Newfoundland and Labrador Cheap Dinners from $1.71

Key Facts

• Creamy roasted red pepper penne costs $13.68 total, or $1.71 per serving for 8 servings. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Seafood Pasta costs $70.21 total, or $8.78 per serving for 8 servings in Newfoundland and Labrador. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Durum Wheat Semolina Pasta Penne Rigate is $4.00 at Dominion. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Shrimp is priced at $30.25 at Costco for this Newfoundland and Labrador recipe basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Pasta Sauce is $5.99 at Dominion. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L is $3.69 at Foodland, while Silk Whole Next Milk 1.74 L is $7.79 at Foodland. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Grab&Go with Shrimp Sauce Imitation Crab 800 g is $18.49 at Foodland. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Dinner Is $1.71 per Serving

Creamy roasted red pepper penne is the cheapest recipe in this Newfoundland and Labrador dinner comparison at $13.68 total, or $1.71 per serving for 8 servings. The price comes from three tracked ingredients: Durum Wheat Semolina Pasta Penne Rigate at $4.00 at Dominion, Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Pasta Sauce at $5.99 at Dominion, and Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L at $3.69 at Foodland. If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $9, this simple pasta meal is the clear low-cost option among the recipes costed here.

For a more filling seafood-style pasta, your price rises depending on the protein you choose. Foodland’s Grab&Go with Shrimp Sauce Imitation Crab 800 g brings the eight-serving basket to $32.17, or $4.02 per serving, while the full Seafood Pasta recipe with shrimp, imitation crab, sauce, pasta and milk totals $70.21, or $8.78 per serving. In practical terms, you can use the same basic pasta-and-sauce framework and decide whether your budget allows a seafood upgrade this week.

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.

Basket Index: Newfoundland and Labrador Pasta Ingredients

The Newfoundland and Labrador pasta basket totals $70.21 when you buy all six tracked ingredients across Dominion, Foodland and Costco. The largest single cost is shrimp at $30.25 at Costco, followed by Grab&Go with Shrimp Sauce Imitation Crab 800 g at $18.49 at Foodland. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This basket index is useful because it shows where your dinner budget is actually going. The pasta base is inexpensive at $4.00 at Dominion, and the sauce is a moderate $5.99 at Dominion. The seafood proteins, however, account for the majority of the full Seafood Pasta cost, so your biggest savings decision is whether to cook the simple penne, add imitation crab, or make the full seafood version.

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

Your most important budget choice is the milk and protein combination. Foodland offers Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L at $3.69, while Foodland’s Silk Whole Next Milk 1.74 L is $7.79 — a savings of 52.6% if the skim milk fits your recipe needs instead of Silk Whole Next Milk. For seafood protein, the Foodland imitation crab product is $18.49, while Costco shrimp is $30.25; using imitation crab instead of shrimp lowers that protein line by $11.76, or 38.9% versus the shrimp price.

Recipe 1: Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Penne — $1.71 per Serving

Creamy roasted red pepper penne costs $13.68 total, or $1.71 per serving for 8 servings, making it the cheapest recipe in this Newfoundland and Labrador comparison. The recipe uses Dominion pasta at $4.00, Dominion roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce at $5.99, and Foodland Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L at $3.69. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the meal you choose when you want the lowest possible dinner cost from the tracked basket. You are keeping the pasta and sauce, but removing the high-cost seafood proteins that push the full Seafood Pasta recipe to $70.21. The result is a practical weeknight dinner that stays well below the “cheap dinner recipes under $9” threshold and leaves room in your grocery budget for sides, vegetables or next-day lunches.

Ingredients with Prices

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

To make this dinner, you would cook the penne, warm the roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce, and loosen the sauce with the skim milk until it coats the pasta. Because this costing uses the tracked ingredient prices as purchased, the total is based on the listed basket items rather than a theoretical pantry estimate. That makes the $1.71 per serving figure more practical for your grocery planning, especially if you are building a meal plan from current Newfoundland and Labrador prices.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Dominion is the key stop for this recipe because both the $4.00 penne and the $5.99 roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce are priced there. Foodland is the lower-cost milk stop in the data because Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L is $3.69, compared with Silk Whole Next Milk 1.74 L at $7.79 at Foodland. If you are shopping in Newfoundland and Labrador and want the cheapest version of this dinner, your best route is Dominion for the pasta and sauce, then Foodland for the skim milk.

The practical trade-off is whether the second stop is worth your time. If you already shop at both Dominion and Foodland, the $3.69 milk price helps keep the recipe at $13.68 total. If you prefer a single-store trip, your basket may be simpler, but the costed cheapest combination from the provided prices is clearly split between Dominion and Foodland.

Recipe 2: Imitation Crab Alfredo Penne — $4.02 per Serving

Imitation crab Alfredo penne costs $32.17 total, or $4.02 per serving for 8 servings, using Dominion pasta, Dominion sauce, Foodland skim milk and Foodland imitation crab. This recipe costs $18.49 more than the cheapest creamy penne because the seafood-style protein is the added budget driver. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the middle option if you want a seafood-style dinner without paying for the full shrimp-based Seafood Pasta basket. You still stay under $5 per serving, and the recipe remains less than half the per-serving cost of the full $8.78 Seafood Pasta. Compared with the full recipe, your total basket drops from $70.21 to $32.17, a reduction of $38.04, or 54.2%.

Ingredients with Prices

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

You can think of this as the budget seafood version of the full pasta meal. The $18.49 imitation crab item is the single largest cost in this recipe, but it is still lower than the $30.25 shrimp item used in the full Seafood Pasta. If your priority is flavour variety without moving close to $9 per serving, this recipe is the better middle ground.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Dominion remains the best tracked source for the pasta and sauce in this recipe, with penne at $4.00 and roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce at $5.99. Foodland supplies the remaining items: Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L at $3.69 and Grab&Go with Shrimp Sauce Imitation Crab 800 g at $18.49. Your cheapest costed route is therefore a Dominion-and-Foodland split basket.

If you want to reduce the price further, the only way to do it within the provided basket is to remove the imitation crab and return to Recipe 1. That change cuts the total from $32.17 to $13.68, saving $18.49 on the full recipe cost, or $2.31 per serving. For Newfoundland and Labrador households watching weekly dinner costs, that is the difference between a seafood-style pasta night and a very low-cost pasta night.

Recipe 3: Seafood Pasta — $8.78 per Serving

Seafood Pasta costs $70.21 total, or $8.78 per serving for 8 servings, using ingredients from Dominion, Foodland and Costco. The recipe includes $30.25 shrimp at Costco and $18.49 imitation crab at Foodland, which together make it the highest-cost option in this comparison. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This recipe still qualifies for a “cheap dinner recipes under $9” framework by a narrow margin, but it is very different from the $1.71 creamy penne. You are paying for a fuller seafood-style meal, not just the pasta base. If your budget allows it, the full Seafood Pasta is the most substantial option in this guide; if your priority is strict savings, Recipe 1 is the stronger choice.

Ingredients with Prices

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

The full Seafood Pasta recipe is where price awareness matters most. Shrimp at Costco is $30.25, and the Foodland imitation crab item is $18.49, so those two ingredients total $48.74 before you add pasta, sauce or milk. That means 69.4% of the full $70.21 recipe cost comes from the two seafood ingredients.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this complete recipe, Dominion is the tracked source for the $4.00 penne and $5.99 roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce. Foodland is the tracked source for both milk items and the $18.49 imitation crab product. Costco is the tracked source for the $30.25 shrimp. If you are buying every listed ingredient, your basket uses all three stores.

You should decide before shopping whether the full version is worth the higher price. Compared with Recipe 1, the full Seafood Pasta costs $56.53 more in total and $7.07 more per serving. Compared with Recipe 2, it costs $38.04 more in total and $4.76 more per serving. Those differences are large enough that your meal plan can change meaningfully based on whether you include shrimp.

Top Value Table: Best-Priced Items in the Dinner Basket

The best values in this Newfoundland and Labrador dinner basket are the $4.00 penne at Dominion, the $3.69 Scotsburn skim milk at Foodland and the $5.99 roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce at Dominion. The table below uses current tracked shelf prices as the regular price field, so the promotional savings column is 0.0% rather than an invented discount. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This distinction matters because a true grocery deal should be based on a real comparison, not a guessed regular price. You can still use the table to identify the most budget-friendly ingredients in the basket. For recipe costing, the lowest absolute prices are often more useful than promotional claims, especially when you are planning dinner for 8 servings.

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

The strongest substitution in the basket is the milk choice. Foodland offers Scotsburn 0% Milk Skim 1 L at $3.69, while Foodland charges $7.79 for Silk Whole Next Milk 1.74 L — a savings of 52.6% if the skim milk works for your sauce. The strongest protein cost difference is between Foodland imitation crab at $18.49 and Costco shrimp at $30.25, where the imitation crab costs $11.76 less.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest recipe is creamy roasted red pepper penne at $1.71 per serving, while the highest-cost recipe is Seafood Pasta at $8.78 per serving. The middle option, imitation crab Alfredo penne, costs $4.02 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This side-by-side view is the most useful part of the guide if you are building a weekly meal plan. You can choose the $1.71 recipe when your goal is to minimize cost, the $4.02 recipe when you want seafood-style flavour at a moderate price, or the $8.78 recipe when you want the full seafood basket. All three are under $9 per serving, but they serve very different budget roles.

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

Your savings are clearest when you compare each recipe with the full Seafood Pasta. Choosing creamy roasted red pepper penne instead of Seafood Pasta saves $56.53 per eight-serving meal, or $7.07 per serving. Choosing imitation crab Alfredo penne instead of Seafood Pasta saves $38.04 per eight-serving meal, or $4.76 per serving. For a household cooking several pasta dinners a month, those per-meal differences can shape your grocery budget quickly.

How to Use AI-Powered Grocery Price Comparison for These Recipes

AI-powered grocery price comparison helps you decide which ingredients to buy, where to buy them and which recipe version fits your budget before you shop. In this Newfoundland and Labrador basket, the choice is not simply “pasta or seafood pasta”; it is a measurable difference between $1.71, $4.02 and $8.78 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

You can use the recipe costs in this guide as a decision tree. If your budget target is under $2 per serving, you choose the creamy roasted red pepper penne. If your target is under $5 per serving, you can add the $18.49 imitation crab product and make the middle recipe. If your target is under $9 per serving and you want shrimp, you can choose the full Seafood Pasta at $8.78 per serving.

The store split also matters. Dominion supplies the lowest tracked pasta and sauce prices in this basket, Foodland supplies the milk and imitation crab prices, and Costco supplies the shrimp price. When you compare your shopping route against your recipe goal, you can decide whether a multi-store trip is worthwhile or whether the simplest basket is the better use of your time. For more meal-planning ideas, you can browse https://eezly.com/meal-plans, compare current grocery offers at https://eezly.com/deals, and explore additional recipe options at https://eezly.com/recipes.