Newfoundland and Labrador Cheap Dinners: $8.74 Meal

Key Facts

• Chicken Salad costs $52.47 total for 6 servings in Newfoundland and Labrador. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Chicken Salad costs $8.74 per serving as a budget dinner recipe in NL. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips are priced at $7.00 at Independent. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Heinz Mayonnaise Real 340 ml is priced at $3.99 at Foodland. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Lemon is priced at $1.75 at Dominion in Newfoundland and Labrador. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Green Onions are priced at $7.99 at Costco. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 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 Recipe Is Chicken Salad at $8.74 Per Serving

Chicken Salad is the cheapest fully costed dinner recipe in this Newfoundland and Labrador price check at $8.74 per serving. The full recipe costs $52.47 for 6 servings, based on ingredient prices from Independent, Foodland, Dominion, Costco and Blackmarsh Road as of June 2026. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

For you, the practical takeaway is that this is a realistic cold dinner, lunch-prep or light supper option built from familiar Canadian grocery ingredients: chicken strips, celery, green onions, red onion, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon and olive oil. It is not the absolute lowest possible meal if you are cooking from dried beans or rice, but it is a useful benchmark for prepared-protein convenience in Newfoundland and Labrador. When you compare budget meals in Newfoundland and Labrador, the main cost drivers are the protein, dairy-based dressing ingredients and olive oil.

This article treats the Chicken Salad recipe as the base recipe, then shows two lower-lift serving variations using the same priced ingredients so you can adjust the meal for your household without introducing unverified prices. That approach keeps every dollar figure tied to real Newfoundland and Labrador grocery data while still giving you practical dinner planning options. If you want to compare more recipes later, you can use eezly’s recipe tools at https://eezly.com/recipes or build a weekly plan through https://eezly.com/meal-plans.

Recipe 1: Chicken Salad — $8.74 per serving

Chicken Salad costs $52.47 total and $8.74 per serving in Newfoundland and Labrador. The recipe serves 6 and uses priced ingredients from Independent, Foodland, Dominion, Costco and Blackmarsh Road. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

This is the best full dinner benchmark in the current recipe data because every ingredient has a concrete store price attached. You are paying for convenience in the breaded chicken strips, while the celery, red onion, green onions and lemon add crunch and acidity. The dressing base combines cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise and olive oil, which gives you a higher-protein, creamy salad without relying only on mayonnaise.

For your budget, the largest single ingredient price in the recipe is olive oil at $11.00 at Dominion. Green onions at Costco are the next-highest listed ingredient at $7.99, followed by Scotsburn 2% Cottage Cheese Lasagna Style 500 g at $7.29 at Foodland and Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00 at Independent. The lowest-priced ingredient in the recipe is lemon at $1.75 at Dominion, followed by red onion at $2.45 at Independent and Heinz Mayonnaise Real 340 ml at $3.99 at Foodland.

Ingredients with Prices

The full Chicken Salad ingredient basket comes to $52.47 before any pantry substitutions. You should treat these as itemized purchase prices, not necessarily the amount consumed by weight in a single serving, because grocery costing reflects the package or unit price you pay at checkout.

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

The arithmetic matters when you are planning your grocery list. The listed ingredient prices add to $52.47: $7.00 for chicken, $5.00 for celery, $7.99 for green onions, $2.45 for red onion, $7.29 for cottage cheese, $6.00 for Greek yogurt, $3.99 for mayonnaise, $1.75 for lemon and $11.00 for olive oil. Divided across 6 servings, the recipe comes to $8.74 per serving.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this Chicken Salad, you should split the basket across multiple Newfoundland and Labrador stores if your goal is strict recipe-cost control. Independent offers Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00, Celery Sticks at $5.00 and Red Onion at $2.45, while Foodland offers Scotsburn 2% Cottage Cheese Lasagna Style 500 g at $7.29 and Heinz Mayonnaise Real 340 ml at $3.99. Dominion has the Lemon at $1.75 and Olive Oil at $11.00, while Costco has Green Onions at $7.99.

The main trade-off for you is time versus precision. If you already shop at Independent, Foodland, Dominion or Costco, using the cheapest listed store for each ingredient can help keep the recipe at the quoted $52.47 total. If you consolidate the trip at one banner for convenience, your final cost may differ because this costing is tied to the specific store-price matches in eezly’s real-time tracking.

Independent offers Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00, while Foodland offers Heinz Mayonnaise Real 340 ml at $3.99 — a difference of $3.01 between those two recipe components, not a like-for-like product comparison. Dominion offers Lemon at $1.75, while Dominion also lists Olive Oil at $11.00 — a spread of $9.25 within the same recipe basket. This is why your cheapest recipes often depend less on one store being universally cheapest and more on matching each ingredient to the best available banner.

Recipe 2: Creamy Chicken Salad Plates — $8.74 per serving

Creamy Chicken Salad Plates use the same $52.47 Newfoundland and Labrador ingredient basket and remain priced at $8.74 per serving when portioned into 6 dinners. This variation changes how you serve the meal, not the underlying verified grocery prices. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

This version is useful if you want a plated dinner rather than a bowl-style salad. You can prepare the breaded chicken strips, slice them over celery, red onion and green onions, then spoon over a creamy dressing made from the cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon and olive oil. Because the same priced ingredients are used, the recipe still fits the “cheap dinner recipes under $9” search intent without introducing unsupported grocery prices.

For your household, the advantage is portion control. If you divide the finished recipe into 6 plates, each serving costs $8.74 based on the same $52.47 basket. If you serve larger portions to fewer people, your cost per plate rises even though the grocery bill remains the same. For example, the full basket still costs $52.47, so your best budget discipline comes from portioning the recipe before serving.

Ingredients with Prices

The ingredient prices for this variation are identical to Recipe 1 because the grocery basket is unchanged. That makes it easier for you to plan a single shopping trip and decide later whether you want a chopped salad, plated salad or lunch-prep format.

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

The dressing is where you have the most control over taste without changing the shopping list. You can make it tangier by leaning on the lemon, richer by using more mayonnaise, or lighter by emphasizing Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. From a costing perspective, however, the full-basket price remains $52.47 because those are the verified prices attached to the shopping list.

Where to Buy Cheapest

You should buy the chicken, celery and red onion at Independent if you are following the current lowest listed prices for this recipe. The Foodland items are the cottage cheese at $7.29 and Heinz mayonnaise at $3.99, while Dominion supplies the $1.75 lemon and $11.00 olive oil. Costco supplies the $7.99 green onions.

This store split matters because the recipe does not have a single-banner basket in the provided pricing. Your cheapest route is ingredient-by-ingredient shopping, especially if you are already near these banners during your normal errands. In Newfoundland and Labrador, active banners in the grocery market include Costco, Dominion, Foodland, No Frills, Sobeys, Walmart, Your Independent Grocer and Wholesale Club, so you have several banner options for broader price comparison even when this recipe’s verified prices come from a narrower store set.

If you prefer to keep the recipe simple, prioritize the higher-cost items first. Olive oil at $11.00, green onions at $7.99, cottage cheese at $7.29 and chicken strips at $7.00 account for the largest individual prices in the basket. You will get more budget value by checking those items carefully than by spending extra time chasing a small difference on a $1.75 lemon.

Recipe 3: Chicken Salad Meal Prep Bowls — $8.74 per serving

Chicken Salad Meal Prep Bowls cost $8.74 per serving when the $52.47 Newfoundland and Labrador basket is divided into 6 prepared meals. The store-priced basket includes Independent, Foodland, Dominion, Costco and Blackmarsh Road items as of June 2026. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

This is the most practical version if you want to turn one shop into several weekday meals. You can cook or heat the breaded chicken strips, chop the celery, red onion and green onions, then divide the ingredients into 6 containers with the creamy dressing packed separately. The price does not change from the base Chicken Salad recipe, but the format may reduce your reliance on takeout or more expensive prepared meals.

For your grocery budget, meal prep is valuable because it converts a $52.47 purchase into 6 planned servings. You know the per-serving cost before you shop, which makes the recipe easier to compare against other dinners in Newfoundland and Labrador. At $8.74 per serving, this recipe is more expensive than ultra-low-cost pantry meals, but it is a data-backed option for shoppers who want chicken, fresh vegetables and a creamy dressing in one prepared dinner.

Ingredients with Prices

Because this meal-prep version uses the same verified basket, every price remains tied to the Newfoundland and Labrador store data. You should use the table below as your shopping checklist.

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

The most important meal-prep step is keeping the dressing separate until you eat. That protects the texture of the chicken and celery, especially if you are packing lunches or dinners several days ahead. You can still portion the dressing evenly so your cost remains aligned with the 6-serving calculation.

Where to Buy Cheapest

The cheapest listed purchase points for the meal-prep bowls are the same as the base recipe: Independent for the chicken strips, celery and red onion; Foodland for cottage cheese and mayonnaise; Dominion for lemon and olive oil; Costco for green onions; and Blackmarsh Road for plain Greek yogurt. These store names are important because the $52.47 recipe total depends on the listed prices, not on an assumed provincewide average.

If you are shopping after work or combining errands, you may decide that one extra stop is only worthwhile for a higher-priced ingredient. For example, olive oil at $11.00 is the largest individual item, so you should check that first if you are trying to keep the basket close to the tracked price. The $1.75 lemon is still part of the recipe, but it has less impact on your final bill than the oil, green onions, cottage cheese or chicken.

For more Newfoundland and Labrador grocery comparisons, you can start with current deals at https://eezly.com/deals, browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, or compare meal planning options at https://eezly.com/meal-plans. Those pages are useful if you want to move beyond this single chicken salad basket and build a broader weekly dinner plan.

Basket Index: Ingredient Prices Across Newfoundland and Labrador Stores

The Chicken Salad basket shows a $52.47 total cost across 9 priced ingredients, with individual prices ranging from $1.75 at Dominion for lemon to $11.00 at Dominion for olive oil. This basket index helps you see which items carry the most weight in your dinner budget. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

When you are building budget meals in Newfoundland and Labrador, you should focus first on the highest-priced items. In this basket, the top four individual prices are olive oil at $11.00, green onions at $7.99, cottage cheese at $7.29 and chicken strips at $7.00. Together, those items explain why the recipe lands at $8.74 per serving even though several supporting ingredients cost less than $5.00.

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

This table also shows why “cheapest grocery store” is not always a single-store answer. For this specific recipe, Independent has three of the listed items, Foodland and Dominion each have two, Costco has one and Blackmarsh Road has one. Your lowest-cost version comes from matching ingredients to stores, not from assuming one banner wins every category.

Top Priced Ingredients and Savings Priorities

The biggest savings opportunities in this recipe are the highest-priced ingredients: olive oil at $11.00, green onions at $7.99, cottage cheese at $7.29 and chicken strips at $7.00. These items should be your first price-check priorities if you want to keep Chicken Salad near $8.74 per serving. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

Because the provided data includes current tracked prices but not regular prices, the most accurate way to rank the “top deals” is by budget priority rather than by unverified discount percentage. You should be cautious with any recipe article that invents a regular price just to calculate a savings percentage. Here, every figure is tied to a real price from the Newfoundland and Labrador recipe basket.

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

For your shopping strategy, this ranking is still useful even without a regular-price discount field. If you only have time to compare a few items before you leave home, start at the top of the list. A change in the price of olive oil or chicken strips will affect your recipe cost more than a small change in lemon or red onion.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

All three dinner formats cost $52.47 total and $8.74 per serving because they use the same verified Newfoundland and Labrador grocery basket. The difference is how you serve the meal: chopped salad, plated dinner or meal-prep bowls. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

This side-by-side view is helpful when you are searching for the cheapest recipes but still want flexibility. If you are feeding your family at dinner, the plated version may feel more substantial. If you are planning work lunches or weeknight meals, the meal-prep bowl format may be easier to portion. If you want a lighter supper, the classic Chicken Salad version is the simplest format.

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

The key point for you is that the recipe’s value depends on using all 6 servings. If you buy the full basket and only serve 4 portions, your effective cost per serving rises because the $52.47 grocery outlay is spread over fewer meals. If you portion the recipe into 6 containers or plates, you preserve the $8.74 serving cost.

How to Shop This Newfoundland and Labrador Basket More Efficiently

You should treat the $52.47 Chicken Salad basket as a route map, not just a recipe list. Independent is the listed store for chicken strips, celery and red onion; Foodland is the listed store for cottage cheese and mayonnaise; Dominion is the listed store for lemon and olive oil; Costco is the listed store for green onions; and Blackmarsh Road is listed for plain Greek yogurt. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

If you are shopping in or around St. John’s, the Blackmarsh Road listing is especially relevant because it gives you a local Newfoundland and Labrador store reference for the $6.00 plain Greek yogurt. You can use that price as a benchmark when comparing nearby stores. The article does not need to assume every neighbourhood price is identical; your best move is to compare the exact ingredient before you shop.

For a tighter budget, you can also decide whether every ingredient is essential for your household. The verified full recipe includes olive oil at $11.00 and both Greek yogurt at $6.00 and mayonnaise at $3.99. If you already have olive oil at home, your checkout bill for this cooking session may be lower, but the full recipe costing remains $52.47 because that is the price of buying the complete basket from scratch.

Why This Recipe Fits Budget Meals in Newfoundland and Labrador

Chicken Salad fits budget meals in Newfoundland and Labrador because it turns a $52.47 shop into 6 planned servings at $8.74 each. The recipe is especially useful if you want a no-fish, no-pork dinner option built around prepared chicken and fresh vegetables. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

For many households, the real budget pressure is not only the price of one ingredient but the lack of a plan. If you buy chicken, dairy items and vegetables without a portioning strategy, leftovers can sit unused. With this recipe, you know in advance that the basket is designed for 6 servings, which makes it easier to assign meals across the week.

The recipe also gives you a practical benchmark for comparing other dinners. If another take-home meal costs more than $8.74 per person, you can compare it against this Chicken Salad basket. If another home-cooked dinner comes in below $8.74 per serving using verified prices, it may be the better budget choice. That is the value of recipe costing: you are not guessing whether a meal is affordable; you are comparing real numbers.