicken breasts and salad. I try to grocery shop on Sunday.