Meal Planning for busy people

There are so many ways you can meal plan. It really depends on your personality and schedule.  I wanted to share with you what works for me.  I work when my children are in school so I still consider myself a busy working mom. Our schedules can be crazy at times so writing down every meal for everyday just doesn't work for me.  So this is what I do:

• I love recipes, I have a collection of recipes with basic ingredients and things I would have on hand. I will normally pick out one new recipe to try.
• I always keep items stocked for those quick/staple meals; such as hamburgers, grilled cheese, pizza, etc.
• On Sundays I will go through my recipes, inventory what I have, and select about 10 of them for a two week period.
• I write down all the meals and attach the recipes to the list and keep it all in the kitchen
• I do another quick inventory of the ingredients and if I'm missing something I will write that on the grocery list, but normally I will have almost all the ingredients.  The one new meal that I plan to make I may have to buy a few more things for. If I have to buy a couple things for a recipe that recipe will be pushed to the end of the week due to the fact that I shop on Thursdays (kids get out of school early that day).
• Now that I have all my recipes and list ready, I will select a meal the night before so I can pull things out of the freezer if I have to, or get it ready for the slow cooker in the morning.
• If things end up being crazy or we get home too late to cook the meal planned I will make one of my quick dinners and make the meal I had planned the following night.
• Typically one of the nights becomes a leftover night - such as tonight.

Since I have been planning my menus this way, it is easier to make meals around our schedule. I'm not tied to a specific meal on a specific night. It has greatly reduced my stress when it comes to making dinners.

Here is a good article and meal planning guides, go to About.com for meal planning guides.  They are great.