How Do You... Meal Plan?

How do you plan what your family is going to eat?  

When I menu plan, I work two weeks at a time.  I grocery shop every other week so it makes sense to plan meals the same way.  I start with a piece of notebook paper and fold it in half the long way.  I write the days Monday through Sunday in the margins with one week on one side of the paper and the other week on the other side.  If I know of plans we have for a certain day (co-op or a birthday party, etc.) I'll pencil that in, too, since that could determine how much time I have to cook or if after-dinner clean-up needs to be speedy. 

Next I start filling in meals.  Over the summer, I made a list of over fifty meals choices.  It is not as varied as it sounds.  Spaghetti, pasta pie, and skillet pasta were separate entries on the list, as were Mexican casserole, taco soup, and bean & rice burritos.  At first I made an effort to try something different every night, but once I made everything on the list once, I loosened my standards and we  mostly rotate through our favorites. 

Once the schedule is made, I post it on the refrigerator, but it is not strict!  If I forget to pull ground beef from the freezer, I scan the list for a substitute.  If plans are changed and we need to go out unexpectedly, I switch meals with another night.  Writing a meal on a particular day does not set it in stone. 

Meal planning is an easy way to ensure my family eats a planned meal every night and not be left with what I can scramble to throw together at five o'clock! 

How do you plan for meal times?    Let us know in the comments! 
If you have a question for a future "How Do You...?" post, share that in the comments, too.