Saving money by menu planning

There are a lot of different aspects to saving money with the food we eat. Buying items you use only when they are on sale and stockpiling them, using coupons, ad-matching at Wal-Mart. Menu planning is something not everyone consciously chooses to do to reduce the outgoing flow of cash from one's wallet. Because we are a regular American family with family members coming and going all at different times and meal time can be a state of confusion, if I fail to plan ahead for dinner we end up in the drive-thru of a fast food restaurant. For us that cost is aproximately $20 every time we do so. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but always around that number. So if you figure doing that once a week for four times a month, that is $80 per month spent on eating fast food. That is money for a week's worth of groceries! Consumed just in four meals! It's groceries for 21 meals eaten at home. Yearly it would be $960. Or 12 weeks worth of groceries! If you eat out once a week at a casual dining place you may be spending $50 per meal for your family. That is $200 per month or broken down into groceries/week, it's 2 and a 1/2 weeks worth of groceries or 52 meals eaten at home. Yearly it would be $2400. Or 30 weeks worth of groceries! Over a half of a year's worth of groceries for your family. How much does your family spend on out of home dining each week?