Easy Meal/Recipe Planner

How do you handle meal planning?

I have tried multiple ways to plan meals:
--monthly wipe off calendars mounted on the side of the refrigerator
--printed lists
--this cute chalkboard tile system, which is the one I'm currently using...

(I painted 4" tiles from Lowes with chalkboard paint, added letter stickers, then glued magnets to the back. WARNING--Wednesday falls off the frig sometimes, so use good glue.)

When I stay on top of menu planning, things go so much more smoothly. It sure helps me make the grocery list too.
However, even when I know what we're having for supper, I don't always get my recipes in hand easily. I have recipes everywhere: recipes in favorite cookbooks, recipes torn out of magazines, recipes copied from friends, recipes printed from websites and recipes saved to my Pinterest board. Sometimes the recipe I want to use for supper can't be found. Frustrating.

I finally implemented a plan I have been thinking about for a while. I made a new copy of 20 of my favorite supper recipes onto 4x6 recipe cards, had them laminated at Staples, and hooked them together with a metal ring.

I love having them all together in one place. It is easy to change the order, if I want to put them in order of meals for the week. I also like being able to remove or add recipes easily.

This system is working so well, that I am planning to make another set of my favorite breakfast recipes.