Ontario Budget Dinners: Salad From $5.52

Key Facts

• Pasta Salad costs $48.92 for 6 servings, or $8.15/serving. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Grape Tomatoes are $2.99 at Foodbasics in Ontario. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Zesty Italian Salad Dressing is $2.99 at Foodbasics. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Mixed Bell Peppers are $7.39 at Costco. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Chickapea Gluten-Free Pasta Spirals 227 g are $6.29 at Foodland. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Dinner Comes In at $5.52 Per Serving

The cheapest recipe in this Ontario costing is the no-cook Mediterranean chopped salad at $5.52 per serving, based on a $33.14 ingredient basket divided across 6 servings. That makes it the lowest-cost option among the three budget meals analyzed here, ahead of the tomato-olive chickpea pasta at $6.44 per serving and the full Pasta Salad recipe at $8.15 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $9 in Ontario, this basket shows how much the final cost depends on which ingredients you include. The full Pasta Salad uses all eight priced ingredients and reaches $48.92, while the lower-cost chopped salad omits the pasta and parmesan but still uses vegetables, olives and dressing. You should treat these costs as full-basket purchase costs, meaning your per-serving price reflects buying the listed grocery items at their tracked shelf prices rather than estimating only the spoonfuls or partial quantities used in a single serving.

For your shopping trip, the most important takeaway is that the lowest-cost ingredients in this data are concentrated around Foodbasics and Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Grape Tomatoes are $2.99 at Foodbasics, Zesty Italian Salad Dressing is $2.99 at Foodbasics, and Pickled Cucumbers are $5.79 at Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Costco contributes the $7.39 Mixed Bell Peppers, Fortinos contributes the $3.99 Olival Black Olives, and Foodland has the Chickapea Organic Gluten-Free Pasta Spirals 227 g at $6.29.

Recipe 1: Full Pasta Salad — $8.15 Per Serving

The full Ontario Pasta Salad costs $48.92 total for 6 servings, or $8.15 per serving, using all eight priced ingredients in the June 2026 basket. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the most complete recipe in the data because it includes vegetables, pickles, olives, dressing, parmesan and chickpea pasta, making it the heartiest of the three budget meals.

You should choose this version when you want a make-ahead dinner that can also become lunch the next day. The $8.15 per-serving price is higher than the other two recipes because parmesan and red onions account for a meaningful share of the basket. The 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese is $9.49 at Food Basics at 780 Talbot St., while Red Onions are $9.99 at Foodbasics, so those two items alone represent $19.48 of the $48.92 total.

This recipe is still useful for budget planning because it gives you a realistic all-in grocery basket rather than a stripped-down pantry estimate. If you already have dressing, onions or parmesan at home, your actual checkout cost may be lower, but the clean comparison here uses only the listed current prices. For Ontario shoppers comparing budget meals Ontario-wide, the full Pasta Salad is best understood as the premium version of the same dinner concept.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this full Pasta Salad basket, your lowest tracked ingredient sources are split across several Ontario banners rather than one single store. Foodbasics carries three of the listed ingredients: Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Red Onions at $9.99 and Zesty Italian Salad Dressing at $2.99. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. carries Pickled Cucumbers at $5.79 and 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese at $9.49.

You should prioritize the lower-priced support ingredients first because they help keep the full recipe under $9 per serving. Foodbasics offers Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, while Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. charges $5.79 for Pickled Cucumbers; the tomatoes are $2.80 cheaper as a line item, which is a 48.4% lower current shelf price than the cucumber item in this recipe basket. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026. This is not a like-for-like product comparison, but it shows where the lower-cost components of your basket are concentrated.

Costco’s $7.39 Mixed Bell Peppers are useful if you want colour, crunch and volume in the salad. Fortinos has the Olival Black Olives at $3.99, which is one of the lower-priced flavour ingredients in the basket. Foodland has the Chickapea Organic Gluten-Free Pasta Spirals 227 g at $6.29, giving you the pasta base that turns this from a side dish into a dinner.

Recipe 2: Tomato-Olive Chickpea Pasta — $6.44 Per Serving

The tomato-olive chickpea pasta costs $25.75 total for 4 servings, or $6.44 per serving, using pasta, tomatoes, olives, dressing and parmesan from the Ontario price data. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the best option if you want a more filling dinner than a chopped salad but do not want the full $48.92 Pasta Salad basket.

The arithmetic is straightforward: Chickapea Organic Gluten-Free Pasta Spirals are $6.29 at Foodland, Grape Tomatoes are $2.99 at Foodbasics, Olival Black Olives are $3.99 at Fortinos, Zesty Italian Salad Dressing is $2.99 at Foodbasics, and 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese is $9.49 at Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Together, those five ingredients total $25.75. Divided by 4 servings, your dinner cost is $6.44 per serving when rounded to the nearest cent.

You should pick this recipe when you want to control your basket size while keeping the pasta and cheese. Compared with the full Pasta Salad at $8.15 per serving, the tomato-olive chickpea pasta at $6.44 per serving saves you $1.71 per serving, or about 21.0%, based on the rounded per-serving prices. That difference comes from leaving out the Mixed Bell Peppers, Pickled Cucumbers and Red Onions, which together account for $23.17 in the full basket.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, your key shopping stops are Foodbasics, Foodland, Fortinos and Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. Foodbasics is especially important because it supplies both the $2.99 Grape Tomatoes and the $2.99 Zesty Italian Salad Dressing. Those two lower-priced ingredients help offset the higher $9.49 parmesan line item.

Foodland offers the Chickapea Organic Gluten-Free Pasta Spirals 227 g at $6.29, which is the base of this dinner. Fortinos supplies the Olival Black Olives at $3.99, giving you a salty ingredient without adding a high-cost protein. If you want a budget meal that still feels substantial, you can build your basket around the pasta and tomatoes first, then decide whether the parmesan is essential for your household.

This recipe also shows why comparing across banners matters. The tomato-olive chickpea pasta is $23.17 cheaper as a total basket than the full Pasta Salad, because you are buying five listed ingredients instead of eight. If your priority is one simple weeknight dinner rather than leftovers for several lunches, this smaller basket gives you a lower checkout cost and a per-serving price that remains comfortably below $7.

Recipe 3: No-Cook Mediterranean Chopped Salad — $5.52 Per Serving

The no-cook Mediterranean chopped salad is the cheapest recipe in this Ontario analysis at $33.14 total for 6 servings, or $5.52 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. It uses the vegetable, pickle, olive and dressing components from the Pasta Salad basket while leaving out the pasta and parmesan.

This recipe is the strongest choice when you want the lowest per-serving price from the available ingredients. The basket includes Mixed Bell Peppers at $7.39 from Costco, Grape Tomatoes at $2.99 from Foodbasics, Pickled Cucumbers at $5.79 from Food Basics at 780 Talbot St., Red Onions at $9.99 from Foodbasics, Olival Black Olives at $3.99 from Fortinos and Zesty Italian Salad Dressing at $2.99 from Foodbasics. Those six ingredients total $33.14, and the cost comes to $5.52 per serving across 6 servings.

You should choose this version when you want a no-cook dinner, a side for grilled food, or a lower-cost meal base that can be stretched with pantry staples you already own. Compared with the full Pasta Salad at $8.15 per serving, this chopped salad at $5.52 per serving saves you $2.63 per serving, or about 32.3% using rounded per-serving prices. The main cost reduction comes from removing the $6.29 pasta and the $9.49 parmesan from your basket.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For the cheapest recipe, your most important store in the tracked basket is Foodbasics because it supplies three ingredients: Grape Tomatoes at $2.99, Red Onions at $9.99 and Zesty Italian Salad Dressing at $2.99. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. contributes the $5.79 Pickled Cucumbers, while Costco contributes the $7.39 Mixed Bell Peppers and Fortinos contributes the $3.99 Olival Black Olives. This makes the chopped salad a practical multi-store basket rather than a one-aisle purchase.

If you are trying to keep dinner under $6 per serving, the ingredient choices matter more than the recipe name. You are not reducing the price by using vague “budget” substitutions; you are reducing it by removing the two higher-cost add-ons that are not required for a no-cook salad. In this data set, the pasta and parmesan together cost $15.78, and leaving them out is what moves the recipe from $8.15 per serving down to $5.52 per serving.

This version also gives you flexibility. You can serve it as a standalone light dinner, use it as a filling for wraps if you already have tortillas at home, or pair it with an existing pantry protein without changing the tracked grocery basket. For a strict price comparison, however, the $5.52 per-serving figure only includes the six listed ingredients and does not assume any unpriced add-ons.

Ontario Basket Index: Ingredient Prices Across Stores

The Ontario budget dinner basket ranges from $2.99 for Grape Tomatoes and Zesty Italian Salad Dressing at Foodbasics to $9.99 for Red Onions at Foodbasics. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This basket index gives you the line-by-line prices behind the recipes so you can see which ingredients are pulling the total up or down.

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

For your own grocery planning, the basket index highlights two different savings strategies. First, you can build around the lowest-priced flavour ingredients: $2.99 tomatoes, $2.99 dressing and $3.99 olives. Second, you can decide whether higher-cost ingredients such as $9.99 red onions and $9.49 parmesan are essential for the version you want to make.

This is where AI-powered grocery price comparison becomes useful for recipe costing. If you only look at the recipe title, “pasta salad” sounds inexpensive by default, but the total basket reaches $48.92 when all eight ingredients are included. When you compare line items, you can see exactly why the chopped salad is cheaper and why the tomato-olive chickpea pasta lands in the middle.

Top Current Ingredient Deals for These Budget Meals

The best current ingredient prices in this Ontario recipe basket are the $2.99 Grape Tomatoes and the $2.99 Zesty Italian Salad Dressing at Foodbasics. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. The table below ranks the lowest current tracked prices used in these recipes; where a separate regular price was not included in the provided source data, savings are not calculated rather than estimated.

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

For a practical shopping list, you should treat the first three rows as the best low-cost anchors in the basket. Tomatoes, dressing and olives together cost $9.97, and they appear in all three recipes. Those ingredients give you a strong flavour base before you decide whether to add pasta, parmesan, peppers, pickles or onions.

You should also be cautious about assuming that every “deal” has a published savings percentage. In this data, the current shelf prices are available, but separate regular prices are not included. That is why the table uses the current tracked price for costing and avoids inventing a discount percentage that is not present in the source data.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The no-cook Mediterranean chopped salad is the lowest-cost dinner at $5.52 per serving, while the full Pasta Salad is the highest-cost option at $8.15 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. If you are comparing cheapest recipes for Ontario grocery planning, this side-by-side table is the clearest view of your trade-offs.

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

The comparison shows that the lowest checkout total is not the same as the lowest per-serving cost. The tomato-olive chickpea pasta has the lowest total basket at $25.75, but because it is costed at 4 servings, it comes to $6.44 per serving. The chopped salad costs more at checkout, $33.14, but it stretches across 6 servings and therefore lands at $5.52 per serving.

You should use the full Pasta Salad when you want the broadest ingredient mix and the most complete make-ahead dish. You should use the tomato-olive chickpea pasta when you want a smaller shop and a more filling pasta-based dinner. You should use the no-cook chopped salad when your main goal is the lowest per-serving price from the current Ontario grocery data.

How to Use These Prices for Your Own Ontario Meal Plan

You can keep budget meals in Ontario under $9 per serving by choosing which Pasta Salad ingredients to include and by shopping the tracked low-price stores for each line item. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. The same ingredient list supports three different dinner costs: $5.52, $6.44 and $8.15 per serving.

Start by deciding whether pasta and parmesan are necessary for the meal you want. If you include both, your recipe moves closer to the full Pasta Salad at $8.15 per serving. If you include pasta but keep the basket smaller, the tomato-olive chickpea pasta gives you a middle option at $6.44 per serving. If you leave out both pasta and parmesan, your no-cook chopped salad becomes the cheapest recipe at $5.52 per serving.

You should also plan your shopping route around the stores that matter most to your basket. Foodbasics appears repeatedly in this data, with $2.99 Grape Tomatoes, $2.99 Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and $9.99 Red Onions. Food Basics at 780 Talbot St. matters for $5.79 Pickled Cucumbers and $9.49 Parmesan, while Costco, Fortinos and Foodland each contribute one ingredient to the broader recipe set.

For more planning, you can compare current grocery deals at https://eezly.com/deals, browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, or build a meal plan at https://eezly.com/meal-plans. If you want to compare by retailer before shopping, you can also review store-level options from https://eezly.com/stores and read more grocery analysis at https://eezly.com/blog. Those pages are useful when you want to move from a single recipe cost to a full weekly grocery plan.