Mrs BC's House of Chaos: How and Why would you Meal Plan?

I like to write a weekly menu, and here is why: I like to be organised. To break it down a bit further, these are my reasons, specifically.

It saves Money. I buy groceries according to what is on the meal plan, which saves money because I don't end up with food that goes off in the fridge before it has a chance to be cooked.
It minimizes Wastage. I use up what is in the freezer and pantry, rather than discover mystery items when I clean out these places. I also don't waste much of our garden produce because I meal plan according to what is ready to be harvested.
It Saves my Brain cells. True! By the time its dinner preparation time, I often don't have the mental capacity to decide what to cook. Maybe it's the glass of wine, maybe it's the trials of pushing two boys through the homework hour, maybe it's just the day, but whatever, I am done in. I'd rather order takeaway than have to think at this point, so if the weekly menu is there on the wall, and I know all of the ingredients are already bought, it makes the whole thing remarkably stress free.
It makes the Schedule Easier to Navigate. Baseball training on Thursday? I can pre make something like a pasta that will happily sit in the fridge all day until it's ready to be cooked, and it will reheat easily for those that need to eat dinner later. Date night with the hubs? Leave some bolognaise on the stove and ask the baby sitter to cook the spaghetti.

So, what does a menu plan look like and how do you do it?

Here is a typical Meal Plan of mine, and you are lucky it's not written on the back of an envelope. You can buy beautiful and fancy Meal Planner templates from here and here, and lots of other places I suspect, but a scrap of paper works very well for me.

I don't list days of the week because sometimes it needs to be mixed up to cater for requests or last minute activities. Also, I don't always stick to a 7 day planner, sometimes I plan until the next grocery shop which may be 2 weeks away, or what have you. Be flexible, there isn't a test!

OK, but HOW?

First, assess the kitchen situation. I like to pour a cup of coffee, and check out the pantry, the garden, the fridge and the freezer to see if there is anything that needs to be used up. I try and incorporate expected leftovers where I can. The following points were my thought process for the above menu plan.

There was a special on mince the last time I went shopping, so I bought a lot and now I have lots in my freezer. Spaghetti Bolognaise is a regular on our table, but not even my kids will eat it more than once a week. (I always make a double batch of Bolognaise and freeze it, which makes dinner very easy the following week.) I know the husband has a thing for Italian meatballs, and the eldest son loves Nachos Salad, so I included those two things on the menu. Barack Obama Chili is made in the crock pot, which is great because one day this week I had canteen duty and a crock pot ready to go would make dinner much easier. Also, a nice fresh Nachos Salad with sour cream OMG I'm drooling is an excellent reward for a day spent in the school tuck shop!
I also bought 2 whole chickens that need to be cooked, and one child is always, always after baked potatoes and home made gravy, so Roast Chook one night was a no brainer. I prefer Asian style dishes, so the other chicken became a bit more oriental.
I've been wanting to include more fish on the menu, and am crazy for Clay Pot Fish after a friend gave me the recipe. I cooked a double amount of rice, so when we had the Nachos Salad later in the week I was able to just nuke it in the microwave rather than cook it again from scratch. I also did a tuna pasta bake because it is an easy to reheat option, and Mr BC has been working back a bit lately.
Lastly, I included Beef Noodle Salad because I thought we might all appreciate at least one dish of un-minced beef, plus - Asian Style, yum!
I find it easy to write a shopping list at the same time as I write the menu planner, and then the whole thing is done and dusted. All I have to do after the grocery list is the actual cooking!

I try to always include a mix of rice, pasta, potatoes and noodles so we are not just eating the same starch all the time, and I aim for every meal to be balanced with protein and vegetables as well. My preference is to serve the meal on the table broken into different components, to suit everyone's tastes, but I will blog more about this soon.

So tell me, do you meal plan? Do you follow a similar system or a completely different one? Give me your pointers, I'd love to improve on mine!