How do you plan your meal schedule?

[junecleaver]

How do you plan your meals? Do you make a weekly, monthly or yearly schedule? Do you plan breakfast, lunch, dinner everyday? What helps you decide what your going to prepare? Also, do you always stick to your schedule? I have a hard time in this area, seems like I go to the store way too much because I'm not on a regular schedule these days.

[shelleyf]

I try to cook around what I have in the house if possible. I can't do a strict day to day schedule because when I wake up sometimes I am not craving what is on the menu. But I make a different dinner that I planned and then cook that one a different night so it is the same thing.

[cintinative]

I plan meals by the month but I do flex some on when I make things. If we end up going out for some reason things get moved up or back. I buy the perishable stuff in my weekly trips to the store (e.g. produce). I try to buy cheese and meat on sale and freeze it until needed. The advantage to having the full month is that if I know I need round steak sometime in the month I could have three weeks or so to look for a good price. I don't plan around the circulars, although I do buy meat on sale based on the circulars to freeze. I see the advantage to planning around circulars however I really like to have more than a week planned at a time as I don't enjoy meal planning that much. =)

[bugweena]

I usually plan week to week. I try to use what I have in the freezer, canned, or what's on sale. No one really eats breakfast except coffee and lunches are brown bags at work (usually leftovers or sandwiches) so dinners are about all I plan for. I usually buy marked down meat and put it in the freezer--the crock pot is my best friend, lol!

I try to write on the big household calendar what we have for dinner each night. This serves two purposes: I know how old leftovers are and it also helps me to mix up beef, pork, chicken, and seafood meals during the week. I've been low-carbing for about 3 months so I try to make lower carb options for me and everyone else eats regular. For example, if we have stuffed peppers, I make mine without rice and everyone else's with rice.

[junecleaver]

Some good input! I will take some of this to help build my new meal plan. Thanks a bunch :)

[Pennstater]

June Cleaver, I'm LOL at your user name, I always tell ppl my Mom is like June Cleaver! Anyway, I plan my meals on what's on sale with a coupon at a rock bottom price. I keep the freezer stocked with typical meats we use, bought in bulk at rock bottom prices. So I usually have boness, skinnless chicken breast, pork chops, some type of steaks, ground turkey or beef, boston butt roast and chuck roast. I buy the veggies and fruit at a farmers market, whatever they have cheap, that's what we're having!

[gctattoo]

I've been doing a weekly meal plan (dinner only) for several months now. I'm not too strict on what I choose (matching meals to what's on sale at the time) unless we're having a week where I don't want to spend much money on meat. Then I'll see what I've got in my freezer and plan my meals using that. Other than that, I scour my cookbook and Allrecipes.com for ideas.