I actually took mine out of the crisper (where I had a tendency to forget about it) and stuck “munchies” in a glass bowl on the top shelf. That way it’s in my face every time I open the fridge.

Actually helped my food budget since things didn’t get forgotten about nearly as often.

Then I set down in Outlook and I planned out the first week of meals so that they made the best use of our shopping. I created an all day task, for each day and made it that meal. Then I had it repeat every three weeks. I did each of my 21 meals that way. Now all I have to do is when I read my email each morning, is look and see what is on the menu that week. I then lay out the meat to thaw.

I also got a cheap to do list software off the internet. I made a to do for each meal, making a list of ingredients for that meal. When I go to the store, I check each meal that we are eating for that week and print the to do for that meal. That gives me the grocery list. I then mark off things I still have on hand, and I am off to the store.

The only problem is you have to follow your plan. And be flexible. Last night we were supposed to have Grilled Chicken Salad. BUt hubby and I haven’t had anytime to ourselves for a while, so we had dinner out, the kids had whatever looked good to them, (pizza).
If the kids have band practice, then I will move a dinner or two around. Because the meals rotate every three weeks, and they always practice on Tuesdays, our Tuesday meals are easy to fix, don’t require us all to eat together, and can be eaten on the road. (i. e. hotdogs.)
And like Ivy said, don’t plan 4 course meals. Just because we are planning ahead, doesn’t mean we are different people. Plan meals your family will eat. Don’t have chicken on the plan three nights in a row. While that may be fun the first time, when it repeats three weeks later, your family is going to balk. I promise.
Our meals are things like pork chops, steak tips, chicken wings, hamburgers, hotdogs, throw in a salad, or a few veggies, and you’ve got a meal that can be fixed in 20 minutes or less, and the planning is done for you.
If you get sick of a meal, or find you like something else, it’s easy to change the task out and have a new rotation set up in seconds.