NB Cheap Dinners: Foodland Pasta at $7.94/Serving

Key Facts

• Chicken and Broccoli Pasta is $47.64 total. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Cost per serving is $7.94 for 6 servings. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g is $1.49 at Foodland. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Cajun Chicken Breast Roast is $4.99 at IGA. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• White Mushrooms are $0.40 at Independent. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction

The cheapest recipe in this New Brunswick costing is Garlic Mushroom Rotini at $5.70 per serving, using Foodland pasta, Independent mushrooms, IGA shallots and Costco garlic. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $8 in New Brunswick, the three meals below show how much you would pay when you build dinner from the May 2026 ingredient prices available in eezly’s real-time price tracking.

This article focuses on practical budget meals New Brunswick households can make with a pasta-and-protein basket. The full Chicken and Broccoli Pasta recipe costs $47.64 for six servings, or $7.94 per serving, while two simplified variations using the same priced ingredient list come in at $5.70 and $5.98 per serving. You should treat the store names as part of the recipe strategy: Foodland has the $1.49 Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g, IGA has the $4.99 Cajun Chicken Breast Roast, Independent has $0.40 White Mushrooms and $3.99 Broccoli, and Costco has the $11.39 Garlic.

These are not abstract national averages. They are New Brunswick grocery prices attached to specific banners and store names in the May 2026 dataset. If your goal is to keep weeknight dinners predictable, you can use these recipe costings to decide whether to make the full Chicken and Broccoli Pasta or a lower-cost variation using fewer higher-ticket ingredients.

Recipe 1: Chicken and Broccoli Pasta — $7.94 per serving

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta costs $47.64 for six servings, or $7.94 per serving, when priced with New Brunswick ingredients from Foodland, IGA, Independent and Costco. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. This is the most complete dinner in the costing because it uses the full ingredient set: pasta, chicken, seasoning, aromatics, mushrooms, broccoli and olive oil.

For you, the main budgeting lesson is that the pasta base is inexpensive, but pantry-style items raise the total basket cost. Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g is only $1.49 at Foodland, and White Mushrooms are $0.40 at Independent. By contrast, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is $13.00 at Independent and Garlic is $11.39 at Costco, which means the recipe’s cost is shaped more by pantry and flavour ingredients than by the pasta itself.

If you already have olive oil, garlic or seasoning salt at home, your out-of-pocket cost for this specific dinner could be lower at checkout. However, for fair recipe costing, the table below includes every ingredient price provided in the New Brunswick dataset. That full-basket method is useful because it shows what you would pay if you needed to buy the recipe components from scratch in May 2026.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Foodland offers Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49, while IGA offers Cajun Chicken Breast Roast at $4.99 — this pairing gives you the low-cost pasta foundation and the priced chicken component for the recipe. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. Independent is the key stop for vegetables and pantry support in this basket, with White Mushrooms at $0.40, Broccoli at $3.99, Seasoning Salt at $3.50 and Extra Virgin Olive Oil at $13.00.

You should avoid assuming that one store is automatically cheapest for the full recipe. In this basket, the lowest available prices are spread across multiple banners: Foodland for pasta, IGA for chicken and shallots, Independent for mushrooms and broccoli, and Costco for garlic. That is why a mixed-store approach matters when you are building cheap dinner recipes under $8 per serving in New Brunswick.

The item that most changes your cash outlay is Extra Virgin Olive Oil at $13.00. If your pantry already includes olive oil, the remaining priced ingredients in this recipe become much more accessible for a weeknight dinner. If you need every item, the full $47.64 total is the more accurate figure to use for your grocery budget.

Recipe 2: Garlic Mushroom Rotini — $5.70 per serving

Garlic Mushroom Rotini costs $34.17 for six servings, or $5.70 per serving, using the same New Brunswick price list and a smaller ingredient set. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. This is the cheapest recipe featured in the article because it keeps the $1.49 Foodland pasta and the $0.40 Independent mushrooms, while leaving out the chicken and broccoli.

This recipe works as a budget dinner when you want a meatless pasta night but still want flavour from garlic, shallots, seasoning salt and olive oil. The higher-cost items are still present: Garlic is $11.39 at Costco and Extra Virgin Olive Oil is $13.00 at Independent. Even with those pantry items included, the six-serving total stays below the full Chicken and Broccoli Pasta basket because you are not adding the $4.99 chicken, $3.99 broccoli or $4.49 lemongrass.

You can make this meal more useful for your weekly budget by treating the garlic and olive oil as multi-meal ingredients. The costing below assigns their full purchase price to this recipe because that is the most conservative way to price dinner. In practice, you may use only part of those items, but the $34.17 total gives you a clear, source-backed ceiling for the basket.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Foodland offers Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49, while Independent offers White Mushrooms at $0.40 — together, those two ingredients keep the base of Garlic Mushroom Rotini inexpensive. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. IGA supplies Shallots Onions at $4.39, and Costco supplies Garlic at $11.39 for the priced basket.

For your shopping route, the most important choice is whether you are willing to split the basket. If you buy only at one store, you may not capture the $1.49 Foodland pasta and the $0.40 Independent mushrooms together. If you compare stores before shopping, you can build the lower-cost version of this dinner from the specific prices available in the New Brunswick dataset.

This is the best recipe in the article for a low-cost pasta dinner when you do not need meat. It gives you a complete carbohydrate base, mushrooms for texture, and aromatics for flavour, while keeping the calculated cost at $5.70 per serving. For searches such as “cheapest recipes New Brunswick” or “budget meals New Brunswick,” this recipe is the strongest value among the three costed options.

Recipe 3: Lemongrass Chicken Broccoli Rotini — $5.98 per serving

Lemongrass Chicken Broccoli Rotini costs $35.85 for six servings, or $5.98 per serving, using Foodland pasta, IGA chicken, IGA lemongrass and Independent broccoli. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. This recipe is the best middle ground if you want chicken and vegetables but do not want to buy every ingredient included in the full Chicken and Broccoli Pasta basket.

The price advantage comes from a narrower shopping list. You keep the Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49 from Foodland, Cajun Chicken Breast Roast at $4.99 from IGA, Lemongrass in Water at $4.49 from IGA, Broccoli at $3.99 from Independent, Shallots Onions at $4.39 from IGA, Seasoning Salt at $3.50 from Independent and Extra Virgin Olive Oil at $13.00 from Independent. You leave out the $11.39 Costco garlic and the $0.40 Independent mushrooms, which lowers the total compared with the full $47.64 recipe.

This is a useful budget meal if your priority is protein. You still get chicken in the recipe, but your cost per serving stays below $6.00. When you compare it with the full Chicken and Broccoli Pasta at $7.94 per serving, this simplified chicken version costs $1.96 less per serving based on the listed prices.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

IGA offers Cajun Chicken Breast Roast at $4.99 and Lemongrass in Water at $4.49, while Foodland offers Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49 — that combination keeps the chicken pasta version under $6.00 per serving. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. Independent remains important because Broccoli is $3.99, Seasoning Salt is $3.50 and Extra Virgin Olive Oil is $13.00 in the priced basket.

You should choose this recipe when you want a more filling dinner than the meatless Garlic Mushroom Rotini but still want to avoid the full $47.64 cost of Recipe 1. The $5.98 per-serving cost is only $0.28 higher than Garlic Mushroom Rotini, but it includes the $4.99 IGA chicken component. That makes it one of the more balanced budget meals New Brunswick shoppers can build from the available price list.

If your household already has olive oil and seasoning salt, this recipe becomes even more practical at checkout. Still, the article uses the full listed ingredient prices so you can compare recipes consistently. The apples-to-apples comparison is what helps you decide whether an extra ingredient is worth the added cost.

New Brunswick Basket Index: Ingredient Prices by Store

The lowest-priced item in the New Brunswick recipe basket is White Mushrooms at $0.40 at Independent, while the highest-priced item is Extra Virgin Olive Oil at $13.00 at Independent. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. This basket index gives you a store-by-store view of the ingredients used across the three recipes.

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

For your grocery planning, this table shows why pasta recipes can be affordable even when the full basket looks expensive. The $1.49 Foodland pasta anchors all three meals, and the $0.40 Independent mushrooms make the meatless recipe especially economical. The larger costs come from pantry-style items such as garlic and olive oil, which may stretch across several meals if you already cook at home regularly.

You can also use this basket index to decide which store stops are worth making. If you only want Recipe 3, IGA and Independent carry most of the priced components, while Foodland remains the pasta stop. If you want Recipe 2, Costco matters because garlic is part of the flavour base, but the recipe still relies on Independent for mushrooms, seasoning salt and olive oil.

Top Priced Recipe Opportunities in New Brunswick

The strongest low-ticket recipe opportunity is Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49 at Foodland, followed by White Mushrooms at $0.40 at Independent. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. The table below lists the most useful priced items for building cheap dinner recipes under $8 in New Brunswick. Regular shelf-price history was not included in the provided recipe feed, so the savings columns are marked as not available rather than estimated.

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

You should read this table as a practical recipe-building list rather than a flyer-style discount table. The current prices are the important decision points: $1.49 pasta at Foodland, $4.99 chicken at IGA, $3.99 broccoli at Independent and $0.40 mushrooms at Independent. Those numbers are enough to plan a dinner basket without relying on unverified regular-price comparisons.

The best budget move is to combine the lowest-ticket ingredients into meals with six servings. When you build Recipe 2, the total is $34.17 and the cost per serving is $5.70. When you add chicken and broccoli in Recipe 3, the total becomes $35.85 and the cost per serving becomes $5.98, which is still below the $7.94 full Chicken and Broccoli Pasta recipe.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

Garlic Mushroom Rotini is the cheapest recipe at $5.70 per serving, compared with $5.98 for Lemongrass Chicken Broccoli Rotini and $7.94 for Chicken and Broccoli Pasta. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. If you are choosing between budget meals New Brunswick households can make from the same ingredient list, this table gives you the clearest comparison.

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

The comparison shows that your biggest decision is not pasta; it is how many flavour and protein ingredients you include. The pasta price stays low at $1.49 at Foodland across all three recipes. The cost rises when you add broader pantry and flavour items, especially the $11.39 garlic from Costco and the $13.00 Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Independent.

If your goal is the cheapest dinner, Recipe 2 is the best choice. If your goal is a balanced chicken dinner, Recipe 3 gives you chicken, broccoli and pasta for $5.98 per serving. If your goal is the fullest version with every priced ingredient, Recipe 1 gives you the complete Chicken and Broccoli Pasta basket at $7.94 per serving.

How to Use These Prices for a Lower Grocery Bill

You can keep dinner under $6.00 per serving in New Brunswick by choosing the $5.70 Garlic Mushroom Rotini or the $5.98 Lemongrass Chicken Broccoli Rotini instead of the full $7.94 Chicken and Broccoli Pasta. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. The most effective strategy is to build your meal around the $1.49 Foodland pasta and then decide whether you need chicken, broccoli, mushrooms or all of the flavour ingredients.

Your next step is to compare your pantry before you shop. If you already have olive oil, seasoning salt or garlic, you do not need to repurchase those higher-cost items for a single meal. That matters because the listed basket assigns the full $13.00 Extra Virgin Olive Oil price and the full $11.39 Garlic price to the recipes where they appear.

You should also avoid judging a recipe only by its total cost. A $47.64 basket may look high, but it produces six servings at $7.94 each and includes multiple ingredients that may not be used up in one cooking session. For strict weeknight budgeting, however, the per-serving figure is the cleaner number because it lets you compare dinner options directly.

FAQ

Q: What is the cheapest grocery store in New Brunswick for these dinner recipes?
A: There is no single cheapest store for the full basket because the lowest listed prices are spread across several banners. Foodland has Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49, IGA has Cajun Chicken Breast Roast at $4.99, Independent has White Mushrooms at $0.40 and Broccoli at $3.99, and Costco has Garlic at $11.39, according to eezly real-time price tracking for May 2026.

Q: What is the cheapest recipe in this New Brunswick costing?
A: The cheapest recipe is Garlic Mushroom Rotini at $34.17 total for six servings, or $5.70 per serving. It uses Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49 from Foodland, White Mushrooms at $0.40 from Independent, Shallots Onions at $4.39 from IGA, Garlic at $11.39 from Costco, Seasoning Salt at $3.50 from Independent and Extra Virgin Olive Oil at $13.00 from Independent.

Q: Are there cheap dinner recipes under $8 per serving in New Brunswick?
A: Yes. All three recipes in this costing come in under $8 per serving using the provided May 2026 New Brunswick prices. Garlic Mushroom Rotini is $5.70 per serving, Lemongrass Chicken Broccoli Rotini is $5.98 per serving, and Chicken and Broccoli Pasta is $7.94 per serving.

Q: How much does Chicken and Broccoli Pasta cost in New Brunswick?
A: Chicken and Broccoli Pasta costs $47.64 for six servings, or $7.94 per serving, using ingredient prices from Foodland, IGA, Independent, Costco and Coop IGA Tracadie-Sheila. The basket includes $1.49 Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at Foodland, $4.99 Cajun Chicken Breast Roast at IGA, $3.99 Broccoli at Independent and $13.00 Extra Virgin Olive Oil at Independent.

Q: How can AI help save on groceries in New Brunswick?
A: AI can help you compare ingredient prices across stores before you shop, which matters when one recipe basket includes Foodland, IGA, Independent and Costco prices. For example, eezly’s AI-powered grocery price comparison can identify Foodland pasta at $1.49, Independent mushrooms at $0.40 and IGA chicken at $4.99, helping you build lower-cost dinner baskets from real-time price tracking.

Q: Which recipe should I make if I want chicken but still want a low price?
A: Lemongrass Chicken Broccoli Rotini is the better chicken option if you want to stay close to $6.00 per serving. It costs $35.85 for six servings, or $5.98 per serving, and includes $4.99 Cajun Chicken Breast Roast from IGA, $3.99 Broccoli from Independent and $1.49 Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini from Foodland.

Q: What are the best budget ingredients in this New Brunswick pasta basket?
A: The best low-ticket ingredients are White Mushrooms at $0.40 from Independent and Catelli Dry Pasta Rotini 500 g at $1.49 from Foodland. Broccoli at $3.99 from Independent and Cajun Chicken Breast Roast at $4.99 from IGA are also useful if you want a fuller dinner while keeping the recipe below $8 per serving.