Does anyone else have this problem

I have to start buying food at the store and cooking it at home so I can save money instead of eating out all the damn time.

but I have a hard time deciding what to eat for an entire two weeks? I usually just eat whatever I feel like but it's not the same if I'm cooking it and it's something I have to eat more than one day in a row.

what do you guys do?

Try making a meal plan. Alternate four to five breakfasts, four to five lunches, and 21 dinners. Preferably the dinners will all have similar ingredients and freeze well. Make double batches when you cook and freeze one to thaw for the following weeks.

As an example, with a whole chicken you can make roast chicken one night, with the rest of the meat you can make Moroccan chicken with tomatoes another night, use the carcass for stock to make soup or cook rice for enchiladas or burritos. Use the extra tortillas for tacos and extra beans for chili which can also use tomatoes.

>Alternate four to five breakfasts, four to five lunches, and 21 dinners
Christ almighty. I eat two meals a day max, if that.

The idea for using the same ingredients is good idea. And I can still make a smaller meal plan.

Go once a week instead. If you only get paid once every two weeks then buy your 'better' or more expensive ingredients the first week and work off a tighter budget the second. You'll have more freedom instead of a two week meal plan.

Thanks. I still don't know what to fucking get though.

I cook for three people but due to work and sleep schedules I only make dinner. When I shop I just buy lots of basic staple bullshit. Various cuts of beef and pork, chicken breasts; rice and noodles, eggs, milk, cream; fucktons of veggies, canned tomato products, various breads and cheeses. I usually have an idea or two for meals when I shop but honestly I just look in the fridge every night and make some shit up based on how much effort I want to put in and what needs to be cooked first in terms of produce. Meal planning sounds awesome but I am highly disorganized and that would suck the joy out of it for me.

Discipline is the answer. Whimsy does not determine what you eat. You're not a five year old with overindulgent parents who gets to choose between nuggers and pizza every night. You go out and buy ingredients and make delicious meals out of them. If you don't have the skill to do that learn it quick. If you make too much dinner tonight it will be breakfast or lunch tomorrow. Same hold true of you don't feel like cooking every meal - you'll be eating what's leftover from the last time you cooked. Maybe with some embellishment, if you know the grandma (or great grandma) secrets to transform leftovers into entirely new dishes. The whole, "What do I feel like eating today?" thing is Baby Boomer bullshit, and we know how shitty they ate. Avoid the trap, user.

Yeah I'm not organized and a lot of shit comes up in my life that will actually keep me from eating or being home.

>The whole, "What do I feel like eating today?" thing is Baby Boomer bullshit
I've never heard this until now.

I am like that about everything? Like I don't plan what fucking song I'm gonna listen to next. I listen to what I feel like. Or with anything else.

My shopping list usually looks like this:
>ground beef or turkey, chicken breasts, pork loin or chops or ribs, maybe a roast

Ground beef gives you chili or burgers or tacos or meat loaf or meat balls. Marinated pork loin is fantastic, dry rub is great too. Chicken is for everything: soup or just with any veggies or starch, any pasta, shredded for tacos or wontons or baked into a casserole, it's endless.

Then I just make sure I have all kinds of veggies
>broccoli, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, kale, squash, Brussels sprouts, beans and peas, tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc.

And other basic shit like milk, eggs, white & jasmine & basmati & brown rice, potatoes, tomato paste & strewed tomatoes and crushed toms et al, black beans, kidney beans, chili beans, pinto beans. Always have oil, real butter, flour, sugar, and spices and some fresh herbs.

I buy whole chickens, roasts, and pork butts, and use those proteins to prep a variety of different meals. Those are my dinner meals.

For breakfast, I usually eat home made yogurt with fruit, and do the occasional omelette from time to time.