Stockpiling versus Meal Planning

There was a time when I had enough toothpaste, body wash, canned mushroom soup and frozen peas to last two years.  I got on the couponing craze and converted part of my garage to a make-shift pantry. I swore by it.  I told all of my friends it was the way to go.  I never got to the point where I could get $200 of groceries for a few pennies, but I did get a whole lot of nonperishable items for free or nearly free.  And then, we moved.  To a very small house.  That had no garage.  Which meant no stockpile.  Which meant bye-bye crazy couponing.  I don't even have a pantry here, just 10 kitchen cabinets and a lazy susan to hold all my crap.
I spent the first few months we lived here just trying to use up all my boxed and canned goods.  Ugh!  I don't even like Hamburger Helper; I only bought it because I thought it was a good deal.  This really changed the way I thought about grocery shopping.  If I'm spending money, even if it's 50 cents, on something I really don't want or like, then am I really saving money?
I challenged myself with continuing to save as much money on groceries as I could but by ONLY buying what we needed, which meant planning our meals each week.
After several months of meal planning, I can tell you that this works so much better for me, my family, and my pocketbook.
Here's how I do it:

• Each Saturday or Sunday, I look at by calendar and decide which nights I will be home early enough to cook dinner.  Usually, that's two night.  So I plan two meals that will also provide us with some leftovers to either eat another night or take for my lunch at school.  
• Next, I plan my meals.  I used to spend hours scouring cookbooks (and loved it), but what I love better than that is finding recipes on Pinterest or other's Blogs and I ALWAYS pay attention to the reviews.  (One thing to note is that when buying large quantities of items that will spoil quickly, like potatoes, I try to choose recipes that enable me to use the whole bag, rather than just a few to cook with, for example, a roast.)
• Then, I make my grocery list, only putting things on the list that I know I will use THAT week.  

A couple of other things to note about Meal Planning:

• I rarely buy anything at Sam's Club anymore.  I always end up purchasing things I hadn't intended on purchasing.  However, one thing I ALWAYS buy there is the Daily Chef brand canned chicken.  I love having it on hand and it saves so much time on a busy night.  
• I now live in town so I have the time to shop at multiple stores.  
• I LOVE Aldi.  It's my first stop so I try to get as much there as I can.  You can't beat their fresh fruits and vegetables!
• I'll choose Wal-Mart over Kroger any day.  Unless you've got coupons for everything you're buying and the coupons can be doubled, Kroger will not save you that much money.  
• I'll not only choose Wal-Mart, but I'll choose Wal-Mart BRAND any day.  

I'll try to post some of my favorite recipes soon.  Again, I borrow and steal from lots of sites.  My cookbooks are just shelf-fillers now.  : - )