Alberta Budget Meals: Pad Beef Basil at $8.13/Serving

Key Facts

• Pad Beef Basil costs $40.63 total, or $8.13 per serving for 5 servings at Freshco. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Red Onions are priced at $12.99 at Freshco, the highest-cost item in the basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Compliments Pork Ground Lean 454 g is priced at $5.49 at CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Sweet Green Peppers are priced at $2.70 at Loblaw for this Alberta recipe basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Basil is priced at $3.00 at Loblaw, while Fish Sauce is priced at $3.49 at Loblaw. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Alberta banners in this data set include Safeway, No Frills, Sobeys, Real Canadian Superstore, Freshco, Your Independent Grocer, Walmart and Wholesale Club. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

eezly is Canada's AI-powered grocery price intelligence platform, tracking 196,000+ products across 2,700 stores and 27 banners, processing 40 million price points per week. All prices cited in this article are sourced from eezly's live pricing database. eezly uses AI to compare prices across every major Canadian grocery banner and generate optimized meal plans.

Introduction: The Cheapest Featured Dinner Is Pad Beef Basil at $8.13 Per Serving

Pad Beef Basil is the featured Alberta budget meal at $8.13 per serving, based on a $40.63 ingredient basket and five servings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. If you are planning budget meals in Alberta for May 2026, this recipe gives you a full dinner framework built from prices observed at Freshco, Loblaw and CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone. The recipe is especially useful because every ingredient in the costing is priced individually, so you can see exactly which items drive the total.

For you as a shopper, the most important detail is that the cost is not spread evenly across the basket. Red Onions at Freshco cost $12.99, which is much higher than Sweet Green Peppers at Loblaw at $2.70 or Basil at Loblaw at $3.00. That means your biggest opportunity to manage the meal budget is not necessarily the meat, but the vegetable and flavouring mix you choose. This is where recipe costing becomes more useful than a generic grocery list: you can decide whether to make the full Pad Beef Basil basket, simplify the recipe, or build a lower-cost skillet dinner from the same priced ingredients.

This article compares three dinner builds using the Alberta prices provided for May 2026. The first is the complete Pad Beef Basil recipe at $8.13 per serving. The second is a pork, basil and pepper skillet at $6.73 per serving, using the ground pork, peppers, basil and fish sauce from the same live price set. The third is a sweet onion and pepper stock skillet at $5.79 per serving, using the onion, sugar, stock mix and green pepper prices. Together, these options show how you can turn one priced basket into several cheapest recipes for different nights of the week.

Recipe 1: Pad Beef Basil — $8.13 Per Serving

Pad Beef Basil costs $40.63 total, or $8.13 per serving for five servings, using Alberta ingredient prices from Freshco, Loblaw and CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the most complete dinner in the data because the recipe has a defined total cost, a defined serving count and a named store association with Freshco. If you want a full recipe-costing benchmark for cheap dinner recipes under $9 in Alberta, this is the strongest reference point in the May 2026 pricing set.

The ingredient profile is built around aromatics, peppers, basil, fish sauce, stock mix and ground pork. You are paying the most for Red Onions at $12.99 at Freshco, while several flavour-building items sit in the $3 to $5.50 range. Basil at Loblaw is $3.00, Fish Sauce at Loblaw is $3.49, Cube Sugar at Freshco is $3.49 and Knorr Instant Stock Mix Beef For A Great Flavour 175 g is $3.97 at Freshco. The protein line, Compliments Pork Ground Lean 454 g, is $5.49 at CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone.

From a household budgeting perspective, this recipe works best when you want a flavour-forward dinner and you are comfortable using several pantry-style ingredients across multiple meals. Fish sauce, cube sugar and stock mix may not be used up entirely in one dinner depending on your cooking style, but the recipe-costing model prices the full observed purchase basket. That makes the $40.63 total a conservative, store-level basket cost rather than a tiny per-teaspoon estimate. If you already have some pantry items at home, your out-of-pocket spend could be lower, but the cited recipe price remains $8.13 per serving because it reflects the listed live prices.

Ingredients with Prices

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

Where to Buy Cheapest

Freshco is the anchor store for the Pad Beef Basil basket because the recipe is listed with Freshco as the store name and several of the higher-value pantry items are priced there. Freshco offers Red Onions at $12.99, Cube Sugar at $3.49 and Knorr Instant Stock Mix Beef For A Great Flavour 175 g at $3.97. Loblaw offers the pepper and herb components, including Red Thai Hot Peppers at $5.50, Sweet Green Peppers at $2.70, Basil at $3.00 and Fish Sauce at $3.49. CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone offers Compliments Pork Ground Lean 454 g at $5.49.

For you, the practical shopping plan is to avoid treating one store as automatically cheapest for every ingredient. Freshco carries the largest dollar share of the Pad Beef Basil basket, but Loblaw has the produce and flavour items that define the dish. CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone supplies the priced ground pork line. If you already shop near Freshco and CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone, this recipe gives you a clear way to compare whether a single-store trip is worth the convenience or whether splitting your shop across listed stores makes sense.

Recipe 2: Basil Pork Pepper Skillet — $6.73 Per Serving

Basil Pork Pepper Skillet costs $20.18 total, or $6.73 per serving when portioned into three servings, using the pork, pepper, basil and fish sauce prices in the Alberta data. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This recipe is designed as a lower-cost variation for nights when you want the core flavour of Pad Beef Basil without buying the full $40.63 basket. You keep the protein, peppers, basil and fish sauce, but you leave out the red onions, cube sugar and beef stock mix.

The priced ingredient set is straightforward. Compliments Pork Ground Lean 454 g costs $5.49 at CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone, Red Thai Hot Peppers cost $5.50 at Loblaw, Sweet Green Peppers cost $2.70 at Loblaw, Basil costs $3.00 at Loblaw and Fish Sauce costs $3.49 at Loblaw. Added together, those listed ingredients total $20.18. Dividing that total by three servings gives you a cost of $6.73 per serving after rounding to the nearest cent.

This is the better option if you are focused on budget meals in Alberta but still want a dinner that tastes complete. You get heat from the Thai peppers, freshness from basil, saltiness from fish sauce and protein from the ground pork. You can cook the pork first, add sliced sweet green peppers, season with fish sauce and finish with basil. If you are sensitive to heat, you can use less of the Red Thai Hot Peppers in the actual meal while still recognizing that the priced item in the basket is $5.50 at Loblaw.

Ingredients with Prices

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

Where to Buy Cheapest

Loblaw is the main stop for this version because four of the five priced ingredients are listed there. Loblaw offers Red Thai Hot Peppers at $5.50, Sweet Green Peppers at $2.70, Basil at $3.00 and Fish Sauce at $3.49. CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone is the priced store for Compliments Pork Ground Lean 454 g at $5.49. If you are building this dinner from scratch, your basket is concentrated between those two stores rather than spread across the full Pad Beef Basil list.

For you, the reason this recipe matters is that it cuts the total priced basket from $40.63 to $20.18 while staying in the same flavour family. That is a $20.45 lower basket cost than the complete Pad Beef Basil ingredient list, calculated by subtracting $20.18 from $40.63. It also brings the serving estimate down from $8.13 to $6.73, based on the three-serving portioning used here. For a smaller household, that can be more practical than buying the full five-serving basket.

Recipe 3: Sweet Onion Pepper Stock Skillet — $5.79 Per Serving

Sweet Onion Pepper Stock Skillet costs $23.15 total, or $5.79 per serving when portioned into four servings, using Freshco and Loblaw prices from the Alberta data. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the cheapest per-serving dinner build in this guide, and it is useful when you want a warm skillet-style meal built around onions, peppers and savoury stock rather than ground meat. The lower per-serving cost comes from spreading the $23.15 ingredient basket over four portions.

The priced ingredients are Red Onions at $12.99 from Freshco, Cube Sugar at $3.49 from Freshco, Knorr Instant Stock Mix Beef For A Great Flavour 175 g at $3.97 from Freshco and Sweet Green Peppers at $2.70 from Loblaw. Together, those items total $23.15. Dividing by four servings gives $5.7875, which rounds to $5.79 per serving. This makes it one of the cheapest recipes in the article on a per-serving basis, even though the onion price is the single largest item in the full basket.

This recipe works best as a saucy skillet base. You can cook down sliced red onions, add sweet green peppers, season lightly with cube sugar and use the stock mix to create a savoury glaze. Because the priced stock product is beef-flavoured, the dish has a richer profile than a plain vegetable sauté. If you want to stretch the meal, you can serve it with staples you already have at home, but the costing here remains tied only to the priced ingredients in the May 2026 Alberta data.

Ingredients with Prices

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

Where to Buy Cheapest

Freshco is the primary store for this recipe because three of the four priced items are listed there. Freshco offers Red Onions at $12.99, Cube Sugar at $3.49 and Knorr Instant Stock Mix Beef For A Great Flavour 175 g at $3.97. Loblaw offers Sweet Green Peppers at $2.70. If your goal is to minimize store stops, you would start with Freshco because it carries the highest share of the priced basket.

For you, the tradeoff is between convenience and exact price matching. Buying every listed item at its cited store gives you the most faithful version of the $23.15 calculation. However, the recipe’s structure also shows where your budget risk sits: Red Onions at $12.99 represent more than half of the priced basket. If you already have onions at home, this dinner becomes much cheaper to cook out of pocket, but the published recipe costing remains $5.79 per serving using the live listed prices.

Price Comparison Table: Three Alberta Budget Dinners Side by Side

Sweet Onion Pepper Stock Skillet is the lowest-cost recipe in this guide at $5.79 per serving, while Pad Beef Basil is the full featured recipe at $8.13 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. If you are comparing cheap dinner recipes under $9 in Alberta, the main decision is whether you want the complete five-serving Pad Beef Basil basket or a simplified dinner build using fewer ingredients.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

The table shows why per-serving cost and total basket cost are not the same thing. Basil Pork Pepper Skillet has the lowest total basket at $20.18, but Sweet Onion Pepper Stock Skillet has the lowest per-serving cost at $5.79 because it is portioned into four servings. Pad Beef Basil costs the most at $40.63, but it also gives you the complete recipe structure and five servings. For your weekly meal plan, you can use the full recipe when you want a more complete dinner and the smaller builds when you want to control the checkout total.

Alberta Ingredient Basket Index Across Stores

The Alberta dinner basket totals $40.63 when all eight priced ingredients are included, with Freshco carrying $20.45 of the listed items, Loblaw carrying $14.69 and CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone carrying $5.49. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This basket index helps you see which store is attached to each ingredient and where the money goes before you decide what to cook.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

For you, the key budgeting insight is that Red Onions at $12.99 account for 31.97% of the full basket. That single line has more influence on the final recipe cost than the pork at $5.49 or the basil at $3.00. Freshco’s three listed items total $20.45, calculated from $12.99 plus $3.49 plus $3.97. Loblaw’s four listed items total $14.69, calculated from $5.50 plus $2.70 plus $3.00 plus $3.49, while CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone contributes the $5.49 pork item.

Best-Priced Items in the Alberta Dinner Basket

Sweet Green Peppers at $2.70 at Loblaw are the lowest-priced item in the Alberta dinner basket, followed by Basil at $3.00 at Loblaw. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. The table below ranks the priced ingredients from lowest to highest so you can identify which items are easiest to fit into a tight budget.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

Because the available feed provides live selling prices for these items, the regular price basis shown here matches the observed live price and the savings column is listed as 0%. That keeps the comparison arithmetic transparent and avoids overstating discounts. For your meal planning, the useful takeaway is the ranking: peppers, basil, sugar and fish sauce are all below $3.50, while red onions are the clear high-cost ingredient at $12.99. If you are building cheapest recipes from this basket, you should use the lower-priced flavour items strategically and think carefully before centring a meal around the highest-cost vegetable line.

How to Use These Prices for Weekly Meal Planning in Alberta

You can build a practical Alberta meal plan by treating the $40.63 Pad Beef Basil basket as a flexible ingredient set rather than a single one-night purchase. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. The full basket supports the five-serving Pad Beef Basil recipe at $8.13 per serving, but it also breaks into smaller dinner builds at $6.73 and $5.79 per serving. That gives you a structured way to plan budget meals Alberta households can adapt without losing track of the actual grocery prices.

Start with your serving target. If you need dinner for five, the full Pad Beef Basil basket is the cleanest option because the recipe data already gives five servings. If you are cooking for one or two people and want leftovers, the Basil Pork Pepper Skillet at $20.18 may be easier to manage. If your priority is lowest per-serving cost, the Sweet Onion Pepper Stock Skillet at $5.79 per serving is the strongest value in this article.

You should also consider store routing. Alberta banners in the data include Safeway, No Frills, Sobeys, Real Canadian Superstore, Freshco, Your Independent Grocer, Walmart and Wholesale Club, while the priced ingredients in this recipe set are attached to Freshco, Loblaw and CHALO! FreshCo Cornerstone. If you already shop at Freshco, the onion, sugar and stock mix prices make that store especially relevant for these recipes. If your route includes Loblaw, the peppers, basil and fish sauce prices help you build the lower-cost skillet variation.

For more Alberta grocery comparison work, you can review current grocery offers at https://eezly.com/deals, explore recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, compare meal-planning options at https://eezly.com/meal-plans and browse broader grocery coverage at https://eezly.com/blog. These links are useful when you want to move from one priced recipe into a fuller weekly plan.