Meal planning

This week I wanted to post a household tip and I was struggling to come up with something good to post about .... then I was over at Sallie's http://www.gracioushome.com/ and there was a reader poll which I responded to. I realized I could post here on my meal planning. I learned this trick from my mom. She had 6 kids (and sometimes more when she was involved in the Foster Care program) so she would sit down and plan her menus two weeks at a time. The way Mr. Man has set up our budget, I plan our meals one week at a time and grocery shop once a week. It works great for our family and I know it won't work for everyone.
The links are of the guide I use in my menu planning that I use every week (I think you can click on it to print it out...hopefully anyway!) and also the grocery list I use (I know I am anal...) Since I do my shopping on Saturday's I start my planning on Saturday and end on Friday. I also look to see what we have going on socially, soccer games, church events, guests coming over, etc and see which days I should have a crock pot meal or which days half of us will be in a hurry so sandwiches might be appropriate. Then I plan our meals for the week. At the same time I have my grocery list handy and mark down the items I will need for each meal. For me, it works to sit down on Wednesday and do my planning.
I know my ideas won't help everyone but maybe this will help someone, even if it is in a small way!