Ontario Cheap Dinners: Chicken Pasta at $6.89

Key Facts

• Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe costs $27.57 total for 4 servings in Ontario. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• The featured recipe costs $6.89 per serving at Foodbasics and Fortinos. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast is $3.99 at Foodbasics. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Pasta, Elbows is $1.49 at Fortinos, the lowest-priced ingredient in the recipe. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Garlic is priced at $1.00 at Foodbasics for this Ontario recipe basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Broccoli is $4.49 at Fortinos, while Whole Sweet Red Peppers are $3.79 at Fortinos. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Featured Dinner Is Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe at $6.89 Per Serving

Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe is the featured Ontario budget dinner at $6.89 per serving, with a total basket cost of $27.57 for four servings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026. If you are planning budget meals in Ontario, this recipe gives you a practical benchmark for what a complete pasta dinner costs when you buy the priced ingredients across Foodbasics and Fortinos.

The recipe is built around three cost anchors: Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 at Fortinos, Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99 at Foodbasics, and Garlic at $1.00 at Foodbasics. Those lower-priced ingredients help offset higher basket items such as Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82 at Foodbasics and Olive Oil at $5.99 at Foodbasics. You still get a dinner with protein, vegetables and pasta, but you avoid relying on a single expensive centre-of-plate item.

For your Ontario grocery plan, the most useful takeaway is not simply that one recipe costs $6.89 per serving. It is that your final dinner cost depends heavily on store splitting. Foodbasics supplies four of the seven priced items in the full basket, while Fortinos supplies three. If you already shop both banners, you can treat this as a realistic mixed-store dinner plan rather than a theoretical cheapest basket.

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.

Recipe 1: Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe — $6.89 Per Serving

Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe costs $27.57 total, or $6.89 per serving for four servings, using Ontario prices from Foodbasics and Fortinos. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the strongest complete dinner recipe in the available Ontario data because it includes protein, pasta, vegetables, aromatics and cooking oil in one priced basket.

For you, the main advantage of this recipe is that the cost is transparent. You can see exactly where the $27.57 goes: $3.99 for Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at Foodbasics, $1.49 for elbow pasta at Fortinos, $4.49 for broccoli at Fortinos, and $6.82 for Red Cluster Tomatoes at Foodbasics. The recipe also includes Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $3.79 at Fortinos, Garlic at $1.00 at Foodbasics and Olive Oil at $5.99 at Foodbasics.

This matters because many cheap dinner recipes under $7 per serving rely on pantry assumptions that are not visible in the final cost. In this costing, even olive oil is included as a priced item, which makes the $6.89 serving estimate more conservative than a recipe that assumes oil, garlic or pasta are already in your kitchen. If you already have olive oil at home, your immediate checkout cost for this dinner would be lower, but the article’s costing uses the full priced ingredient basket.

Ingredients with Prices

The full ingredient basket for Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe totals $27.57, calculated directly from seven priced Ontario grocery items. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026. You should read this as a meal-costing basket rather than a nutrition label, because the prices reflect grocery purchase units in the live price feed.

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

The arithmetic is straightforward: $3.99 + $5.99 + $6.82 + $1.00 + $3.79 + $4.49 + $1.49 equals $27.57. Divided by four servings, that produces a rounded cost of $6.89 per serving. If your priority is a filling Ontario dinner under $7 per serving, this recipe qualifies using the full basket rather than excluding the higher-cost cooking oil or vegetable items.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Foodbasics supplies the chicken, olive oil, tomatoes and garlic in this recipe basket, while Fortinos supplies the red peppers, broccoli and elbow pasta. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. For your grocery route, that means the recipe is cheapest as a split basket rather than a one-store basket based on the available priced items.

Foodbasics is particularly important for the protein and flavour base. Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast is $3.99 at Foodbasics, Garlic is $1.00 at Foodbasics, Red Cluster Tomatoes are $6.82 at Foodbasics and Olive Oil is $5.99 at Foodbasics. Fortinos carries the lowest listed prices in the recipe data for Pasta, Elbows at $1.49, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $3.79 and Broccoli at $4.49.

If you do not want to visit two stores, you can still use this recipe as a pricing guide when you shop. Your target prices are clear: pasta near $1.49, chicken near $3.99, garlic near $1.00 and a vegetable mix that keeps the combined produce cost close to the $15.10 shown here for tomatoes, peppers and broccoli. You can also use eezly’s AI-powered grocery price comparison before you leave home to check whether Foodbasics or Fortinos has shifted on these items.

Recipe 2: Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta — $3.83 Per Serving

Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta costs $15.30 total, or $3.83 per serving for four servings, using Red Cluster Tomatoes, Garlic, Olive Oil and Pasta, Elbows from the Ontario price set. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the cheapest recipe variation in this article because it removes the chicken and extra vegetables while keeping a complete pasta dinner structure.

This recipe is best for nights when you want the lowest checkout cost and are comfortable serving a meatless pasta dinner. The cost is anchored by Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 at Fortinos and Garlic at $1.00 at Foodbasics. The two higher-cost components are Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82 at Foodbasics and Olive Oil at $5.99 at Foodbasics, which together create the sauce base.

The total is calculated as $6.82 for tomatoes, plus $1.00 for garlic, plus $5.99 for olive oil, plus $1.49 for pasta, equalling $15.30. Divided by four servings, that comes to $3.825, rounded to $3.83 per serving. For Ontario shoppers comparing cheapest recipes, this meal is materially cheaper than the full Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe basket because it uses four priced items instead of seven.

Ingredients with Prices

Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta uses four priced items and keeps the ingredient list short. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026. You should consider this recipe when you want a low-cost base meal that can stand alone or support leftovers, pantry cheese, beans or extra vegetables you already have at home.

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

From a practical cooking standpoint, you would build this dinner by cooking the elbow pasta and making a simple tomato-garlic sauce with olive oil. The tomatoes are the most expensive item in the recipe at $6.82, so if you are comparing flyer options in Ontario, that is the item you should watch most closely. The pasta is the least expensive item at $1.49, which is why this recipe remains one of the strongest budget meals Ontario shoppers can make from the available data.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Foodbasics offers Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82, Garlic at $1.00 and Olive Oil at $5.99, while Fortinos offers Pasta, Elbows at $1.49. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. For your shopping plan, the cheapest version of this recipe uses Foodbasics for the sauce ingredients and Fortinos for the pasta.

Foodbasics is the central store for this recipe because three of the four priced items are there. Fortinos matters because the pasta price is low enough to support the whole meal’s cost-per-serving target. Fortinos offers Pasta, Elbows at $1.49, while Foodbasics supplies the $13.81 sauce basket of tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.

You can use this recipe as a cheap dinner under $4 per serving if you are comfortable counting the full price of olive oil in the basket. If you already own olive oil, the immediate out-of-pocket cost for tomatoes, garlic and pasta would be $9.31, but the formal recipe costing remains $15.30 because the priced basket includes oil. That makes the comparison conservative and easier to repeat from one shopping trip to another.

Recipe 3: Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta — $2.74 Per Serving

Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta costs $10.97 total, or $2.74 per serving for four servings, using Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast, Broccoli, Garlic and Pasta, Elbows from the Ontario price set. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. This is the lowest-cost protein-and-vegetable recipe variation because it excludes tomatoes, peppers and olive oil from the formal basket.

This dinner is useful when your priority is a leaner basket with chicken, broccoli and pasta. The core prices are Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99 at Foodbasics, Broccoli at $4.49 at Fortinos, Garlic at $1.00 at Foodbasics and Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 at Fortinos. The recipe total is $3.99 + $4.49 + $1.00 + $1.49, which equals $10.97.

At $2.74 per serving, this recipe has the lowest calculated per-serving price among the three dinners in this article. The reason is simple: it uses the two lowest-priced recipe items, garlic and pasta, plus the chicken and broccoli, without adding the $6.82 tomatoes or $5.99 olive oil. If you already have oil, butter or another cooking fat at home, this becomes a practical weeknight option for keeping your Ontario dinner spend low.

Ingredients with Prices

Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta uses four priced ingredients and keeps the basket focused on protein, vegetable and starch. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026. You can treat it as a stripped-down version of the featured pasta dinner when you want the same general meal format at a lower basket price.

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

For you, this recipe is the most cost-efficient way to use the chicken in the current Ontario ingredient set. The chicken price of $3.99 is lower than the broccoli price of $4.49 and far lower than the tomato price of $6.82, which changes the usual assumption that protein must be the dominant cost in a dinner basket. In this case, produce and pantry items shape the final bill more than the prepared chicken does.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Foodbasics is the cheapest listed source for the chicken and garlic in this recipe, while Fortinos is the cheapest listed source for broccoli and elbow pasta. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. Your most efficient shopping split is therefore Foodbasics for the protein and aromatic, and Fortinos for the vegetable and starch.

This recipe also shows why you should compare by ingredient rather than by store reputation. Foodbasics offers Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99 and Garlic at $1.00, while Fortinos offers Broccoli at $4.49 and Pasta, Elbows at $1.49. Each store contributes two items to the cheapest version of the recipe, so a single-banner assumption would miss part of the cost advantage.

If you shop in Ontario at banners such as Food Basics, FreshCo, No Frills, Walmart, Fortinos, Loblaws, Metro, Real Canadian Superstore or Zehrs, you already know prices can move differently by category. The lesson from this basket is that pasta and garlic create a low-cost foundation, while vegetables and sauce ingredients determine whether your final dinner stays near $3 per serving or moves closer to $7 per serving.

Basket Index: Ontario Ingredient Prices Across Foodbasics and Fortinos

The Ontario basket index shows seven dinner staples ranging from $1.00 for Garlic at Foodbasics to $6.82 for Red Cluster Tomatoes at Foodbasics. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. For your meal plan, the lowest-priced items are garlic and elbow pasta, while tomatoes and olive oil carry the most weight in the total basket.

This basket index is designed to help you see which ingredients deserve the most comparison effort before you shop. If your time is limited, you do not need to over-optimize a $1.00 garlic purchase. You should focus your attention on the $6.82 tomatoes, $5.99 olive oil and $4.49 broccoli because changes in those categories would have the largest impact on your dinner cost.

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

The basket also shows why pasta dinners remain useful for budget meals in Ontario. Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 is the cheapest starch in the data and creates a four-serving base at a very low ingredient cost. When you combine that with Garlic at $1.00 and Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99, you have the foundation for a meal that can stay well below the $7-per-serving ceiling.

Top Priced Ingredients and Cost Drivers for Ontario Budget Dinners

The top cost drivers in this Ontario dinner basket are Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82, Olive Oil at $5.99 and Broccoli at $4.49. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. If you want to reduce the cost of these recipes, you should start by watching those three ingredients before worrying about pasta or garlic.

Because the available feed provides live item prices but not separate regular-price fields, the table below ranks the strongest priced items by their impact on the recipe basket rather than inventing unavailable discount percentages. That is the most accurate way to use the data while still giving you a practical top-deals view. Your best low-price anchors are Garlic at $1.00, Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 and Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99.

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

For your shopping decision, the most important comparison is not a percentage discount but the way each item changes the serving cost. Adding Red Cluster Tomatoes and Olive Oil to a simple pasta base increases the recipe basket by $12.81. Adding chicken and broccoli to pasta and garlic increases the basket by $8.48. That is why Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta comes in at $2.74 per serving, while the fuller Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe basket comes in at $6.89 per serving.

Price Comparison Table: Three Ontario Dinner Recipes Side by Side

Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta is the cheapest recipe at $2.74 per serving, while Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe is the most complete featured dinner at $6.89 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. You should choose between them based on whether your priority is the lowest cost, the fuller vegetable mix or the lowest meatless pasta option.

The comparison below uses only the priced ingredients provided in the Ontario May 2026 data. It does not assume unpriced pantry items beyond the ingredient baskets listed in each recipe section. That makes the table useful if you want to compare cheap dinner recipes under $7 using transparent grocery prices rather than estimated costs.

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

If you want the most complete dinner, choose Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe. It includes chicken, pasta, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, broccoli and olive oil, which makes it the broadest recipe basket. If you want the cheapest protein option, choose Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta at $2.74 per serving. If you want the lowest meatless option, Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta at $3.83 per serving is the better match.

How to Use These Prices for Budget Meals in Ontario

Your best Ontario budget meal strategy is to build dinners around low-cost anchors, then decide which higher-cost vegetables or pantry items are worth adding. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. In this data set, the anchors are Garlic at $1.00 at Foodbasics, Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 at Fortinos and Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99 at Foodbasics.

You can use those three items as the starting point for several cheap recipes. Pasta and garlic create the base. Chicken adds protein without pushing the recipe basket too high. Broccoli at $4.49 then adds a vegetable component, bringing the Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta recipe to $10.97 total, or $2.74 per serving.

The higher-cost additions are still useful, but you should add them intentionally. Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82 and Olive Oil at $5.99 make Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta taste more like a complete sauced dinner, but they also raise the basket to $15.30. Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $3.79 and Broccoli at $4.49 add produce variety to the full Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe recipe, but that full basket rises to $27.57.

If your weekly goal is variety, you can rotate the three recipes rather than cooking the same meal repeatedly. The full pasta-and-vegetable dinner works when you want the broadest ingredient mix. The tomato-garlic pasta works when you want a meatless option. The chicken-broccoli pasta works when you want the lowest-cost protein dinner from the available Ontario prices.

Why Store Splitting Matters for the Cheapest Recipes

Store splitting matters because the lowest-priced Ontario recipe basket uses Foodbasics for some ingredients and Fortinos for others. Source: eezly real-time price tracking. Foodbasics carries the listed prices for chicken, olive oil, tomatoes and garlic, while Fortinos carries the listed prices for peppers, broccoli and pasta.

For you, that means the cheapest recipe is not simply about choosing one banner and buying everything there. The data points to a more precise approach: match each ingredient to the store where it appears in the priced basket. Foodbasics offers Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99, Olive Oil at $5.99, Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82 and Garlic at $1.00. Fortinos offers Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $3.79, Broccoli at $4.49 and Pasta, Elbows at $1.49.

This is especially relevant in Ontario, where active grocery banners include Costco, Food Basics, Foodland, Fortinos, FreshCo, Loblaws, Metro, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Sobeys, Valu-Mart, Walmart, Wholesale Club, Your Independent Grocer and Zehrs. You may not need to visit every banner, but you should compare the categories that drive your bill. In this recipe set, produce and pantry items matter as much as protein.

eezly’s AI-powered grocery price comparison can help you identify those differences before you build your list. The practical value is that you can make a recipe decision before checkout: choose the full $6.89-per-serving dinner, the $3.83 meatless pasta, or the $2.74 chicken-broccoli pasta based on your budget and what you already have at home.

FAQ

Q: What are the cheapest dinner recipes under $7 in Ontario in May 2026?
A: The three priced Ontario dinner recipes in this article all come in under $7 per serving. Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta is $2.74 per serving, Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta is $3.83 per serving, and Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe is $6.89 per serving. These costs use Foodbasics and Fortinos prices from eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026.

Q: What is the cheapest grocery store in Ontario for this recipe basket?
A: For this Ontario recipe basket, there is no single-store winner because the cheapest listed prices are split between Foodbasics and Fortinos. Foodbasics supplies Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99, Olive Oil at $5.99, Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82 and Garlic at $1.00. Fortinos supplies Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $3.79, Broccoli at $4.49 and Pasta, Elbows at $1.49.

Q: What is the cheapest recipe in this Ontario comparison?
A: Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta is the cheapest recipe in this comparison at $10.97 total for four servings, or $2.74 per serving. It uses Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast Roast at $3.99 from Foodbasics, Broccoli at $4.49 from Fortinos, Garlic at $1.00 from Foodbasics and Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 from Fortinos.

Q: How much does Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe cost per serving in Ontario?
A: Chicken Pasta & Broccoli Rabe costs $27.57 total for four servings, or $6.89 per serving, using Ontario prices from Foodbasics and Fortinos. The basket includes chicken, olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, red peppers, broccoli and elbow pasta, according to eezly real-time price tracking as of May 2026.

Q: How can AI help save on groceries in Ontario?
A: AI can help you compare grocery prices by ingredient rather than relying on one store for the whole basket. In this Ontario example, eezly’s AI-powered grocery price comparison identifies Foodbasics for chicken at $3.99 and garlic at $1.00, while Fortinos has Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 and Broccoli at $4.49. That store-by-store view helps you build cheaper budget meals.

Q: Is pasta still a good budget meal in Ontario?
A: Yes, pasta is a strong budget meal base in this Ontario price set because Pasta, Elbows is $1.49 at Fortinos. That low starch cost helps keep Tomato Garlic Elbow Pasta at $3.83 per serving and Chicken Broccoli Elbow Pasta at $2.74 per serving. The final cost depends on what you add to the pasta, especially tomatoes, oil and vegetables.

Q: Which ingredient should I watch most closely when costing cheap Ontario dinners?
A: You should watch the higher-cost ingredients first, especially Red Cluster Tomatoes at $6.82 at Foodbasics, Olive Oil at $5.99 at Foodbasics and Broccoli at $4.49 at Fortinos. Garlic at $1.00 and Pasta, Elbows at $1.49 have less room to affect your total. Your biggest savings opportunities usually come from the items that take the largest share of the basket.