I find it's easier to plan meals if I have set nights. Some people may find this boring but it really works for me. So,
-Mondays are a busy night for us so that is a sandwich night, I just have to pick the filling and type of bun/bread and I use the foreman grill that night
-Tuesday is casserole night(used to be taco night)
-Wednesday is crockpot night - this is another busy night so it's handy to have something that can be cooking away in the crockpot
-Thursday is a meat and potatoes night, a nice sit down dinner since we are all usually there
-Friday is almost always pizza since it is our family movie/game night - sometimes we buy frozen, sometimes we order in and sometimes we make our own.
I make my menu Friday once I have the flyers, I choose the meats I will buy based on what's on sale, same with produce. I try to buy seasonal items to keep costs down. I price match everything at Walmart and save about $40-$50/week doing this. Once I have my menu set, I make the dc menu since some meals get used the next day for dc. I have tried winging it at the grocery stre and I always end up spending way more and still not having all that I need. we do still have to make a milk run 1 or 2 times during the week though.