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I have a deep freezer, so buy meat in bulk. I usually plan around what proteins I have available, then look up recipes, and buy additional ingredients for the week from there. I'll usually just buy veggies as needed to supplement my main dish.

I've been trying to meal plan 2 weeks before so I'm not stressed out every week about what to plan for the next week.

I simply try to come up with 5 meals (includes leftover), and write them down, and base my shopping list on those meals. Thats it.

I started meal planning monthly, rotating 10-12 different meals throughout the month. Trying to do one big shop to cover anything non-perishable for the month and then a smaller weekly shop for perishables. I guess I don't make anything that requires ingredients that go bad within a few days! We don't eat a ton of meat and if I'm not going to cook the meat within 2-3 days after purchase I just stick it in the freezer.

If you find that you keep using ingredients up for a different meal, maybe try to see if it's always the same ingredients? Maybe you just need to stock up more on those items.

I made a spreadsheet of our favorite meals and add to it when we try a new recipe we like. The first row has the meal name, the second the source, and then each column lists the ingredients. I scan the list, pick a few for the week and then copy and paste the relevant columns of ingredients to a note for shopping. I have a wipe off board on the fridge with the menu for the family's reference.

I write down the meal we are eating, then underneath I note what I need to buy for that meal specifically. I do that for every meal. I'll forget so many things otherwise

Pepper plate app is great!

We have a white board on the fridge. I wrote down a list of meals, usually in order that the ingredients will go bad. If there are specific things I know I'll need for then that might get used up, I wrote those down too, under the meal, so I remember what I bought them for. Then I write down a prep list of any thing that needs to be made before I can make the meals, or made for breakfasts/snacks. (IE: cook beans, make granola, make yogurt).

I don't assign my meals specific days, I just make what I feel like off the list based on the day and how much time I have.

@MrsSRS: I need to do this! I also need to purge the fridge of all the half used sauces that really need to be thrown out.

I made a spreadsheet of all the stuff in the pantry with one column for the item and then a bunch of blank columns where we can pencil in quantities. I keep it taped to the inside of the pantry so that I can add/remove items as we buy more or use them. When I originally did this we had something like 12 packages of pasta and 7 cans of tomatoes. I always glance at the spreadsheet when thinking up meals so that I can avoid buying something that we already have.

I also keep a list in the back of my agenda of meals that we like, and when I'm stumped, I'll look at the list. I also have a pinterest board with meal ideas so that I can keep track of recipes.

I'm still pretty bad at meal planning though, since I can only buy about 2 days worth of food at a time.

@looch: I can't even imagine what it would be like to buy 1-2 week's worth of food at once! I've never done it as an adult. What doesn't help me though is that during the week grocery stores close at 8, on Saturdays at 6 and they are NOT OPEN on Sundays except the train station stores (which are mobbed). Every Saturday I have a freakout moment fretting about if we have enough milk or bread or whatever to see us through to Monday. The worst is when Christmas falls on a Friday. Then nothing is open for 3 whole days, which we learned our first year here.

@looch: I'm pretty sure you cannot buy diapers in Austria on a Sunday. There is some wacko law that does not allow the purchase of things like cleaning supplies, aluminum foil, shampoo, etc. At the train station grocery stores they fence off that aisle on Sundays. I always joke that you can't murder anyone on Sundays here because you can't buy bleach to clean up the mess.

@lamariniere: Haha, that's awesome, in Switzerland we didn't have that restriction. You could buy whatever you wanted in the grocery stores that were open on Sunday (train station or gas station, lo). Oh, and also at the airport, that grocery store was open!

I just do a word document and write out each day's meal at the top. Then below I type out the ingredients I need to buy (I look through pantry/freezer to see what I have and don't need to get.) I take the list with me and mark off so I know I don't miss something. Before this I check our store ad to see what protein is on sale (if we don't have any in the deep freeze) and usually try to base the meals around the sales to save some money.

For example this week our store is having a seafood sale so we are having 2 meals of fish and chicken was on sale last week and I froze some so we will do 2 meals with chicken to save on the cost of groceries.

When I meal planned, I had a separate pinterest board for "Meals this week"

Then it was easy enough to pull from other recipe boards and sort out stuff I wanted to try then.

So.... I spend about $350/ month for a family of 3 (except now because I'm pregnant and can't cook ). Our diet is pretty healthy, but we do splurge sometimes on like... goldfish. Or pizza. Because my kid is two. For example, today we had eggs, toast, and fruit salad for breakfast, CostCo pizza for lunch because errands ran late, and dinner will be lamb chops, rice, green beans, strawberries for dessert.

I buy meat in bulk once a month from CostCo and Aldi and then take it home and store it in meal-sized portions in the freezer. I don't have a deep freezer or anything like that (we like in a pretty standard size apartment). Then I do a rough meal plan for the month like this:
Apr 1- chicken thigh
Apr 2- pork chop
Apr 3- salmon
Apr 4- meatless/ pasta, etc.

That way I know I will use all of the meat I bought and that I am rotating meals so we aren't left eating chicken thighs for ten nights in a row at the end of the month.

Every week before I go shopping, I check my fridge and pantry to see what I still have and throw away anything yucky. I have a few things that I always buy every week (plain yogurt, eggs, milk) and then I fill in my meal plan with things that I can get from CostCo or what is on sale at Aldi. I also plan out breakfast and lunches so I know I have enough but not too much for those meals (for instance, I'll plan to make eggs and toast three times, yogurt three times, and bagels once with two or three different fruit options for our breakfasts and my husband and daughter can pick from among those options in any order they want throughout the week).

I also have a super hard rule that we DO NOT go to the grocery store for any reason once I have gone shopping unless it's an emergency (which is usually defined only as running out of milk or fruit). I keep a couple of back up things in the pantry that we can eat if we run through the groceries faster than I expected for some reason (black beans, rice, and frozen tortillas for quick veggie tacos).