Hellobee Boards

I need to get better at this. A few months ago, I started writing down every dinner we had and as time went on, I had a nice list and I would just look at it and cook what sounded good. I go to the grocery store practically every day, so I only buy for one or two dinners at a time. But there are definitely days when that doesn't work or nothing sounds good and I'm left scrambling for ideas at the end of the day.

We're similar to @Lulumom. Come up with a schedule for the week and then do all the grocery shopping for the week on Sunday. Choice of meals are based on cravings, something we haven't had in a while, or what type of meat we have in the freezer. We end up cooking about 3-4 meals/week and the rest are leftovers or going out. I used to go to the grocery store almost daily, but I found this resulted in lots of unnecessary extras and wasted food, plus obviously a higher food bill.

ETA: I get most of my dinner ideas from the Pioneer Woman, both her website and cookbooks.

In cold months, it's usually:
Sunday: roast or other meal that takes awhile, like chili
Monday: fish
Tuesday: soup
Wednesday: tacos/Tex-mex
Thursday: pasta or other quick meal
Friday: usually nachos with leftovers from Wednesday
Saturday: burgers, pizza, something like that

I have some go to recipes online and in cookbooks, but also search Pinterest and online for ideas. It's easier when I have categories.
I only work Thursday's and Friday's, so those are my quick nights. I also use the categories loosely which helps me from getting bored. Like soup night could be a big warm salad or polenta with eggs.
I change up the categories a little in the summer. We have an outdoor clay pizza oven, so we cook pizza often in the summer. And grilling, obviously. And usually we do a big salad night instead of soup night.

Eta: right now I'm in the throws of nausea and absolutely no interest in most food/food aversions, so my meal planning consists of searing for "good food for dinner" on Pinterest until I get a craving.

I have fallen out of the habit lately, but our most successful meal plans were (1) done monthly, (2) shopped for weekly, and (3) based on a weekly theme night.

So for instance, during the winter, our template might be:

Mondays: Pizza night
Tuesdays: Curry night
Wednesdays: Mexican
Thursdays: Crockpot
Fridays: Takeout
Saturdays: Leftovers
Sunday: Roasted/baked something night

So for each week that month I would plug in something that met the template. Templates are a huge time saver and it also helps you buy or cook a little extra in bulk if there's a sale. If I'm making pizza dough, its no big deal to make a double batch and freeze a few balls. By looking at the menu on a monthly basis, I could see what meats and veg I was rotating through. Once that's in the Google calendar, I can move recipes around based on what might be on sale that week. For example, I might have planned chicken tacos next week, but chicken is on sale THIS week. So I swap it out with whatever Mexican dish was on the schedule for next week and move on. Alternatively, if I know that chicken is at a great price this week, I may buy enough for the freezer and make chicken curry and BBQ chicken pizza later in the month on my menu.

When it comes to shopping, I check my pantry and freezer to see if I have anything that can plug into my dinner menu and then make a shopping list for that week. The veggies or sides may be determined by sales or whatever I have in the freezer. I generally try to pick one breakfast to have on the weekdays (oatmeal with fixins, yogurt, muffins, etc) and add those to the list, and take leftovers for lunch. I also always make sure we have sandwich fixings, fresh fruit, milk, eggs, and some snacks on hand. Any good sales on pasta, rice, or pantry staples might get thrown in too.

Every few months I try to do a pantry clearing month and work hard on using down anything in the freezer and pantry when menu planning. That might mean the menu gets more creative and there's less template stuff. Grocery bills are great those months and gives me a chance to stock up on pricier things like meat or olive oil.