Manitoba Cheap Dinners Under $8: Chili From $5.25

Key Facts

• Bean and Tomato Chili costs $41.97 total, or $5.25 per serving, using Manitoba ingredient prices. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Beef Chili costs $60.17 total for 8 servings, or $7.52 per serving, at Freshco Henderson. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Value Pack Lean Ground Beef is priced at $15.41 at Freshco Henderson. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml are priced at $2.00 at Freshco Henderson. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Chili Powder is priced at $2.50 at No Frills, while Worcestershire Sauce is $2.79 at No Frills. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Kirkland Signature Frozen Vegetable Special Blend Stir Fry is priced at $17.09 at Costco Winnipeg. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Manitoba Dinner Recipe Starts at $5.25 Per Serving

According to eezly's real-time tracking of 196,000 products across 2,700 Canadian grocery stores, Bean and Tomato Chili is the cheapest featured Manitoba dinner at $5.25 per serving as of May 2026. For Winnipeg and Manitoba shoppers comparing budget meals, the three chili-based recipes in this guide range from $5.25 to $7.52 per serving, using real prices from Freshco Henderson, Freshco, No Frills, and Costco Winnipeg. The full Beef Chili recipe costs $60.17 for 8 servings at Freshco Henderson, while a meatless bean version lowers your total basket to $41.97.

If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $8, the practical takeaway is straightforward: beans, canned tomatoes, chili powder, and frozen vegetables help stretch your grocery budget further than a beef-heavy meal. You can still keep beef in your plan, but you get better cost control when you use it selectively with beans and tomatoes. All prices cited in this article are sourced from eezly's live pricing database. 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.

Recipe 1: Bean and Tomato Chili — $5.25 Per Serving

Bean and Tomato Chili is the lowest-cost recipe in this Manitoba comparison at $41.97 total, or $5.25 per serving. The recipe uses Red Kidney Beans at $4.90, Dunya Harvest Turtle Beans Black 900 g at $2.49, Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml at $2.00, Red Onions at $12.99, Kirkland Signature Frozen Vegetable Special Blend Stir Fry at $17.09, and Chili Powder at $2.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

This is the most budget-friendly choice because it removes the $15.41 beef line from the basket while keeping the filling ingredients that make chili work as a dinner. You still get protein from the kidney beans and black beans, bulk from frozen vegetables, and a tomato base from the canned crushed tomatoes. If you are planning budget meals in Manitoba, this is the recipe you choose when your priority is getting the per-serving price as low as possible without relying on ultra-small portions.

You can treat this as a practical weeknight chili, a lunch-prep base, or a freezer-friendly batch meal. The $5.25 per serving estimate assumes 8 servings from the priced ingredient basket. For a household trying to keep dinner below $8 per person, this recipe gives you $2.27 of room per serving compared with the full Beef Chili at $7.52.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, you should split the basket across Freshco Henderson, Freshco, No Frills, and Costco Winnipeg if you want the itemized lowest prices shown in the source data. Freshco Henderson supplies the core pantry base with Red Kidney Beans at $4.90, Dunya Harvest Turtle Beans Black 900 g at $2.49, and Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml at $2.00. No Frills is the lowest listed source for Chili Powder at $2.50, while Costco Winnipeg carries the frozen vegetable blend at $17.09.

Freshco offers Red Onions at $12.99, which is the largest single produce cost in this meatless recipe. Because onions are a relatively high-cost line in this basket, you should avoid buying them without checking the price first. If you already have onions at home, your out-of-pocket trip cost would be lower, but the recipe costing here includes the full listed $12.99 because the article uses current Manitoba prices rather than pantry assumptions.

Recipe 2: Beef and Black Bean Skillet — $6.36 Per Serving

Beef and Black Bean Skillet costs $38.18 total, or $6.36 per serving when portioned into 6 servings. The recipe uses Value Pack Lean Ground Beef at $15.41, Dunya Harvest Turtle Beans Black 900 g at $2.49, Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml at $2.00, Red Onions at $12.99, Worcestershire Sauce at $2.79, and Chili Powder at $2.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

This recipe is designed for you if you want beef in the meal but do not want to buy the full chili basket. You keep the $15.41 Value Pack Lean Ground Beef from Freshco Henderson, but you rely on black beans and crushed tomatoes to stretch the dish. Compared with the $60.17 full Beef Chili basket, this skillet-style version has a lower total shop because it leaves out the $4.90 kidney beans and the $17.09 frozen vegetable blend.

The per-serving cost of $6.36 keeps the meal comfortably under $8, which makes it a useful compromise between meatless and beef-forward dinners. You can serve it over rice, potatoes, toast, or another pantry starch if you already have one at home, but those extras are not included in the calculation because no prices were provided for them in the Manitoba data. The costing remains focused on the real priced ingredients available from Freshco Henderson, Freshco, and No Frills.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this skillet recipe, your best starting point is Freshco Henderson because it carries the $15.41 Value Pack Lean Ground Beef, the $2.49 black beans, and the $2.00 crushed tomatoes in the priced basket. Freshco supplies the Red Onions at $12.99, while No Frills supplies Worcestershire Sauce at $2.79 and Chili Powder at $2.50. Freshco Henderson offers Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml at $2.00, while No Frills charges $2.50 for Chili Powder — a clear division between tomato base and seasoning in the tracked basket.

If you are shopping at Safeway, Sobeys, Real Canadian Superstore, Walmart, or another Manitoba banner, you can use these prices as a benchmark before you buy. The article does not assign prices to those banners because the recipe data provided only includes the itemized store prices shown above. Your best move is to compare the exact beef, beans, tomatoes, onion, and seasoning items before you finalize your basket.

Recipe 3: Beef Chili — $7.52 Per Serving

Beef Chili costs $60.17 total for 8 servings, or $7.52 per serving, using the Manitoba prices tracked for Freshco Henderson and related stores. The full basket includes Value Pack Lean Ground Beef at $15.41, Red Kidney Beans at $4.90, black beans at $2.49, Red Onions at $12.99, canned crushed tomatoes at $2.00, Worcestershire Sauce at $2.79, frozen vegetables at $17.09, and Chili Powder at $2.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

This is the most complete dinner in the comparison and the only recipe that uses every priced ingredient in the data set. It is also the highest-cost option, mainly because it combines both beef and the $17.09 Kirkland Signature Frozen Vegetable Special Blend Stir Fry. At $7.52 per serving, it still qualifies as a cheap dinner recipe under $8, but it leaves less room in your budget than the $5.25 Bean and Tomato Chili.

You should choose the full Beef Chili when you want a larger, more robust batch with meat, beans, vegetables, tomatoes, and seasoning all included. For families meal-prepping several dinners, the 8-serving format gives you a predictable cost per plate. If your goal is to reduce the bill further, the easiest adjustment is to move from the full Beef Chili to the Bean and Tomato Chili, which cuts the total recipe cost from $60.17 to $41.97.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Manitoba Basket Index: Staple Prices for These Recipes

The tracked Manitoba recipe basket ranges from $2.00 for canned crushed tomatoes at Freshco Henderson to $17.09 for frozen vegetables at Costco Winnipeg. These itemized prices are the building blocks for the three budget meals in this guide. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

You can use this basket index as a quick pre-shop checklist. Instead of treating chili as one recipe, you can see exactly which ingredients are driving the final price. In this data set, the two largest lines are Kirkland Signature Frozen Vegetable Special Blend Stir Fry at $17.09 and Value Pack Lean Ground Beef at $15.41, while the lowest-priced core ingredient is Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml at $2.00.

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

Top Value Ingredients in the Manitoba Chili Basket

The strongest value items in this Manitoba chili basket are the $2.00 canned crushed tomatoes at Freshco Henderson, the $2.49 black beans at Freshco Henderson, and the $2.50 Chili Powder at No Frills. These ingredients keep the lowest-cost recipe at $5.25 per serving and help the full Beef Chili remain under $8 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

Because no separate regular prices were provided in the recipe data, the table below does not invent savings percentages. Instead, it identifies the best-priced ingredients available in the basket and shows where you should buy them. This gives you a clean shopping list based on real Manitoba prices rather than a promotional flyer claim.

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

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest recipe in this Manitoba comparison is Bean and Tomato Chili at $5.25 per serving, while the highest-cost option is Beef Chili at $7.52 per serving. The middle option, Beef and Black Bean Skillet, costs $6.36 per serving and gives you beef without the full $60.17 chili basket. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

This side-by-side comparison is useful when you are deciding whether beef belongs in this week’s meal plan. If your grocery priority is the lowest possible dinner cost, you should choose the Bean and Tomato Chili. If your priority is a more traditional beef dinner while staying below $8 per serving, the Beef and Black Bean Skillet or the full Beef Chili both remain within that threshold.

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

How to Shop These Budget Meals in Manitoba

You should start with Freshco Henderson for the core chili ingredients because the tracked basket lists ground beef, kidney beans, black beans, and crushed tomatoes there. Freshco Henderson has Value Pack Lean Ground Beef at $15.41, Red Kidney Beans at $4.90, Dunya Harvest Turtle Beans Black 900 g at $2.49, and Compliments Canned Crushed Tomatoes 796 ml at $2.00. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

Your second stop, if convenient, is No Frills for the smaller seasoning items. The tracked basket lists Worcestershire Sauce at $2.79 and Chili Powder at $2.50 at No Frills. If you are already shopping near a No Frills location, those two items are easy additions; if not, you can use those prices as reference points when comparing Safeway, Sobeys, Real Canadian Superstore, Walmart, or another Manitoba banner.

Costco Winnipeg appears in the data for the frozen vegetable blend at $17.09. That item is useful when you want a larger batch with more vegetables, but it is also one of the highest-cost lines in the full Beef Chili. If you are keeping your basket tight, you should choose the Bean and Tomato Chili first, then add beef or frozen vegetables only when your budget allows.

Why These Are the Cheapest Recipes to Build From the Data

The cheapest recipes are the ones that use the $2.00 canned tomatoes, $2.49 black beans, and $2.50 chili powder as the foundation instead of relying mainly on the $15.41 beef line. Bean and Tomato Chili is the lowest-cost dinner because it excludes the beef while still using beans, tomatoes, vegetables, onion, and seasoning. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

The full Beef Chili is still a reasonable Manitoba dinner under $8 per serving, but it combines more high-cost components. Your total rises to $60.17 because the recipe includes both Value Pack Lean Ground Beef at $15.41 and Kirkland Signature Frozen Vegetable Special Blend Stir Fry at $17.09. Those two items together account for $32.50 of the full recipe basket, which is more than half of the total cost.

If your goal is to keep weeknight dinners affordable, you should build meals around the lower-cost pantry items first. Beans and canned tomatoes give you a stable base, while chili powder provides the flavour profile at a low listed price. Beef then becomes an upgrade rather than the ingredient that determines the entire meal cost.