Ontario Budget Dinner: Salmon Patties at $1.16/Serving

Key Facts

• Salmon Patties cost $13.96 total in Ontario and serve 12 people. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Salmon Patties cost $1.16 per serving at Food Basics in Ontario. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Pink Salmon Wild Pacific is priced at $2.99 at Food Basics. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Olive Oil is priced at $5.99 at Food Basics. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Parsley Flakes are priced at $0.99 at Food Basics. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA are priced at $3.99 at Foodland. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Recipe Is Salmon Patties at $1.16 Per Serving

Salmon Patties are the cheapest recipes option in this Ontario dinner costing, priced at $13.96 total for 12 servings, or $1.16 per serving. That makes this a practical answer if you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $2 per serving in Ontario and want a protein-centred meal using real store prices rather than estimates. The lowest-cost store combination in the available June 2026 pricing is Food Basics for the salmon, olive oil, and parsley, plus Foodland for the eggs.

For your weekly meal planning, this recipe works because the ingredient list is short, the total cost is easy to verify, and the serving count is high. You can prepare the patties for dinner and use leftovers for lunches, sandwiches, rice bowls, or salad plates. In Ontario, where common grocery banners include Food Basics, Foodland, Fortinos, FreshCo, Loblaws, Metro, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Walmart, Zehrs, Sobeys, Valu-Mart, Wholesale Club, and Your Independent Grocer, comparing the specific product price matters more than relying on a general assumption about which store is always cheapest.

Recipe 1: Salmon Patties — $1.16 Per Serving

Salmon Patties cost $13.96 total and $1.16 per serving in Ontario, based on the priced ingredients available at Food Basics and Foodland. This is the strongest budget dinner in the data because it gives you 12 servings from four priced grocery items: Pink Salmon Wild Pacific, eggs, parsley flakes, and olive oil. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This recipe is especially useful when you want an inexpensive no-pork, no-red-meat dinner that still feels like a complete main dish. You can serve the patties with pantry sides you already have, such as potatoes, rice, frozen vegetables, or salad greens, but those sides are not included in the $13.96 recipe cost because they were not part of the provided price data. The core costing here is intentionally conservative: it includes only ingredients with real Ontario grocery prices.

Ingredients with Prices

The ingredient basket for Salmon Patties is built around a low-cost canned fish item at Food Basics and a dozen small eggs at Foodland. Pink Salmon Wild Pacific is priced at $2.99 at Food Basics, which keeps the protein component affordable. Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA cost $3.99 at Foodland, providing the binder for the patties and helping stretch the recipe to 12 servings.

Olive Oil costs $5.99 at Food Basics, making it the highest-priced item in the basket. Parsley Flakes cost $0.99 at Food Basics, which adds seasoning at a very low price. If you are building cheap dinner recipes under $2 per serving, this kind of low-cost seasoning matters because it improves flavour without materially increasing the per-serving cost.

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Food Basics is the cheapest store for three of the four priced Salmon Patties ingredients in this Ontario costing. You should buy Olive Oil for $5.99, Parsley Flakes for $0.99, and Pink Salmon Wild Pacific for $2.99 at Food Basics. Foodland is the cheapest listed store for Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA at $3.99.

This means your most efficient shopping route is not a single-store basket if you want the lowest available item-level pricing from the data. You use Food Basics for the bulk of the recipe and Foodland for the eggs. If you are already shopping at one of those stores, you can decide whether the extra stop is worth it for your schedule, but the recipe costing itself is based on the cheapest listed ingredient prices.

Food Basics offers Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99, while the provided Ontario data does not list a lower salmon price at another banner; for this recipe, Food Basics is therefore the cheapest identified store for the salmon component. Foodland offers Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA at $3.99, while the provided Ontario data does not list a lower egg price at another banner; for this recipe, Foodland is therefore the cheapest identified store for the egg component. This is the kind of product-level comparison that helps you keep your dinner cost at $1.16 per serving rather than relying on a general store reputation.

Recipe 2: Parsley Salmon Cakes — $1.16 Per Serving

Parsley Salmon Cakes use the same priced Ontario ingredient basket as the Salmon Patties and cost $13.96 total, or $1.16 per serving. The difference is in preparation: you lean into the parsley flavour and form smaller cakes for a lunch-friendly or appetizer-style dinner format. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This second preparation is useful if you want the same budget meal structure but a different serving style. You still rely on Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99 from Food Basics, Parsley Flakes at $0.99 from Food Basics, Olive Oil at $5.99 from Food Basics, and Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA at $3.99 from Foodland. Because the priced ingredients remain unchanged, your cost per serving remains $1.16.

Ingredients with Prices

For Parsley Salmon Cakes, you use the salmon as the base, the egg as the binder, the parsley as the key seasoning, and olive oil for cooking. The pricing is identical to Recipe 1 because the ingredient basket is identical. That is an advantage for your grocery planning: you can batch-cook one basket and portion it in different ways across multiple meals.

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

You should buy three of the four priced ingredients at Food Basics for this recipe format. Food Basics has Olive Oil at $5.99, Parsley Flakes at $0.99, and Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99. You should buy the Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA at Foodland for $3.99.

If you are comparing budget meals Ontario shoppers can actually make, the key point is that a recipe does not need many ingredients to be cost-effective. The lower the number of required items, the easier it is for you to avoid unnecessary add-ons that push the dinner above your target cost. In this case, the complete priced basket stays at $13.96 and supports a $1.16 per-serving result.

Recipe 3: Egg-Bound Salmon Fritters — $1.16 Per Serving

Egg-Bound Salmon Fritters also cost $13.96 total and $1.16 per serving in Ontario because they use the same four priced ingredients from Food Basics and Foodland. The preparation shifts the texture: you use the egg more prominently as a binder and cook the mixture as flatter fritters in olive oil. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This third version is practical when you want the same cheapest recipes framework but a faster pan-cooked format. You can make smaller fritters that cook quickly and portion easily. For your household, the benefit is that one low-cost grocery basket can become multiple dinner styles without changing the underlying price math.

Ingredients with Prices

The fritter basket includes Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99 from Food Basics, Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA at $3.99 from Foodland, Parsley Flakes at $0.99 from Food Basics, and Olive Oil at $5.99 from Food Basics. The full basket totals $13.96 and serves 12. That keeps the cost per serving at $1.16.

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Food Basics remains the cheapest identified source for the salmon, oil, and parsley in this Ontario data, while Foodland is the cheapest identified source for the eggs. You can keep your fritter cost low by sticking to those store-specific prices rather than substituting higher-priced items without checking. The recipe’s affordability depends on maintaining the $13.96 basket cost.

For your shopping list, the most important item to protect is the salmon price. Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99 at Food Basics is the main reason this recipe can stay below $2 per serving. The second most important decision is buying eggs at the listed $3.99 Foodland price, because eggs provide structure and help stretch the recipe across 12 servings.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

All three recipe formats cost $13.96 total and $1.16 per serving because they use the same verified Ontario ingredient basket. This comparison is useful if you are deciding between cheap dinner recipes under $2 per serving and want to know whether the preparation style changes your grocery bill. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

The answer is straightforward: in this dataset, the preparation style does not change the grocery cost. You can make patties, parsley-forward cakes, or egg-bound fritters from the same basket. That gives you flexibility without adding extra priced ingredients.

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

For your meal plan, the table shows why the Salmon Patties basket is the strongest budget option in this article. You can choose the preparation based on texture, timing, or leftovers rather than price. Since each version uses the same four priced ingredients, you avoid the common budget-meal problem of buying specialty items that are only used once.

Ontario Basket Index: Priced Ingredients Across Stores

The Ontario basket index shows that Food Basics carries three of the four priced ingredients in the lowest identified basket, while Foodland carries the eggs. The full basket costs $13.96 and supports 12 servings at $1.16 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This basket index is not a generic pantry estimate. It is a recipe-specific price list for the items used in the dinner. You can use it as a practical shopping checklist before going to Food Basics and Foodland.

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

Food Basics offers the three-item portion of the basket at $9.97, while Foodland supplies the egg item at $3.99. The combined total is $13.96, calculated as $5.99 for olive oil, plus $2.99 for salmon, plus $0.99 for parsley, plus $3.99 for eggs. If you are trying to control your dinner budget, this itemized approach is more useful than comparing only store names.

Top Priced Items for This Budget Dinner

The best-priced items in this recipe basket are Parsley Flakes at $0.99 at Food Basics and Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99 at Food Basics. Together, those two items provide seasoning and protein for a combined $3.98 before eggs and oil are added. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

Because regular prices were not included in the available data, the table below focuses on verified live prices rather than estimated savings percentages. That is the more reliable approach for your grocery planning: you should make decisions from confirmed prices instead of assumed discounts. The key takeaway is that the basket produces a complete 12-serving dinner at $1.16 per serving.

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

For your shopping priorities, start with the salmon and eggs because they determine whether the recipe functions as a main dish. Then add parsley and oil to finish the cooking profile. If you already have olive oil at home, your out-of-pocket trip cost could be lower, but the recipe costing here includes olive oil because it is one of the priced ingredients in the basket.

How to Use This Recipe in a Weekly Ontario Meal Plan

You can use the $1.16-per-serving Salmon Patties basket as a low-cost anchor meal for the week. Since the recipe makes 12 servings, it can cover one large family dinner, multiple lunches, or several smaller meals for one or two people. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

For example, you might serve the patties hot on the first night and use the remaining portions cold or reheated later in the week. You can pair them with pantry staples or vegetables you already own, but the verified cost remains tied to the four priced ingredients: salmon, eggs, parsley, and oil. This is how you keep your budget meals Ontario plan disciplined: you separate the confirmed recipe cost from optional add-ons.

If you are shopping at Ontario banners such as Food Basics, Foodland, FreshCo, No Frills, Loblaws, Metro, Walmart, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstore, or Fortinos, you should compare product-level prices before assuming one chain is cheaper for the whole basket. In this recipe, Food Basics is the strongest store for three listed items, while Foodland is needed for the egg price. That mixed-basket approach is often how you get the lowest real dinner cost.

How AI Price Comparison Helps You Keep Dinner Under $2 Per Serving

AI-powered grocery price comparison helps you keep this dinner under $2 per serving by matching each ingredient to the cheapest identified store price. In this Ontario recipe, the result is a $13.96 basket and a $1.16 serving cost across 12 servings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

For your household, the value of real-time price tracking is that it turns a recipe idea into a store-specific shopping plan. Instead of writing “salmon” or “eggs” on a list and accepting whatever price appears in front of you, you can target Pink Salmon Wild Pacific at $2.99 at Food Basics and Gray Ridge Egg Farms Small Eggs 12 EA at $3.99 at Foodland. That is the difference between recipe inspiration and recipe costing.

You can explore more grocery price comparisons at https://eezly.com/deals, plan additional meals at https://eezly.com/meal-plans, and browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes. If you want broader grocery coverage and shopping analysis, https://eezly.com/blog is also relevant. These links are useful when you want to compare your next basket before committing to a store trip.