I buy meat with any idea as to how I’ll prepare it and what might be served with it. That’s as much planning as I do, usually. I thaw something when I get home, and then cook it, though occasionally I’ll crock-pot something in the morning.
Never
I try to. It doesn’t always work out, though. If the supermarket’s still open I just get whatever I’m missing at the moment.
only sometimes.
We make a grocery list and go shopping on Saturday to cover us for the next week. I usually have four or five meals planned with leftovers or the occasional pizza on the other two or three. I don’t usually plan meals for specific days, but will plan a couple “easy” meals like baked potatoes or big salads, and a couple more complicated meals, so that if I’m too tired to cook there’s something easy to just toss in the oven.
Also, we’ve nearly always got on hand ingredients for pasta and red sauce, chicken and rice, or burritos, in the event of a dinner emergency.
For this college student, each meal is an adventure.
<hijack>Until just now I had no idea your username was an accurate reflection of your work. I’ve liked your name ever since I saw it, but that information just made it a favourite! 
I rarely plan my meals in advance except for special occasions (lato sensu – e.g. “roomie and I are going to be eating together for the first time in yonks so I’ll make that Spanish tortilla he likes”). However, with election time coming up, I’ve been cooking for the freezer lately – beef stew, pumpkin soup, etc. Will do chili soon enough, and some other things.
2 weeks. Every other Thursday my wife and I sit down and plan out two weeks of meals. We’ll shop on Friday evening, now that we’re old farts and don’t go out to party on Friday nights. It started out as a financial necessity. Now it’s just habit and makes the week nights easier. We like to cook so it’s nice to know that you’ll have everything on hand for say Chicken vindaloo and naan when your making it from scratch.
I start planning when I open the refrigerator door.
Okay well sometimes I do go shopping and buy a package of steaks and think, “I can have these for the next few days.” Or I think at work, “I think I’ll use some of that ham tonight in an omelet.” But that’s not really planning, is it?
Weekdays:
When my husband picks me up. Usually one of the first things he’ll say is, “What are you thinking about for dinner?”
Weekends:
Depends on what we have planned insofar as activities are concerned (son working, us going out in the afternoon, etc.) On Saturday, I will usually plan something special for Sunday so that will involve either thawing something or going to the store.
I plan for seven evening meals and breakfast on the weekend, and shop on Sundays. Sunday morning I clip coupons while drinking coffee and watching the news and stuff. I pretty much cook every night. Sometimes I arrange by day, just because of repeating side dishes. I hate to have potatoes twice in a row, for example.
I have a printed out grocery list spreadsheet arranged by aisle in the grocery store. When we run out of something I write it down as soon as possible. On Wednesday, our flyer comes out and I’ll stock up on meat if it’s on sale, or plan menus around sale items. I’m usually done meal planning by Saturday night. I have a binder I keep recipes that I’ve printed out - I even rate them, or add suggestions for next time. Every now and then I have to inventory the freezer - i’ts a small chest freezer but stuff gets lost in there! I’ve gotten better about labeling freezer bags too, including date.
I’m too anal, aren’t I? But damn, we eat good!
Tonight we’re having “Heavenly Hash” - leftover steak from Saturday night, with onions and potatoes cooked in beef broth.
One week. There is little food in my house that isn’t a future dinner ingredient.
I save time and money planning this way. I spent 86 bucks at the store yesterday which will feed six people (and two cats) for five days this week. (I still had one meal left from last week’s plan, and we do fast food another night). We’ll have cereal for breakfast, sandwiches and potato salad for lunch (kids eat at school). The dinners will be:
Spaghetti & salad
Turkey pot pie (utilizing leftovers)
A thing with hamburger meat, rice, and veggies
Pork chops with orange sauce, stuffing, and veg
Pierogies & kielbasa (I serve this one towards the end of the week because two of the kids don’t like it and will therefore scarf up whatever else was left over)
The cool thing is that you don’t wander into the kitchen starving at six o’clock and start trying to figure out what you’re able to make. There’s your list of choices and you know you have what you need.
ETA: Go Dolores! You’re even stranger than me! 
I usually start planning dinner around mid-day, which tends to involve a mental inventory of what’s still edible in the house and what I happen to have a craving for. If there’s anything I don’t have on hand, I can then pick it up on my way home, seeing as the bus drops me off in front of the grocery store anyways. Every so often, I can’t even be bothered to do the slightest bit of planning and just roam around the grocery store until something inspires me.
Two exceptions to the rule:
- We’re having company over.
- I happen to get a craving for something time-consuming and/or complicated on a weeknight (much as I love lamb shanks, it’s not something I can just whip up as soon as I walk in the door on a Wednesday)
I have little tolerance for the grocery store, even if it’s just stopping in for a few things after work. In fact I hate those trips the most, because it’s a PITA to deal with idiots in the parking lot, shopping aisles, and the checkout line when I’m already tired from work and I only need a few things. I like to go on one big trip on Sundays, and plan my meals accordingly.
We started planning a week at a time after my wife’s eye operation, when I had to go to the store Saturdays for the whole week. She works at home, so could go whenever she wanted before that. We loved it, since it cut down on trips and ensured we had all the ingredients needed. We survey the freezer and the fridge, then sit down Saturday morning with cookbooks and construct the menu for the entire week. We have this nice book where you put pointers to your favorite recipes in cookbooks - not the recipe, just a pointer and notes, so it is simple enough to actually use.
We’ve found there is a lot less waste this way. We also don’t buy anything not on the list, which saves money and cuts waste too.
I plan a week in advance, and shop once a week. This only applies to evening meals however. Lunches are typically leftovers, and breakfasts are on-the-fly, planned at the last minute using whatever happens to be available. Of course, I keep breakfast-y type foods on hand to use. It sounds funny, but I can’t imagine being organized enough to do spur of the moment dinners – i.e., to keep enough food supplies on hand and to use up perishables on time. I probably would have to shop more than once a week, and I’m not too keen on that.
Welcome to the Dope, Jezka!
I plan it out on weekends and keep most of my food in a semi-prepared state of being (onions chopped, veggies chopped etc.). I’m very hungry after I come home and want dinner on the table without resorting to anything processed. So basically all I want to do is cook. As a result, I do most planning and prepwork on the weekend.