For mining anything other than diamond, Do you find it more efficient to strip mine or explore natural caves?
If you have features for lava protection, I think strip mining is best. Honestly, I always just mine in completely random directions without a rhyme or a reason. Just dig a straight line until you find some ore, rinse and repeat. I think since mining world gets reset every month, it's unnecessary to make a perfect strip mine and the time spent traveling back/forth could be better utilized by just continuing to dig in any direction. If you don't have lava protection, then I would probably opt for caves.