Ontario Budget Dinners: Big Salad at $4.83/Serving

Key Facts

• Big Salad costs $57.93 total, or $4.83 per serving. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Food Basics at 780 Talbot St lists English cucumber at $0.99. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Fortinos lists dried cranberries at $0.88 and spinach at $1.49. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Costco lists green onions at $7.99 for this basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Foodland lists organic cluster tomatoes at $13.21. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

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

Big Salad is the featured Ontario budget dinner at $4.83 per serving. The full recipe costs $57.93 and serves 12, using live ingredient prices from Fortinos, Food Basics, Food Basics at 780 Talbot St, Costco and Foodland. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

For a Canadian grocery shopper, a dinner under $5 per serving is increasingly valuable because it allows you to feed a household without relying on heavily processed convenience meals. This recipe is vegetarian, excludes fish, pork and shellfish, and can work as a main-course dinner if you use the full 15-ingredient build. You get crunch from iceberg lettuce, celery, cucumber, radishes, baby carrots and croutons; colour and sweetness from peppers, tomatoes and dried cranberries; and a stronger savoury note from pickled onions, radicchio and sunflower seeds.

The key budgeting lesson is that you do not need to buy every ingredient from one banner. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St offers English cucumber at $0.99, while Foodland charges $13.21 for organic cluster tomatoes — a 92.5% lower line item when you choose the cucumber instead of the tomato line for volume and freshness. Fortinos offers dried cranberries at $0.88 and spinach at $1.49, making those two of the lowest-cost add-ins in this Ontario basket. When you build your dinner around the lowest-priced produce and use higher-priced items more selectively, you can bring your per-serving cost down while keeping the meal varied.

Recipe 1: Cucumber-Celery Crunch Salad — $1.04 per serving

Cucumber-Celery Crunch Salad costs $12.45 total, or $1.04 per serving when divided into 12 servings. The build uses English cucumber at $0.99 from Food Basics at 780 Talbot St, celery at $2.99 from Food Basics, iceberg lettuce at $2.99 from Food Basics at 780 Talbot St, spinach at $1.49 from Fortinos and roasted salted sunflower seeds at $3.99 from Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the lowest-cost dinner build in the article because it concentrates on inexpensive, high-volume vegetables rather than the priciest specialty ingredients. You still get a varied salad: lettuce gives you the base, cucumber and celery add crunch, spinach adds a darker leafy component, and sunflower seeds bring fat, salt and texture. If you want a cheap dinner recipe under $2 per serving in Ontario, this is the most direct route using the May 2026 prices provided.

The trade-off is that this version is simpler than the full Big Salad. You are leaving out pickled onions, tomatoes, peppers, radicchio, dried cranberries, croutons and baby carrots, so the flavour is cleaner and less complex. For your weekly meal planning, that can be an advantage: a simpler salad can pair with pantry protein, leftover grains, soup or sandwiches without competing with the rest of the plate.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Your best store route for this recipe starts with Food Basics at 780 Talbot St because it carries the $0.99 English cucumber, the $2.99 iceberg lettuce and the $3.99 sunflower seeds used in this build. You then add celery at $2.99 from Food Basics and spinach at $1.49 from Fortinos. If you want to reduce the number of stops, you could prioritize the Food Basics items first because they account for most of the volume in the recipe.

The most budget-sensitive ingredient is the cucumber because it costs less than $1 in the May 2026 dataset. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St offers English cucumber at $0.99, while Foodland’s organic cluster tomatoes are listed at $13.21 — a 92.5% lower line item for the cucumber compared with the tomato line in this basket. You should use that price gap as a planning signal: inexpensive crunchy vegetables can stretch a dinner salad much more efficiently than premium tomato packs.

Recipe 2: Pepper-Radicchio Dinner Salad — $1.24 per serving

Pepper-Radicchio Dinner Salad costs $14.93 total, or $1.24 per serving across 12 servings. The build uses whole sweet red peppers at $3.79 from Fortinos, yellow hot peppers at $1.65 from Fortinos, radicchio Treviso at $2.51 from Fortinos, pickled onions at $3.99 from Food Basics and big seasoned croutons at $2.99 from Food Basics. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This recipe is slightly more expensive than the cucumber-celery version, but it gives you a stronger dinner profile. The peppers bring sweetness and heat, radicchio adds bitterness, pickled onions contribute acidity, and croutons make the salad feel more substantial. If you want budget meals in Ontario that do not taste like plain side salads, this is the version that gives you the most flavour development for close to $1.25 per serving.

You should also view this as a smart recipe for reducing food waste. Stronger ingredients like pickled onions, hot peppers and radicchio can make leftovers more appealing the next day because the flavours remain noticeable after refrigeration. For your household, that matters because the cheapest recipe is not always the one with the lowest shelf price; it is the one you will actually finish.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Fortinos is the key store for this recipe because it supplies three of the five ingredients: whole sweet red peppers at $3.79, yellow hot peppers at $1.65 and radicchio Treviso at $2.51. Food Basics supplies the pickled onions at $3.99 and big seasoned croutons at $2.99. If you are already shopping at Fortinos for the peppers and radicchio, you can decide whether the extra Food Basics stop is worth it based on how much you value the pickled onions and croutons.

The best low-cost flavour item in this build is the yellow hot pepper at $1.65 from Fortinos. Fortinos offers yellow hot peppers at $1.65, while Food Basics lists pickled onions at $3.99 — a 58.6% lower line item for the hot peppers in this recipe basket. You can use the hot peppers sparingly and still change the flavour of the whole salad, which makes them a strong budget choice for your dinner rotation.

Recipe 3: Full Big Salad — $4.83 per serving

Full Big Salad costs $57.93 total, or $4.83 per serving for 12 servings. The complete Ontario basket includes 15 priced ingredients from Fortinos, Food Basics, Food Basics at 780 Talbot St, Costco and Foodland, with the highest-priced ingredient being organic cluster tomatoes at $13.21 from Foodland. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the most complete and most expensive version, but it remains under $5 per serving. You get a broad mix of textures: crisp lettuce, crunchy celery, cucumber, radishes, baby carrots and croutons; soft spinach; chewy dried cranberries; and seeds for a salty finish. For your meal planning, the full version makes the most sense when you want one large dinner salad that can serve a crowd, cover multiple lunches, or work as a vegetarian main for a gathering.

The pricing also shows where your money goes. The organic cluster tomatoes at Foodland cost $13.21, which is more than the entire Cucumber-Celery Crunch Salad build at $12.45. Costco’s green onions at $7.99 and Food Basics baby carrots at $5.99 are the next major cost drivers. If you want the Big Salad flavour profile but need a lower checkout total, your first adjustment should be reducing or omitting the tomatoes, then deciding whether the green onions and baby carrots are essential for the meal.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Your cheapest route for the full Big Salad is a multi-banner basket rather than a single-store shop. Fortinos supplies five items in the recipe, including dried cranberries at $0.88, spinach at $1.49, yellow hot peppers at $1.65, radicchio Treviso at $2.51 and whole sweet red peppers at $3.79. Food Basics and Food Basics at 780 Talbot St supply the lower-cost produce and pantry-style salad items, including cucumber, lettuce, celery, radishes, croutons, sunflower seeds, pickled onions and baby carrots.

You should treat Foodland’s organic cluster tomatoes at $13.21 as the premium component of this recipe. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St offers English cucumber at $0.99, while Foodland lists organic cluster tomatoes at $13.21 — a difference of $12.22 between those two line items. If you need to keep your dinner closer to $3 per serving, the easiest adjustment is to make tomatoes optional and rely more heavily on cucumber, lettuce, spinach and peppers.

Basket Index: Ontario Salad Staples

Ontario salad staples in this basket range from $0.88 at Fortinos to $7.99 at Costco before the tomato line is included. The lowest-priced item is dried cranberries at $0.88 from Fortinos, and the lowest-priced fresh produce item is English cucumber at $0.99 from Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This basket index helps you compare the ingredients you are most likely to use across multiple budget dinner recipes. It does not require you to buy every item at once; instead, it shows which ingredients are strong value anchors and which ones should be used more selectively. For your grocery list, the most useful under-$3 items are cucumber, spinach, hot peppers, radicchio, radishes, celery and iceberg lettuce.

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

For your planning, the strongest price anchors are the $0.99 cucumber and $1.49 spinach. Those two ingredients can make a dinner salad feel larger without pushing the total cost sharply higher. The items at $2.99, including celery and iceberg lettuce, still work well because they add bulk and texture, but you should compare them against what you already have in your refrigerator before adding both to the same basket.

Top Budget Buys for Ontario Dinner Salads

The top budget buys in this Ontario salad basket are the ingredients priced below $3, led by dried cranberries at $0.88 from Fortinos and English cucumber at $0.99 from Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Because the dataset provides live prices rather than separate regular prices, the savings column below compares each item with the $13.21 organic cluster tomato line, the highest-priced ingredient in the full Big Salad basket. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This comparison is useful because it shows where you can stretch a salad without relying on the most expensive component. If you are trying to keep dinner under $5 per serving, you can use the lower-priced ingredients as the base and add the premium tomato line only when it matters to the meal. You should not read the savings column as a store promotion; it is a basket-cost comparison using the highest-priced ingredient as a benchmark.

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

The practical takeaway is that you can build a low-cost dinner from the bottom half of the price list and reserve the higher-priced items for flavour or presentation. Fortinos is especially important for budget add-ins in this dataset because it has four of the eight listed budget buys: dried cranberries, spinach, hot peppers and radicchio. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St is equally important for your base ingredients because it has the $0.99 cucumber and $2.99 iceberg lettuce.

Price Comparison Table: Three Ontario Dinner Recipes

The cheapest recipe in this Ontario comparison is Cucumber-Celery Crunch Salad at $1.04 per serving, while the full Big Salad costs $4.83 per serving. All three recipes stay below $5 per serving when divided into 12 servings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This side-by-side comparison shows how quickly the cost changes when you move from a simple salad to a full, crowd-sized dinner. The Cucumber-Celery Crunch Salad is the best fit when your priority is the lowest possible cost. The Pepper-Radicchio Dinner Salad is still highly economical but gives you more flavour intensity. The full Big Salad is the broadest recipe and the strongest choice when you want variety, leftovers and a vegetarian main dish that feels complete.

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

If you are shopping for the cheapest recipes rather than the most elaborate dinner, you should start with Recipe 1. It gives you a full 12-serving salad base for $12.45, which is less than the $13.21 Foodland tomato line in the full Big Salad. If you want more flavour without approaching the $57.93 full basket, Recipe 2 is the better compromise because it stays at $14.93 total.

How to Shop These Ontario Recipes More Strategically

You can keep these Ontario budget meals under control by separating base ingredients from premium ingredients. The base ingredients are cucumber at $0.99, spinach at $1.49, hot peppers at $1.65, radishes at $2.48, radicchio at $2.51, celery at $2.99 and lettuce at $2.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

When you shop, your first decision should be whether you need the full Big Salad or only a dinner-sized variation. If you are feeding 12 people or planning leftovers, the $57.93 full version may be reasonable because it lands at $4.83 per serving. If you are preparing a lighter dinner or pairing the salad with another dish, the $12.45 and $14.93 builds are more efficient because they keep your total spend far lower.

Your second decision should be how many stores you are willing to visit. The most economical basket uses multiple banners: Fortinos, Food Basics, Food Basics at 780 Talbot St, Costco and Foodland. If you want to simplify your trip, choose the version that clusters the most ingredients at one or two stores. For example, the Pepper-Radicchio Dinner Salad is practical because Fortinos supplies three ingredients and Food Basics supplies two, making the route easier than the five-banner full salad.

Finally, use the expensive items intentionally. Organic cluster tomatoes at $13.21 from Foodland and green onions at $7.99 from Costco are meaningful additions, but they change the economics of the meal. If your goal is cheap dinner recipes under $5, they still fit in the full Big Salad. If your goal is the absolute lowest dinner cost, you should build around cucumber, spinach, lettuce, celery and peppers first.

How AI Price Comparison Helps With Budget Meals in Ontario

AI price comparison helps you save on budget meals by identifying the cheapest ingredient route across banners instead of assuming one store has the best full basket. In this Ontario recipe set, the lowest individual prices come from several stores, including Fortinos, Food Basics, Food Basics at 780 Talbot St, Costco and Foodland. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

For your weekly grocery plan, this matters because recipes are rarely priced from one ingredient. A single dinner can include produce, pantry toppings, bulk items and specialty ingredients, and each category may be cheaper at a different banner. An AI-powered grocery price comparison can scan those differences faster than manual flyer checking, especially when you are comparing active Ontario banners such as Costco, Food Basics, Fortinos, FreshCo, Loblaws, Metro, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Sobeys, Walmart, Wholesale Club and Zehrs.

You can use this approach in a practical way without overcomplicating dinner. Start with the recipe you want, identify the high-impact ingredients, then decide which substitutions preserve the meal while lowering the basket. In this article, the clearest example is the full Big Salad: it costs $57.93 as written, but the two smaller builds show that you can create dinner salads for $12.45 or $14.93 when you focus on the best-priced components.