Newfoundland and Labrador Cheap Dinners from $4.20

Key Facts

• Italian Chicken Strip Plate is the cheapest featured dinner at $4.20 per serving in Newfoundland and Labrador. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Chicken Tenders cost $35.17 total for 5 servings, or $7.03 per serving, using priced NL ingredients. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips are priced at $7.00 at Dominion. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Sour Cream is priced at $2.79 at Dominion for the featured recipe basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Cinnamon Bread is priced at $11.39 at Costco St. John's. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Olive Oil is priced at $11.00 at Dominion in the Chicken Tenders basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction

Italian Chicken Strip Plate is the cheapest recipe featured in this Newfoundland and Labrador budget dinner guide at $4.20 per serving. The calculation uses Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00, Italian Seasoning at $2.99, and Olive Oil at $11.00, all priced at Dominion, for a total ingredient basket of $20.99 across 5 servings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $8 in Newfoundland and Labrador, the full Chicken Tenders recipe is also a useful benchmark: it costs $35.17 total, serves 5 people, and works out to $7.03 per serving. That full basket includes Dominion-priced chicken strips, sour cream, Italian seasoning, and olive oil, plus Cinnamon Bread at Costco St. John’s. 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.

For Newfoundland and Labrador shoppers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: you can build several budget meals from the same small set of ingredients, but your cost per serving changes sharply depending on whether you use the full basket or only the core ingredients. Dominion carries the lower-priced chicken, sour cream, Italian seasoning, and olive oil items in this dataset, while Costco St. John’s supplies the Cinnamon Bread at $11.39. Newfoundland and Labrador has 57 tracked grocery stores in the available provincial dataset, with active banners including Costco, Dominion, Foodland, No Frills, Sobeys, Walmart, Your Independent Grocer, and Wholesale Club.

Recipe 1: Italian Chicken Strip Plate — $4.20 per serving

Italian Chicken Strip Plate is the lowest-cost dinner in this guide at $20.99 total, or $4.20 per serving for 5 servings. The recipe uses three priced ingredients from Dominion: Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00, Italian Seasoning at $2.99, and Olive Oil at $11.00. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the most economical way to use the chicken-strip basket because you are not adding the higher-cost Cinnamon Bread from Costco St. John’s. You still get a complete hot dinner built around chicken, seasoning, and oil, but your per-serving cost remains below $5. For your household budget, that matters: compared with the full Chicken Tenders basket at $7.03 per serving, this simplified plate costs $2.83 less per serving.

You can prepare this meal by baking or pan-heating the breaded chicken strips according to the package directions, then finishing them with a small amount of olive oil and Italian seasoning. The oil and seasoning are priced as full grocery items, so the $20.99 basket reflects the cost of buying the products rather than the exact amount consumed in one meal. From a grocery-budget perspective, this is still useful because it shows your upfront checkout cost for the featured ingredients.

Ingredients with Prices

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

The arithmetic is direct: $7.00 for chicken strips plus $2.99 for Italian seasoning plus $11.00 for olive oil equals $20.99. Dividing $20.99 by 5 servings gives $4.198, rounded to $4.20 per serving. If you are prioritizing the cheapest recipes in Newfoundland and Labrador, this is the strongest option among the meals calculated from the available priced ingredients.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Dominion is the cheapest store for this recipe because every ingredient in the Italian Chicken Strip Plate is priced there in the available May 2026 data. Dominion offers Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00, Italian Seasoning at $2.99, and Olive Oil at $11.00, while no lower competing price is present in the provided Newfoundland and Labrador ingredient set. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

For your shopping trip, that means you can keep this recipe to one store rather than splitting the basket between Dominion and Costco St. John’s. A one-store basket can be especially practical when the dollar difference between stores is not available for every ingredient. You should still compare your weekly list before checkout, but for this specific recipe, Dominion is the relevant store named in the priced ingredient data.

Recipe 2: Creamy Italian Chicken Tender Sandwiches — $4.83 per serving

Creamy Italian Chicken Tender Sandwiches cost $24.17 total, or $4.83 per serving for 5 servings, using Dominion chicken strips, sour cream, and Italian seasoning with Cinnamon Bread from Costco St. John’s. The priced basket is $7.00 for Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips, $2.79 for Sour Cream, $2.99 for Italian Seasoning, and $11.39 for Cinnamon Bread. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This recipe is still a cheap dinner recipe under $5 per serving, but it costs more than the Italian Chicken Strip Plate because the bread adds $11.39 to your checkout basket. The trade-off is that you get a more filling sandwich-style dinner, which may work better if you want a meal that feels complete without adding extra sides. For families trying to stretch protein, bread can also help turn a smaller amount of chicken into a satisfying serving.

To make it, heat the breaded chicken strips, stir sour cream with Italian seasoning to create a simple creamy spread, and serve the chicken on slices of Cinnamon Bread. The cinnamon flavour makes this more of a sweet-savoury sandwich, so you may prefer it as an easy dinner when you already plan to use the loaf for breakfasts or lunches as well. Your effective value improves if the bread serves multiple meals beyond this dinner, but the recipe costing here counts the full product price because that is what you would pay at checkout.

Ingredients with Prices

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

The calculation is $7.00 plus $2.79 plus $2.99 plus $11.39, which equals $24.17. Dividing $24.17 by 5 servings gives $4.834, rounded to $4.83 per serving. If you are comparing budget meals in Newfoundland and Labrador, this recipe sits between the bare-bones $4.20 chicken plate and the full $7.03 Chicken Tenders basket.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Dominion and Costco St. John’s are the stores to use for this recipe based on the priced ingredients available in the May 2026 dataset. Dominion carries the chicken strips at $7.00, sour cream at $2.79, and Italian seasoning at $2.99, while Costco St. John’s carries the Cinnamon Bread at $11.39. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Your key decision is whether the extra Costco stop is worth it for the bread. If you already shop at Costco St. John’s, adding the $11.39 Cinnamon Bread may make sense because it supports several meals. If you are making only this dinner and want the lowest possible per-serving cost, Recipe 1 avoids the Costco item and keeps your basket at Dominion.

Recipe 3: Chicken Tenders — $7.03 per serving

Chicken Tenders cost $35.17 total in Newfoundland and Labrador, or $7.03 per serving for 5 servings, using the full priced ingredient basket. The recipe includes Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00, Sour Cream at $2.79, Italian Seasoning at $2.99, Cinnamon Bread at $11.39, and Olive Oil at $11.00. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the highest-cost recipe in the guide, but it is also the most complete basket because it includes the chicken, creamy component, seasoning, bread, and cooking oil. If you are planning a fuller dinner rather than the cheapest possible meal, the $7.03 per-serving figure gives you a realistic checkout-based cost. It remains a budget-focused dinner compared with restaurant takeout, while still using actual grocery prices from Newfoundland and Labrador stores.

You can serve the chicken tenders with a sour cream and Italian seasoning dip, use the olive oil for crisping or dressing, and serve the Cinnamon Bread alongside the meal. Because the basket includes full grocery items, the olive oil and seasoning may carry forward into future meals. That makes the first checkout cost higher, but it can lower the practical cost of later dinners if you use the remaining pantry items.

Ingredients with Prices

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

The total is the exact sum of the five priced ingredients: $7.00 + $2.79 + $2.99 + $11.39 + $11.00 = $35.17. Dividing $35.17 by 5 servings gives $7.034, rounded to $7.03 per serving. If you need cheap dinner recipes under $8 in Newfoundland and Labrador, this full Chicken Tenders meal qualifies while offering the broadest ingredient set of the three options.

Basket Index: Newfoundland and Labrador Ingredient Prices

Dominion supplies four of the five priced ingredients in the full Chicken Tenders basket, while Costco St. John’s supplies the Cinnamon Bread at $11.39. The full basket costs $35.17, and the Dominion-priced portion totals $23.78 before the Costco bread is added. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

A basket index helps you see where the money goes before you decide which version of the meal to cook. In this case, the two largest line items are Cinnamon Bread at $11.39 from Costco St. John’s and Olive Oil at $11.00 from Dominion. The lowest-cost line item is Sour Cream at $2.79 from Dominion, followed by Italian Seasoning at $2.99 from Dominion.

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

The comparison shows why your store choice depends on the recipe version. If you cook the $4.20 Italian Chicken Strip Plate, you can buy all priced ingredients at Dominion. If you cook the $4.83 sandwich version or the $7.03 full Chicken Tenders basket, Costco St. John’s becomes part of the shopping plan because the Cinnamon Bread is the priced bread item in the available data.

Top Priced Ingredients and Best Uses

The best low-price ingredient in the featured Newfoundland and Labrador basket is Sour Cream at $2.79 at Dominion, while the main protein is Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00 at Dominion. These prices help you build budget meals under $5 or under $8 per serving depending on which supporting ingredients you include. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Because the available data provides live prices rather than separate regular prices, the table below ranks the priced items by their current role in the recipes instead of claiming unsupported discounts. That is important for accuracy: you get real current prices and store names without inflated savings claims. For your grocery planning, the most useful insight is that the $7.00 chicken line anchors all three recipes, while optional add-ons determine whether dinner costs $4.20, $4.83, or $7.03 per serving.

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

Dominion offers Sour Cream at $2.79, while Costco St. John’s charges $11.39 for Cinnamon Bread in this priced basket; these are different products, so they should not be treated as direct substitutes. The better comparison is by recipe use: excluding the bread keeps Recipe 1 at $4.20 per serving, while adding the bread and sour cream creates Recipe 2 at $4.83 per serving. Adding all five ingredients produces the full Chicken Tenders recipe at $7.03 per serving.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest featured recipe is Italian Chicken Strip Plate at $4.20 per serving, followed by Creamy Italian Chicken Tender Sandwiches at $4.83 per serving and Chicken Tenders at $7.03 per serving. The spread between the lowest and highest recipe is $2.83 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This side-by-side comparison is the most useful way to choose your dinner plan before you shop. If your goal is the lowest checkout cost for a chicken-based dinner, Recipe 1 uses only Dominion-priced ingredients and comes in at $20.99 total. If you want a more complete basket with bread, sauce, and oil, Recipe 3 costs $35.17 total and gives you the full Chicken Tenders setup.

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

For your weekly meal plan, the practical strategy is to decide whether you need the bread and sour cream components. If you do not, the $4.20 plate is the strongest budget choice. If you want a sandwich-style dinner, the $4.83 version remains under $5 per serving. If you want the full basket, the $7.03 Chicken Tenders recipe still fits the common search for cheap dinner recipes under $8.

How to Use These Prices for a Newfoundland and Labrador Grocery Plan

You can use the $4.20, $4.83, and $7.03 per-serving figures as three budget tiers for the same core chicken dinner. The main protein remains Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at $7.00 at Dominion, and your final cost changes based on whether you add sour cream, Cinnamon Bread, and olive oil. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you are shopping in St. John’s or elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador, your first step is to decide how many meals you want from the basket. The full Chicken Tenders shop costs $35.17, but it includes pantry-style ingredients such as Olive Oil and Italian Seasoning that may be useful beyond one dinner. If you only need one low-cost meal, Recipe 1 avoids the $11.39 Costco St. John’s bread item and keeps your basket tighter.

You should also think about leftovers. The 5-serving structure is useful for a family dinner, but it can also work for one or two people who want next-day lunches. At $4.20 per serving, Recipe 1 gives you five portions for just over $20 in upfront grocery cost. At $7.03 per serving, the full Chicken Tenders recipe costs more but gives you a broader mix of ingredients for dipping, serving, and reheating.

For ongoing price checks and grocery planning, you can compare current grocery deals at https://eezly.com/deals, browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, and build meal plans at https://eezly.com/meal-plans. If you want broader grocery coverage and price stories, you can also visit https://eezly.com/blog. These links are most useful when you are planning a full weekly basket rather than a single dinner.

Newfoundland and Labrador Store Context

Newfoundland and Labrador has 57 stores in the available provincial grocery dataset, with active banners including Costco, Dominion, Foodland, No Frills, Sobeys, Walmart, Your Independent Grocer, and Wholesale Club. For this recipe-costing article, the priced items come from Dominion and Costco St. John’s. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

That local context matters because grocery prices are not uniform across Canada. A dinner that looks inexpensive in one province may price differently in another province depending on banner mix, transportation costs, and available store formats. For your Newfoundland and Labrador basket, the actionable store names are Dominion for chicken strips, sour cream, Italian seasoning, and olive oil, plus Costco St. John’s for Cinnamon Bread.

You do not need to treat this as a complicated multi-store shop unless the bread is important to your meal plan. The cheapest recipe in this guide stays entirely with Dominion-priced items. The two higher-cost recipes use Costco St. John’s because the Cinnamon Bread is part of the priced basket. That distinction helps you avoid unnecessary trips when your main goal is a cheap dinner rather than a fully stocked basket.