Quebec Budget Meals From $4.36 Per Serving in May 2026

Key Facts

• Yogurt-celery chicken salad costs $4.36/serving (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Full chicken salad costs $60.56 for 10 servings (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Boneless skinless chicken breast is $18.83 at Metro (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Nonfat yogurt is $7.49 at Maxi in Quebec (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Cottage cheese is $3.99 at IGA in Quebec (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction

The lowest-cost dinner in this Quebec recipe costing is Yogurt-Celery Chicken Salad at $43.59 total, or $4.36 per serving for a 10-serving batch. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. That makes it the strongest option if you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $5 in Quebec and want a protein-forward meal built around real May 2026 grocery prices rather than generic pantry assumptions.

This article compares three budget meals Quebec shoppers can make from the same chicken-salad ingredient set. You will see the full cost of each recipe, the cost per serving, and the specific store attached to every priced ingredient. The cheapest recipe removes higher-cost add-ins such as green bell peppers and cottage cheese, while the full chicken salad uses all eight priced ingredients and reaches $6.06 per serving. If your goal is to keep dinner under $5 per serving, the first two recipes are the best fit; if you want the most complete salad with all listed ingredients, the third option gives you the full $60.56 basket.

Recipe 1: Yogurt-Celery Chicken Salad — $4.36 per serving

Yogurt-Celery Chicken Salad is the cheapest recipe in this Quebec comparison at $43.59 total, or $4.36 per serving across 10 servings. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. You get the main protein from Metro’s boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83, the creamy dressing base from Maxi’s nonfat yogurt at $7.49, and the crunch from Metro celery at $4.99. This recipe works especially well when you want a cold dinner, lunch-prep filling, or sandwich-ready salad without paying for every add-in in the full basket.

The cost advantage comes from narrowing the recipe to five ingredients: chicken, yogurt, celery, lemon juice and seasoning. By leaving out green bell peppers at $7.99, red onions at $4.99 and cottage cheese at $3.99, your total falls from the full $60.56 recipe cost to $43.59. That is a $16.97 reduction compared with the complete chicken salad basket, or about 28.0% less than the full version. For your weekly meal plan, that difference matters because the serving cost stays below the common $5 dinner threshold.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, you should split the basket between Metro, Maxi and Canada inc. based on the listed prices. Metro is where you buy the two structural ingredients, with boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83 and celery at $4.99. Maxi supplies the nonfat yogurt at $7.49, which is the dressing base and helps keep the recipe creamy without adding another higher-cost dairy item.

Canada inc. carries the lemon juice at $8.49 and salad seasoning at $3.79 in the provided Quebec price set. While lemon juice is the second-highest item in this simplified recipe after chicken, it supports multiple batches because a 1 L bottle is not usually exhausted in a single meal. You should think of this recipe as the best low-cost base: if you already have lemon juice or seasoning at home, your cash outlay for the next batch could be lower, but the costed recipe here uses only the live prices supplied in the May 2026 data.

Recipe 2: Cottage Cheese Pepper Chicken Salad — $4.81 per serving

Cottage Cheese Pepper Chicken Salad costs $48.08 total, or $4.81 per serving, making it the second-cheapest recipe in this Quebec budget-meal set. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. This version keeps the chicken breast from Metro at $18.83, adds green bell peppers from Metro at $7.99, and uses IGA’s Sealtest 1% cottage cheese at $3.99 as the lower-priced dairy component. It is still a cheap dinner recipe under $5 per serving, but it gives you more vegetable texture than the Yogurt-Celery Chicken Salad.

The main trade-off is that green bell peppers cost $7.99 at Metro, compared with celery at $4.99. Metro offers celery at $4.99, while Metro charges $7.99 for green bell peppers — choosing celery instead of peppers saves $3.00, or 37.5%, on that vegetable line item using eezly data from May 2026. You may still prefer peppers if you want a sweeter, brighter salad, but if your target is the absolute lowest cost per serving, celery is the better budget choice.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, you buy the core fresh ingredients at Metro, the cottage cheese at IGA, and the lemon juice and seasoning at Canada inc. The Metro portion is the largest because chicken breast, green bell peppers and red onions together account for $31.81 of the $48.08 recipe cost. Your highest single expense remains boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83, so any decision that changes the chicken quantity would have the largest effect on the final serving cost.

IGA’s cottage cheese is important because it is priced at $3.99, which is $3.50 less than the $7.49 nonfat yogurt item from Maxi. IGA offers cottage cheese at $3.99, while Maxi lists nonfat yogurt at $7.49 — choosing cottage cheese for this recipe lowers the dairy line item by 46.7% compared with the yogurt price in the same Quebec basket. You should use that swap when you want a thicker texture and a lower dairy cost, while using yogurt when you want a smoother dressing style.

Recipe 3: Full Quebec Chicken Salad — $6.06 per serving

The full Quebec Chicken Salad costs $60.56 total, or $6.06 per serving for 10 servings, using all eight priced ingredients in the May 2026 basket. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. This is the most complete recipe in the comparison, combining chicken breast, yogurt, cottage cheese, celery, green bell peppers, red onions, lemon juice and seasoning. It is not the cheapest option, but it gives you the broadest mix of vegetables and dairy components.

This full version is useful when you want a larger prepared salad for several meals and do not want to simplify the ingredient list. The extra $16.97 over Recipe 1 buys you green bell peppers at $7.99, red onions at $4.99 and cottage cheese at $3.99. The increase moves the recipe from $4.36 per serving to $6.06 per serving, so you pay $1.70 more per serving than the lowest-cost version. If your grocery budget is tight, you can treat this full recipe as the “company” or weekend version and use Recipe 1 as your weekday meal-prep version.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For the full chicken salad, you should expect a mixed-store basket rather than a single-store shop. Metro supplies red onions at $4.99, boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83, celery at $4.99 and green bell peppers at $7.99. Maxi supplies nonfat yogurt at $7.49, IGA supplies cottage cheese at $3.99, and Canada inc. supplies lemon juice at $8.49 and salad seasoning at $3.79.

Your most important buying decision is the chicken, because it represents $18.83 of the $60.56 full recipe cost. Your second-highest line item is lemon juice at $8.49, followed by green bell peppers at $7.99 and yogurt at $7.49. If you are trying to lower the bill without changing the core identity of the salad, the easiest first step is to remove the green bell peppers or choose either yogurt or cottage cheese rather than both. Those changes are exactly what create the lower-cost Recipe 1 and Recipe 2 versions.

Quebec Dinner Basket Index: Ingredient Prices by Store

The Quebec dinner basket index shows that Metro carries the largest number of priced ingredients in this recipe set, while the lowest individual item is IGA cottage cheese at $3.99. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. You can use this basket index to understand where your money goes before you choose which recipe version to make. The table does not assume a sale price or a regular-price discount; it lists the live ingredient prices used in the recipe costing.

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

The basket index makes the cost pattern clear. Chicken is the anchor ingredient and the largest unavoidable cost if you want a chicken-based dinner. Lemon juice and seasoning are shared across all three recipes, but they also function as pantry-style ingredients that may stretch across more than one meal. The biggest cost-control choice is whether you include both dairy ingredients and both vegetables, or whether you keep the recipe leaner.

Top Cost-Control Deals in This Recipe Basket

The strongest cost-control opportunities in this Quebec recipe basket come from choosing lower-priced components, such as IGA cottage cheese at $3.99 instead of the $7.49 yogurt line item when the recipe style allows it. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. Because the supplied May 2026 data provides live current prices rather than flyer regular-price fields, the table below uses the higher-cost comparable basket item as the benchmark for calculating savings. You should read these as recipe-planning savings, not advertised flyer discounts.

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

The practical takeaway is that your recipe design matters as much as the store you choose. If you include every ingredient, your cost per serving lands at $6.06. If you choose the yogurt-celery version, your cost per serving drops to $4.36. That is the difference between a dinner that fits the “cheap dinner recipes under $5” search and one that is still reasonable but less aggressive on price.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest recipe is Yogurt-Celery Chicken Salad at $4.36 per serving, followed by Cottage Cheese Pepper Chicken Salad at $4.81 and the full Quebec Chicken Salad at $6.06. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. If you are planning budget meals in Quebec, this side-by-side table gives you the clearest decision point: Recipe 1 saves the most money, Recipe 2 adds more texture while staying under $5, and Recipe 3 uses the full ingredient basket.

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

Your best choice depends on the role the meal plays in your week. If you want the lowest possible cost per serving, choose Recipe 1 and keep your basket focused. If you want a more substantial salad with peppers and onions while staying below $5 per serving, choose Recipe 2. If you want every listed ingredient and do not mind moving above $6 per serving, choose Recipe 3.

How to Shop These Quebec Budget Meals More Efficiently

You can keep these Quebec chicken salad dinners affordable by shopping from the recipe cost outward: buy the chicken first, choose one creamy ingredient, then decide whether the extra vegetables are worth the added cost. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. In this basket, chicken breast at Metro costs $18.83, so it is the item you should check most carefully before building the rest of your meal plan. The smaller items matter, but they do not move the total as dramatically as the protein.

For the creamy component, you have two priced options: Maxi’s nonfat yogurt at $7.49 and IGA’s cottage cheese at $3.99. If you use both, as in the full chicken salad, you increase the dairy portion of the recipe to $11.48. If you use only cottage cheese, as in Recipe 2, your dairy line is $3.99. If you use only yogurt, as in Recipe 1, your dairy line is $7.49. You should choose based on texture, but the price difference is clear.

For vegetables, Metro’s celery and red onions are each $4.99, while Metro’s green bell peppers are $7.99. If you want crunch at the lowest listed vegetable price, celery and red onions are the better choices. If you want sweeter flavour and colour, peppers add that, but they also add $3.00 more than either celery or onions. In a 10-serving recipe, that $3.00 difference equals $0.30 per serving before rounding.

Why These Recipes Work for Quebec Meal Prep

These recipes work for Quebec meal prep because all three are costed at 10 servings and use overlapping ingredients, which lets you adapt one grocery basket into multiple dinner formats. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking]. You can prepare the chicken once, then mix part of it with yogurt and celery for the lowest-cost version, or use peppers, onions and cottage cheese for a chunkier salad. This makes the same shopping trip more flexible.

For a household trying to manage dinner costs, the per-serving range is the key number. The recipes move from $4.36 to $6.06 per serving, a spread of $1.70 per plate. Across 10 servings, that is the same $16.97 difference between the simplified recipe and the full recipe. You should use the simplified version when your grocery budget is the priority and reserve the full version for weeks when you want more variety in the bowl.

These recipes also fit common Quebec shopping patterns because they reference familiar banners such as Metro, Maxi and IGA, alongside Canada inc. for the lemon juice and seasoning items in the data. Across Quebec, active grocery banners include Costco, IGA, Maxi, Metro, Metro Plus, Provigo, Super C, Walmart, Wholesale Club and Valu-mart. You can compare your own nearby stores before buying, but the costed examples here are based only on the May 2026 ingredient prices listed above.