Quebec Budget Meals: Big Salad at $6.98/Serving

Key Facts

• Big Salad costs $83.72 total for 12 servings in Quebec. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Big Salad costs $6.98 per serving when priced from Quebec grocery data. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Maxi is the cheapest store attached to the full Big Salad recipe basket. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Radishes are the lowest-priced listed ingredient at $1.99 at Maxi. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Seasoned Croutons are priced at $2.00 at Maxi. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow is priced at $13.21 at IGA. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Quebec has 835 tracked stores across banners including Maxi, Metro, IGA, Super C, Walmart, Costco, Provigo, and Wholesale Club. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Featured Dinner Is Big Salad at $6.98 Per Serving

Big Salad is the cheapest fully priced recipe in this Quebec dinner-costing guide at $6.98 per serving. The full basket is priced at $83.72 for 12 servings, with Maxi identified as the store attached to the complete recipe cost. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

If you are trying to build a lower-cost dinner in Quebec without relying on meat, fish, pork, or shellfish, this recipe gives you a clear benchmark. You get a large vegetarian salad built from lettuce, spinach, peppers, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, cranberries, croutons, and aromatics. Because the recipe serves 12, it is especially useful when you are feeding a family, preparing lunches for several days, or bringing a dish to a shared meal.

The most important budgeting lesson in this basket is that “cheap dinner” does not always mean every ingredient comes from the same store. Maxi has several of the lowest listed prices, including Radishes at $1.99, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, Cranberries at $6.50, and Seasoned Croutons at $2.00. Metro is attached to Celery at $4.99, Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10, and Baby Carrots at $6.99, while IGA has Shallots Onions at $4.39, Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59, and Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21. If you already shop across banners such as Maxi, Metro, IGA, Costco, Super C, Walmart, Provigo, and Wholesale Club, you can use this kind of item-level pricing to decide where your grocery run makes the most financial sense.

Recipe 1: Big Salad — $6.98 Per Serving

Big Salad costs $83.72 total for 12 servings, or $6.98 per serving, making it the benchmark cheap dinner recipe in this Quebec guide. The full recipe is attached to Maxi, while individual ingredient prices are spread across Maxi, Metro, IGA, Costco, and Canada inc. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This is a large-format vegetarian dinner rather than a small side salad. You are buying enough produce, toppings, and crunchy add-ins to make 12 servings, which changes how you should evaluate the price. A single ingredient such as Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 at IGA may look expensive in isolation, but the per-serving recipe cost remains below $7 because the basket is divided across 12 portions.

For Quebec households, this recipe works best when you want one dinner that can also become leftovers. You can serve it as a main meal with croutons, sunflower seeds, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, and cranberries, or use it as a base for packed lunches. If you are comparing the cheapest recipes by serving cost, the $6.98 figure is the key number: it is the real basket cost divided by 12 servings, not an estimate based on generic pantry assumptions.

Ingredients with Prices

Big Salad’s ingredient basket includes 15 priced items, with current Quebec prices ranging from $1.99 to $13.21. Maxi offers several of the lower-priced components, including Radishes at $1.99, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, and Cranberries at $6.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

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

When you look at the full ingredient list, you can see why recipe costing is more useful than guessing from memory. Your lowest-cost line items are Radishes at $1.99 at Maxi and Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 at Maxi. Your highest-cost line item is Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 at IGA, followed by Green Onions at $8.19 at Costco and Baby Carrots at $6.99 at Metro.

If you are trying to keep your dinner cost under control, you should pay close attention to the ingredients above $6. The cranberries, green onions, yellow bell pepper, baby carrots, sunflower seeds, and organic tomatoes carry much of the basket cost. That does not mean you need to remove them, but it does mean those are the items worth checking before you commit to a store.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Maxi is the most important store in this recipe basket because it carries the complete Big Salad recipe association and several of the lowest-priced individual ingredients. Maxi lists Radishes at $1.99, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, and Cranberries at $6.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

If you want a simple shopping plan, start with Maxi for the recipe anchor. You can cover multiple basket items there, and the $6.98 per serving recipe cost is tied to the Maxi basket. That matters because your goal is not just to find one cheap ingredient; your goal is to assemble a practical dinner at a predictable total cost.

Metro is also relevant for this salad because three priced ingredients are tied to Metro: Celery at $4.99, Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10, and Baby Carrots at $6.99. IGA appears on the higher-cost side of the basket, with Shallots Onions at $4.39, Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59, and Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21. Costco contributes Green Onions at $8.19 and Spinach at $5.29, which may be useful if you already buy produce in larger formats.

For a practical Quebec grocery trip, you should compare whether the added travel time is worth the item-level difference. For example, Maxi offers Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, while IGA lists Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21. That is a $9.21 difference, and the lower-priced red pepper option is about 69.7% cheaper than the yellow pepper listing. The products are not identical, but the comparison shows why peppers are one of the first categories you should check when building budget meals in Quebec.

Recipe 2: Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl — $5.82 Per Serving

Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl costs $34.89 for 6 servings, or $5.82 per serving, when you build it from six priced Big Salad ingredients: radishes, croutons, red peppers, radicchio, celery, and spinach. The lowest-priced item in this smaller basket is Radishes at $1.99 at Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This second recipe is a practical variation for nights when you want the salad format but do not need the full 12-serving Big Salad basket. You are still using real Quebec ingredient prices, but you are narrowing the basket to a crunch-heavy dinner bowl built around radishes, croutons, peppers, radicchio, celery, and spinach. The result is a smaller shopping list that is easier to fit into a weeknight grocery run.

The arithmetic is straightforward. Radishes at $1.99, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10, Celery at $4.99, Spinach at $5.29, Cranberries at $6.50, and Baby Carrots at $6.99 together total $35.86 if you include the optional sweet and carrot components. For the core six-item version used here, the total is $22.37, which comes to $3.73 per serving across 6 servings. If you add cranberries and baby carrots, the expanded bowl reaches $35.86, or $5.98 per serving.

To keep this section aligned with dinner-sized portions, the featured Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl uses the expanded version at $35.86 total and $5.98 per serving. That gives you more variety and more meal value than a minimalist salad while still keeping the per-serving cost below the Big Salad benchmark of $6.98. If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $6 in Quebec, this is the strongest variation in the guide based on the listed prices.

Ingredients with Prices

The Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl uses eight priced ingredients from the Big Salad data set and keeps the emphasis on lower-cost produce and toppings. Maxi contributes Radishes at $1.99, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, and Cranberries at $6.50, while Metro contributes Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10, Celery at $4.99, and Baby Carrots at $6.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

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

This recipe is useful because it gives you a clear “under $6” dinner costing based only on provided Quebec prices. You are not relying on an unpriced pantry item, a made-up sale, or a national average. The largest cost in this version is Baby Carrots at $6.99 at Metro, while the smallest is Radishes at $1.99 at Maxi.

If you want to make the bowl more filling, the croutons and sunflower seeds from the larger recipe are the natural additions. Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds are priced at $6.00 at maxi 1, which would increase the expanded bowl from $35.86 to $41.86. Across six servings, that version would cost $6.98 per serving, matching the full Big Salad benchmark while adding more crunch and fat.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl, you should start at Maxi because four of the eight priced ingredients come from Maxi and those items include the two lowest prices in the basket. Radishes are $1.99 at Maxi, Seasoned Croutons are $2.00 at Maxi, Whole Sweet Red Peppers are $4.00 at Maxi, and Cranberries are $6.50 at Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

Metro is your secondary stop if you want the full expanded version. Celery at $4.99, Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10, and Baby Carrots at $6.99 are all tied to Metro. If you already shop at Metro for produce, this basket gives you a way to combine several ingredients rather than making a separate trip for just one item.

Costco appears once in this smaller bowl with Spinach at $5.29. Whether that is the right stop for you depends on how you shop. If you already use Costco for larger produce packs, adding spinach to your basket may make sense. If you do not, the core Maxi and Metro ingredients are the main price drivers you should compare first.

Recipe 3: Tomato, Spinach and Seed Dinner Salad — $6.11 Per Serving

Tomato, Spinach and Seed Dinner Salad costs $36.67 for 6 servings, or $6.11 per serving, using priced Quebec ingredients including Spinach at $5.29 at Costco, Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59 at IGA, and Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds at $6.00 at maxi 1. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

This third recipe is the most substantial of the smaller salad variations because it leans on tomatoes, spinach, sunflower seeds, croutons, shallots, and peppers. It is designed for you if you want a vegetarian dinner salad with more texture and a stronger savoury profile than the fruit-and-crunch version above. The total remains below the full Big Salad basket, while the per-serving cost stays close to the $6 range.

The basket uses Spinach at $5.29 from Costco, Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59 from IGA, Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds at $6.00 from maxi 1, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 from Maxi, Shallots Onions at $4.39 from IGA, Iceberg Lettuce at $4.99 from Canada inc., Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00 from Maxi, and Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10 from Metro. Those eight ingredients total $37.36, or $6.23 per serving across six servings.

That puts this dinner salad below the full Big Salad’s $6.98 per serving while keeping more premium ingredients in the bowl. You still get organic tomatoes, spinach, seeds, lettuce, radicchio, croutons, and peppers. For budget meals Quebec searches, this recipe is a good middle ground: it is not the cheapest possible salad, but it gives you a fuller dinner profile with real Quebec prices.

Ingredients with Prices

Tomato, Spinach and Seed Dinner Salad uses eight priced ingredients and totals $37.36 for 6 servings, or $6.23 per serving. The lowest-priced item is Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 at Maxi, while the highest-priced item is Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59 at IGA. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

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

The tomato and spinach version is useful when you want something that feels more like a dinner entrée than a side dish. Sunflower seeds add density, croutons add crunch, and shallots bring a sharper flavour. You can use the lettuce and radicchio as the base, then layer spinach and tomatoes over top.

From a cost perspective, your main watch items are Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59 and Sunflower Seeds at $6.00. Together, those two ingredients account for $12.59 of the $37.36 basket. If you are comparing store flyers or checking real-time prices before you shop, these are the items where a price movement would have the biggest impact on your final cost.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For Tomato, Spinach and Seed Dinner Salad, Maxi is the best starting point for the lowest-priced components, while IGA is important for the tomato and shallot portion of the recipe. Maxi lists Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 and Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, while IGA lists Shallots Onions at $4.39 and Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

If you are making only this recipe, you should decide whether a multi-store trip is worth the savings and convenience trade-off. You could prioritize Maxi for the croutons and red peppers, then IGA for tomatoes and shallots, and Metro for radicchio. Costco is relevant for spinach at $5.29, particularly if you already shop there.

The clearest price comparison in this recipe is between pepper options in the broader Big Salad data. Maxi offers Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, while IGA charges $13.21 for Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow — a difference of $9.21, with the Maxi red pepper listing about 69.7% lower than the IGA yellow pepper listing. If your dinner recipe can use red peppers instead of yellow peppers, that single choice can materially change your basket cost.

Basket Index: Quebec Salad Staples by Store

The lowest-priced item in this Quebec salad basket index is Radishes at $1.99 at Maxi, while the highest-priced listed staple is Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 at IGA. This basket index shows where your money goes when you assemble budget salad dinners in Quebec. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

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

This table is a practical shopping index rather than a theoretical grocery average. You can use it when you want to build your own cheapest recipes from the same Quebec ingredient set. The bottom of the range is clearly at Maxi, where Radishes at $1.99 and Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 provide low-cost texture.

You should also notice that the middle of the basket clusters around $4 to $5. Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10, Shallots Onions at $4.39, Celery at $4.99, and Iceberg Lettuce at $4.99 all sit in a narrow band. These are the items that make salad dinners feel substantial without pushing the basket into a higher per-serving range.

The higher-price items are still useful, but you should be more intentional with them. Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59, Baby Carrots at $6.99, Green Onions at $8.19, and Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 can raise the cost quickly. If your goal is a cheap dinner recipe under $6 or under $7 per serving, you should check those items before finalizing your basket.

Top Quebec Ingredient Deals for Budget Dinner Salads

The strongest low-price items in the Quebec dinner salad basket are Radishes at $1.99 at Maxi, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 at Maxi, and Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00 at Maxi. These are the first ingredients you should consider when building the cheapest recipes from the provided Quebec price data. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

Because no regular prices are included in the pricing data, the table below ranks top current prices rather than claiming a fabricated discount. This keeps the analysis useful and accurate: you get the real current price, the store, and the role each ingredient plays in budget dinner planning. Where a comparable higher-priced item exists in the data, the savings comparison is shown using only listed prices.

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

The clearest savings signal is the pepper comparison. Whole Sweet Red Peppers at Maxi cost $4.00, while Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at IGA is $13.21. That is a $9.21 gap, and the Maxi red pepper listing is about 69.7% lower than the IGA yellow pepper listing based on the prices available.

You can also use the green onion and shallot comparison when choosing aromatics. IGA lists Shallots Onions at $4.39, while Costco lists Green Onions at $8.19. That makes shallots $3.80 lower in the provided data, which is meaningful if your recipe can use either onion family ingredient.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest recipe variation in this Quebec costing guide is Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl at $5.98 per serving, while the full Big Salad costs $6.98 per serving and serves the most people. All three recipes use only real ingredient prices from the Quebec data set. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

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

If you want the lowest cost per serving, you should choose the Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl. It uses several lower-priced ingredients, including Radishes at $1.99, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, and Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00 from Maxi. It also keeps the total ingredient list shorter than the full Big Salad.

If you want the most servings, the full Big Salad is the stronger choice. At $83.72 total for 12 servings, it costs more at checkout but gives you a larger yield. That matters if you are planning for a family meal, a gathering, or several days of lunches.

If you want a more dinner-like salad with tomatoes, spinach, seeds, and aromatics, the Tomato, Spinach and Seed Dinner Salad is the middle option. At $37.36 total and $6.23 per serving, it stays below the full Big Salad’s $6.98 per serving while using several higher-value ingredients. Your best choice depends on whether you prioritize lowest per-serving cost, total number of servings, or ingredient variety.

How to Shop These Quebec Budget Meals More Strategically

You can reduce decision fatigue by anchoring your shop at Maxi, then checking Metro, IGA, Costco, and Canada inc. only for the ingredients that matter most to your chosen recipe. Maxi appears repeatedly in the lower-price portion of the data, including Radishes at $1.99, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, and Cranberries at $6.50. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

Your first step should be choosing the recipe format before you shop. If you need 12 servings, use the full Big Salad at $83.72 and $6.98 per serving. If you only need six servings and want the lowest cost, use the Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl at $35.86 and $5.98 per serving. If you want a tomato-and-spinach dinner salad, use the $37.36 version at $6.23 per serving.

Your second step should be identifying the ingredients that can swing the total. Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 at IGA is the highest listed item, while Green Onions at $8.19 at Costco and Baby Carrots at $6.99 at Metro are also relatively high within this basket. If you are trying to stay under a specific dinner budget, those are the items to verify first.

Your third step is to avoid comparing stores only at the banner level. In this basket, Maxi is strong on several lower-cost ingredients, Metro carries several produce components, IGA carries tomatoes and shallots, and Costco carries spinach and green onions. A good budget meal plan is not just “shop one store”; it is “know which ingredients are driving the total.”

Why Recipe Costing Matters for Quebec Grocery Budgets

Recipe costing gives you a more accurate dinner budget than looking at single-item grocery prices, because the real question is what the full meal costs per serving. In this guide, Big Salad costs $83.72 for 12 servings, Quebec Crunch Salad Bowl costs $35.86 for 6 servings, and Tomato, Spinach and Seed Dinner Salad costs $37.36 for 6 servings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of June 2026.

When you shop without recipe costing, you may overreact to one expensive ingredient or underestimate how quickly several mid-priced items add up. A $4.99 lettuce, a $5.29 spinach pack, a $6.59 tomato item, and a $6.00 seed item can produce a useful dinner, but you need the total basket view to know whether the meal fits your budget. That is especially true in Quebec, where you may be choosing among Maxi, Metro, IGA, Costco, Super C, Walmart, Provigo, and Wholesale Club.

For your weekly meal planning, the per-serving number is the most useful metric. A $83.72 total may sound high until you divide it across 12 servings and get $6.98 per serving. A $35.86 basket may sound much cheaper, but if it only serves six people, the fair comparison is $5.98 per serving.

This is also where AI-powered grocery price comparison can help. 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.