My friend Erin (well, I’ve met her, that makes us friends, right?) from $5 Dinners is hosting Menu Plan Monday this week! Click on the picture there to go to her site and browse other great menu plans for the week!

Here’s ours.

Monday: BBQ chicken in the crockpot, macaroni and cheese, carrots
Tuesday: lemon pepper turkey tenderloin (Jenny-O), brown rice, salad
Wednesday: church dinner
Thursday: Tex-Mex Beef Tacos, apple slices, Mexican Corn and Bean Soup
Friday: Salmon with Sweet and Sour Pan Sauce, brown rice, salad
Saturday: soup and sandwiches
Sunday: leftovers/pantry creation

Here’s the BBQ Crockpot Chicken recipe:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or you can use chicken pieces on the bone)
1 bottle any barbecue sauce
1 can pineapple chunks with juice
1 green pepper, large dice
1 onion, large dice

Mix all together and cook on low 8-10 hours in the crockpot. Yum!

As far as the $40 budget challenge, I went way over this week. I forgot my cell phone so I didn’t have my calculator on it to add up as I went along. I also did the “buy 10 participating items, get $5 off” thing at Kroger–which I am beginning to think is a rip-off to make you buy things you don’t need. I did stock up on cheese at a great price, but bought some Lean Cuisines and Powerades that we really didn’t need.

I spent $54.16, so I guess next week we’ll be scouring the fridge and pantry for meals!

Here’s what I got this week.

Publix ($12.02)

4-pack Activia yogurt ($1 with coupon)
buffalo chicken tenders ($2 off Publix coupon)
coffee creamer
Doublemint gum (free with coupon from today’s paper)
Uncle Ben brown rice
sugar-free Jell-o pudding cups
8-pack Coke Zero little bottles
tortilla chips (penny item)

Kroger ($42.14)

1 lime
1 green pepper
whole wheat tortillas
2 Lean Cuisines
Dole bagged salad
1 lb. frozen salmon
FiberOne bars (sale plus coupon)
cumin
whole wheat penne
2 lbs. organic apples (98 cents/lb!)
8 oz. tomato sauce
3 bags Sargento cheese
1 pkg. Sargento cheese slices
Nature Valley granola bars (sale plus coupon)
roast beef lunchmeat
2 Powerades
string cheese
bananas
BBQ sauce
Jenny-O turkey tenderloin (1/2 off)
chipotles in adobo sauce