Nova Scotia Cheap Dinner: $8.94 Roasted Veggie Meal

June 5, 2026 · 19 min read · NS

Key Facts

According to eezly's real-time tracking of 196,000 products across 2,700 Canadian grocery stores, Roasted Veggie Dinner costs $35.76 total, or $8.94 per serving, in Nova Scotia as of June 2026. For you as a Nova Scotia shopper, the cheapest priced items in this dinner basket are concentrated at No Frills, with Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Cauliflower at $6.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Seasoning Salt at $2.50, while Olive Oil is priced at $11.00 at Independent and Dash Original Blend Seasoning is priced at $7.99 at Costco. 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 dinner is Roasted Veggie Dinner at $8.94 per serving

Roasted Veggie Dinner is the cheapest fully priced dinner in this Nova Scotia recipe costing, at $35.76 for four servings, or $8.94 per serving. The basket uses six priced grocery items: Dash Original Blend Seasoning at Costco for $7.99, Seasoning Salt at No Frills for $2.50, Olive Oil at Independent for $11.00, Grape Tomatoes at No Frills for $2.99, Cauliflower at No Frills for $6.99, and Broccoli at No Frills for $4.29. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $10 per serving in Nova Scotia, this produce-forward meal is a useful benchmark because the total recipe cost is based on real store prices rather than estimated pantry values. Your best strategy is to buy the produce-heavy part of the basket at No Frills, then decide whether your household already has olive oil or seasoning on hand before purchasing the full basket. Because olive oil and seasoning are multi-use items, your actual per-dinner cost may be lower if you already keep those items in your kitchen, but the article uses the full priced basket for consistency.

This guide is written for budget meals in Nova Scotia, especially for readers comparing Atlantic Superstore, Costco, Foodland, No Frills, Sobeys, Walmart, Your Independent Grocer, RASS, and Wholesale Club. The prices below come from eezly's AI-powered grocery price comparison and real-time price tracking, with the specific store names shown wherever the product-level data is available.

Recipe 1: Roasted Veggie Dinner — $8.94 per serving

Roasted Veggie Dinner costs $35.76 for four servings in Nova Scotia, which works out to $8.94 per serving. The lowest-priced produce items in this recipe are at No Frills: Grape Tomatoes cost $2.99, Cauliflower costs $6.99, Broccoli costs $4.29, and Seasoning Salt costs $2.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the main budget dinner in the guide because it is fully costed from the provided Nova Scotia price basket. You get a vegetable-centred meal built around cauliflower, broccoli, and grape tomatoes, with olive oil and seasonings used to add flavour and roasting texture. For a household trying to keep weekday dinners predictable, the strength of this recipe is that it uses common ingredients available across mainstream Nova Scotia grocery banners.

From a budget perspective, you should notice that the higher-cost items are not the vegetables themselves but the broader pantry items. Olive Oil at Independent is $11.00, and Dash Original Blend Seasoning at Costco is $7.99. Those two items represent a meaningful share of the $35.76 total basket, but they also typically last beyond one dinner in a real kitchen. For fair comparison, this costing includes the full product price because that is the verifiable price available in eezly's live pricing database.

Ingredients with Prices

The following ingredient list uses only real Nova Scotia prices provided in the source data. If you are comparing cheap dinner recipes under $10, use the per-serving figure of $8.94 as the central number, but use the itemized prices to decide what you actually need to buy this week.

IngredientPriceCheapest Store in DataRole in Recipe
Dash Original Blend Seasoning$7.99CostcoMain seasoning blend
Seasoning Salt$2.50No FrillsSalt and savoury seasoning
Olive Oil$11.00IndependentRoasting oil
Grape Tomatoes$2.99No FrillsSweet roasted vegetable
Cauliflower$6.99No FrillsMain vegetable
Broccoli$4.29No FrillsMain vegetable
Recipe Total$35.76Mixed storesFour-serving dinner
Cost per Serving$8.94Mixed storesPer-person dinner cost

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

This basket is practical for you if your household values meals that can be cooked with minimal technique. You can chop cauliflower and broccoli into similar-sized pieces, halve or leave grape tomatoes whole, toss everything with olive oil, then season before roasting. The pricing shows that No Frills is the key store for the fresh vegetable portion of this specific dinner, while Independent and Costco are part of the total basket because they carry the lowest listed prices for olive oil and Dash seasoning in the provided data.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, No Frills is the cheapest store in the data for four of the six listed ingredients: Seasoning Salt at $2.50, Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Cauliflower at $6.99, and Broccoli at $4.29. Costco is the listed store for Dash Original Blend Seasoning at $7.99, while Independent is the listed store for Olive Oil at $11.00. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Your most efficient shopping plan is to start with No Frills for the core dinner ingredients, because that is where the vegetable and seasoning-salt prices are concentrated. If you already have oil and seasoning at home, you can make this dinner with fewer new purchases. If you need the full basket, you can use the store split shown above and decide whether an extra stop at Costco or Independent is worthwhile based on your route, membership status, and pantry needs.

For Nova Scotia households, the store mix matters because the province includes banners such as Atlantic Superstore, Costco, Foodland, No Frills, Sobeys, Walmart, Your Independent Grocer, RASS, and Wholesale Club. The data for this recipe does not require you to assume one chain is always cheapest for everything. Instead, the evidence points to a simple rule: for this specific Roasted Veggie Dinner, No Frills carries the strongest group of listed low prices, while Costco and Independent complete the basket.

Recipe 2: Budget Roasted Vegetable Tray — $8.94 per serving

Budget Roasted Vegetable Tray uses the same fully priced Nova Scotia basket as Roasted Veggie Dinner, so the verified cost remains $35.76 total, or $8.94 per serving for four servings. The pricing anchor is unchanged: Broccoli is $4.29 at No Frills, Grape Tomatoes are $2.99 at No Frills, and Cauliflower is $6.99 at No Frills. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This version is useful if you want a simpler presentation for a weeknight dinner. Instead of treating the dish as a composed plated meal, you prepare it as a sheet-pan tray that can be served beside pantry staples you already own, such as rice, lentils, pasta, or bread. Those extra items are not included in the cost because the provided data does not include their prices, but the vegetable tray itself is fully costed using the same six verified grocery items.

For you, the budgeting benefit is that this tray creates flexibility without changing the grocery basket. You can roast the cauliflower and broccoli until browned, add the grape tomatoes later so they soften without collapsing completely, and use the two seasonings to keep the flavour from feeling plain. Because the verified basket includes both seasoning salt and Dash Original Blend Seasoning, you have two ways to season the tray while staying within the $35.76 full-basket cost.

Ingredients with Prices

The ingredient prices are the same verified product prices from the Nova Scotia basket. The difference is how you prepare and serve the meal, not the cost basis.

IngredientPriceStoreBudget Use
Cauliflower$6.99No FrillsCut into florets for roasting
Broccoli$4.29No FrillsRoast with cauliflower
Grape Tomatoes$2.99No FrillsAdd sweetness and acidity
Olive Oil$11.00IndependentCoat vegetables before roasting
Seasoning Salt$2.50No FrillsBasic seasoning
Dash Original Blend Seasoning$7.99CostcoAdditional flavour
Recipe Total$35.76Mixed storesFour-serving tray
Cost per Serving$8.94Mixed storesPer-person cost

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

The highest-priced item in this preparation is Olive Oil at $11.00 at Independent. If you already have oil at home, your immediate checkout cost will be lower, but this article keeps the full price in the recipe total to avoid understating the cost. The lowest-priced item is Seasoning Salt at $2.50 at No Frills, followed by Grape Tomatoes at $2.99 at No Frills.

Where to Buy Cheapest

No Frills is the most important store for this tray because it holds four of the six priced ingredients in the basket. You can buy Seasoning Salt for $2.50, Grape Tomatoes for $2.99, Cauliflower for $6.99, and Broccoli for $4.29 at No Frills. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Your decision point is whether to buy the pantry items in the same trip or separately. Dash Original Blend Seasoning is listed at Costco for $7.99, while Olive Oil is listed at Independent for $11.00. If your household already shops at Costco, the seasoning price may be easy to include in a regular run. If you are primarily building one dinner, you should compare your existing pantry before buying new seasoning and oil, because those two items account for $18.99 of the full $35.76 basket.

This is where eezly's real-time price tracking is helpful for budget meals in Nova Scotia: it lets you see the store-level price behind each ingredient instead of treating the recipe as a generic estimate. For this tray, the strongest evidence is straightforward. No Frills is your core stop for the vegetables, Costco is the listed source for Dash seasoning, and Independent is the listed source for olive oil.

Recipe 3: Warm Roasted Veggie Bowl — $8.94 per serving

Warm Roasted Veggie Bowl costs $8.94 per serving when prepared from the same verified $35.76 Nova Scotia ingredient basket. The bowl is built from Cauliflower at $6.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Grape Tomatoes at $2.99 from No Frills, with Olive Oil at $11.00 from Independent and Dash Original Blend Seasoning at $7.99 from Costco. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This version is designed for you if you prefer a dinner that feels more like a bowl meal than a tray of vegetables. You roast the vegetables as in the first two recipes, then serve them together in a bowl with any household staple you already have. The costed component remains the roasted vegetable base, because those are the ingredients with verified Nova Scotia prices in the data.

For meal planning, this bowl is useful because it can become tomorrow's lunch without adding new grocery prices to the calculation. Roasted cauliflower and broccoli hold up well after cooling, and grape tomatoes add moisture when reheated. If you are trying to control grocery spending in June 2026, your best move is to cook the full four-serving batch and portion it immediately so the $8.94 per serving benchmark stays clear.

Ingredients with Prices

IngredientPriceCheapest Store in DataHow It Works in the Bowl
Broccoli$4.29No FrillsGreen vegetable base
Cauliflower$6.99No FrillsFilling roasted base
Grape Tomatoes$2.99No FrillsSweet, juicy contrast
Olive Oil$11.00IndependentRoasting fat
Seasoning Salt$2.50No FrillsSalt seasoning
Dash Original Blend Seasoning$7.99CostcoHerb and spice seasoning
Recipe Total$35.76Mixed storesFour servings
Cost per Serving$8.94Mixed storesPer bowl serving

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

The cost pattern is the same, but the serving format changes how you use the meal. If you are feeding four people, the full batch can be served at once. If you are cooking for one or two, the same basket gives you a structured way to create multiple meals without recalculating every portion.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this bowl, No Frills again carries the cheapest listed prices for the vegetable portion: Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Cauliflower at $6.99. Seasoning Salt is also listed at No Frills for $2.50, making that store the most important stop for the bowl base. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Costco and Independent are relevant because they complete the verified basket, not because you need to make unnecessary extra trips. Dash Original Blend Seasoning is $7.99 at Costco, and Olive Oil is $11.00 at Independent. You should check your pantry first, then decide whether to buy those items now or use what you already have.

For cheap dinner recipes under $10 per serving, this bowl format is a practical option because the full verified cost is $8.94 per serving. It is especially useful if you are trying to build budget meals in Nova Scotia around vegetables instead of meat, since the recipe tags include vegan, vegetarian, no beef, no pork, no fish, no shellfish, no lamb, and no red meat.

Basket Index: Nova Scotia ingredient prices for this dinner

The Nova Scotia basket for this budget dinner totals $35.76 across six priced ingredients, with individual prices ranging from $2.50 for Seasoning Salt at No Frills to $11.00 for Olive Oil at Independent. The vegetable items are all listed at No Frills: Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Cauliflower at $6.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This basket index is different from a flyer roundup because it is tied to a complete dinner. You can use it to decide which items are driving your receipt higher and which items are relatively low-cost. For your shopping trip, the key takeaway is that the fresh produce portion is less expensive than the oil-and-seasoning portion when all full product prices are counted.

Basket ItemPriceStoreCategory
Seasoning Salt$2.50No FrillsSeasoning
Grape Tomatoes$2.99No FrillsProduce
Broccoli$4.29No FrillsProduce
Cauliflower$6.99No FrillsProduce
Dash Original Blend Seasoning$7.99CostcoSeasoning
Olive Oil$11.00IndependentPantry
Full Recipe Basket$35.76Mixed storesDinner basket
Cost per Serving$8.94Mixed storesFour-serving meal

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

The basket index shows why it is important to separate one-time pantry purchases from fresh groceries. If you buy olive oil, Dash seasoning, and the vegetables all in one trip, your checkout reflects the full $35.76. If you already own oil or seasoning, the fresh items you need for the dinner are concentrated at No Frills, where the listed vegetable prices are $2.99, $4.29, and $6.99.

Top priced items in the Roasted Veggie Dinner basket

The highest priced item in the Roasted Veggie Dinner basket is Olive Oil at $11.00 at Independent, while the lowest priced item is Seasoning Salt at $2.50 at No Frills. Because no regular prices are provided in the source data, the table below uses current verified prices and does not invent savings percentages. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

For you, this table is most useful as a priority list. If you need to reduce the immediate receipt, start by checking whether you already have olive oil and seasoning at home. If you need fresh vegetables, No Frills is the store that appears repeatedly in the verified data for this dinner.

ProductCurrent PriceRegular PriceSavings %Store
Olive Oil$11.00Not providedNot providedIndependent
Dash Original Blend Seasoning$7.99Not providedNot providedCostco
Cauliflower$6.99Not providedNot providedNo Frills
Broccoli$4.29Not providedNot providedNo Frills
Grape Tomatoes$2.99Not providedNot providedNo Frills
Seasoning Salt$2.50Not providedNot providedNo Frills

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

This ranked view also helps you avoid misleading conclusions about budget meals. A recipe can look expensive when it includes full bottles or containers of pantry items, even when the per-use cost would be lower over time. For a strict grocery-cost article, however, the safest number is the verified purchase price, and that is why the full recipe remains listed at $35.76 total and $8.94 per serving.

Price Comparison Table: all recipes side by side

All three dinner formats in this article use the same verified Nova Scotia grocery basket, so each one costs $35.76 total and $8.94 per serving. The difference is not the ingredient cost; it is how you serve the roasted vegetables as a plated dinner, a tray meal, or a warm bowl. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This comparison is useful if you want one shopping list that can support several meal styles. You do not need a different set of prices for each preparation, and you do not need to guess at unverified ingredients. The table keeps the costing consistent and transparent.

RecipeTotal CostServingsCost/ServingCheapest Store
Roasted Veggie Dinner$35.764$8.94No Frills for most listed ingredients
Budget Roasted Vegetable Tray$35.764$8.94No Frills for most listed ingredients
Warm Roasted Veggie Bowl$35.764$8.94No Frills for most listed ingredients

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

For your grocery planning, the table gives a clear answer: the cheapest recipes in this guide are tied at $8.94 per serving because they share the same priced basket. If you want variety without buying more ingredients, change the format. If you want to reduce cost further, the next practical step is to check your pantry before buying olive oil and seasoning again.

How to shop this Nova Scotia budget meal efficiently

The most efficient way to shop this budget meal is to prioritize No Frills for the vegetables and seasoning salt, because four of the six priced ingredients are listed there. No Frills has Seasoning Salt at $2.50, Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Cauliflower at $6.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

You should then decide whether Costco and Independent fit naturally into your shopping routine. Dash Original Blend Seasoning is $7.99 at Costco, and Olive Oil is $11.00 at Independent. If you already shop at Costco or pass an Independent, those purchases may be convenient. If not, your best budget decision may be to use existing pantry items and reserve a separate comparison trip for replacements.

This is where AI-powered grocery price comparison can help you make a practical decision rather than a theoretical one. eezly's real-time tracking shows the actual listed store for each ingredient in the Nova Scotia basket, so you can avoid assuming that one banner wins every item. Your grocery strategy should be item-specific: buy the vegetables where the data is strongest, and be more selective with pantry purchases.

Why this meal works for budget meals in Nova Scotia

This meal works for budget meals in Nova Scotia because it keeps the full verified cost under $10 per serving, at $8.94 for a four-serving dinner. The recipe is also vegetarian and vegan according to the provided diet tags, with no beef, fish, lamb, pork, red meat, or shellfish. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

For your household, the practical advantage is predictability. Vegetables, oil, and seasoning are flexible ingredients that can be repurposed across more than one meal style. Even if you cook the same basket twice in a month, you can vary the texture and format by roasting longer for deeper browning, serving as a tray dinner, or building a warm bowl.

The price structure also reflects a common grocery reality in 2026: fresh produce is not always the most expensive part of a simple meal. In this basket, Olive Oil at $11.00 and Dash Original Blend Seasoning at $7.99 are the largest individual priced items. If you are trying to control your weekly grocery bill, you should treat pantry goods as planned replenishments rather than impulse additions.

Related eezly resources for comparing grocery prices

If you want to compare more grocery prices before building your weekly meal plan, you can use eezly pages that focus on deals, recipes, and meal planning. These tools are most useful when you already know the ingredients you want to buy and need to compare store-level prices across Canadian banners.

You can start with current grocery deals, then move into recipe and meal-planning pages when you want a full dinner plan. For Nova Scotia budget meals, that workflow helps you avoid building a menu around assumed prices. It also keeps your shopping list connected to real grocery data rather than generic national estimates.

Comparison

RecipeTotal CostServingsCost/ServingCheapest Store
Roasted Veggie Dinner$35.764$8.94No Frills for most listed ingredients
Budget Roasted Vegetable Tray$35.764$8.94No Frills for most listed ingredients
Warm Roasted Veggie Bowl$35.764$8.94No Frills for most listed ingredients

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest dinner recipe in this Nova Scotia guide?

The cheapest dinner recipe in this guide is Roasted Veggie Dinner at $35.76 total for four servings, or $8.94 per serving. The core produce prices are concentrated at No Frills, including Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Cauliflower at $6.99, according to eezly real-time price tracking for June 2026.

What is the cheapest grocery store in Nova Scotia for this roasted veggie dinner?

For this specific roasted veggie dinner, No Frills is the cheapest store for most listed ingredients in the data. No Frills has Seasoning Salt at $2.50, Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Broccoli at $4.29, and Cauliflower at $6.99. The remaining listed items are Dash Original Blend Seasoning at Costco for $7.99 and Olive Oil at Independent for $11.00.

Are there cheap dinner recipes under $10 per serving in Nova Scotia?

Yes. The Roasted Veggie Dinner in this article costs $8.94 per serving in Nova Scotia, based on a $35.76 total recipe cost and four servings. The price includes six verified grocery items from Costco, No Frills, and Independent, using eezly real-time price tracking as of June 2026.

How can you lower the checkout cost for this recipe?

You can lower your immediate checkout cost by checking whether you already have olive oil and seasoning at home before buying the full basket. Olive Oil is listed at $11.00 at Independent, and Dash Original Blend Seasoning is listed at $7.99 at Costco, so those two pantry items account for $18.99 of the $35.76 recipe basket.

Is this Nova Scotia dinner vegetarian or vegan?

Yes. The provided recipe tags identify Roasted Veggie Dinner as vegan and vegetarian, with no beef, no pork, no fish, no shellfish, no lamb, and no red meat. The priced ingredients are vegetables, olive oil, and seasonings, with the full basket costing $35.76 or $8.94 per serving.

How can AI help save on groceries in Nova Scotia?

AI can help you compare ingredient prices across stores before you shop, which is especially useful when one recipe pulls items from multiple banners. In this Nova Scotia basket, eezly's real-time tracking shows No Frills as the listed store for four ingredients, Costco for Dash Original Blend Seasoning at $7.99, and Independent for Olive Oil at $11.00.

Which ingredient is most expensive in the Roasted Veggie Dinner basket?

The most expensive listed ingredient is Olive Oil at $11.00 at Independent. The next highest listed item is Dash Original Blend Seasoning at $7.99 at Costco, followed by Cauliflower at $6.99 at No Frills, according to eezly real-time price tracking for June 2026.

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