I like to make my own weekly plan. We eat more vegetables and a greater variety of foods when following a weekly plan. Meals are more balanced and it's cheaper, healthier and fun. When I am not making weekly plans, we eat out more and choose foods that are quick and tend to be not the best for us. I save old week plans and will reuse successful dinners (or change them up a bit). I do follow my plan but I have been known to switch sides from one meal to another because I don't have time to make the specified side or I don't feel like making it tonight. I plan only 5 evening meals a week. The other 2 evening meals may be leftovers nights, evenings out, or splurge nights.
How I make my plan: Using what's on sale and what's in my house, I select an entree for each meal (variety of meats and non-meats). I find recipes to prepare these choices as entrees. Next, I choose which starchy side dish works with the entree recipes (potatoes, grains, pasta, etc.). Then I add vegetable sides. My goal is to have 1 meat/non-meat serving, 1 starch/grains serving and 3 vegetable servings for each meal. For example, one meal might start with the choice of ground beef and I decide to use it by making chili, cornbread would be the starchy side and depending on the amount of vegetables in the chili, I might have a lettuce salad. After the meal plan is complete, I make a grocery list and also stock up on pantry items that are on sale.