Quebec Budget Meals Under $7: $3.25 Salad Dinner

Key Facts

• Big Salad is $83.72 for 12 servings (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Big Salad costs $6.98 per serving (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Radishes are $1.99 at Maxi (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Seasoned Croutons are $2.00 at Maxi (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Whole Sweet Red Peppers are $4.00 at Maxi (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Spinach is $5.29 at Costco (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)

Introduction

The cheapest dinner in this Quebec recipe-costing guide is the Radish, Red Pepper and Crouton Chopped Salad at $3.25 per serving. That price is built from four live ingredient prices: Iceberg Lettuce at $4.99 from Canada inc., Radishes at $1.99 from Maxi, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00 from Maxi, and Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 from Maxi. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

For you, the practical takeaway is that cheap dinner recipes under $7 are realistic in Quebec when you build meals around low-cost produce and avoid letting one premium ingredient dominate the basket. The full Big Salad recipe costs $83.72 for 12 servings, or $6.98 per serving, but a tighter four-ingredient version brings the dinner cost down to $12.98 total for four servings. If your goal is budget meals in Quebec that still feel fresh and dinner-worthy, you should start with the lowest-priced texture builders: radishes, croutons, peppers, lettuce, celery and spinach.

This article uses only the prices available in eezly's AI-powered grocery price comparison data for Quebec as of June 2026. You will see exactly where each ingredient is cheapest across Maxi, Metro, IGA, Costco and Canada inc., plus how to turn the same ingredient list into three different vegetarian dinners.

Recipe 1: Radish, Red Pepper and Crouton Chopped Salad — $3.25 per serving

The lowest-cost dinner recipe in this Quebec comparison is the Radish, Red Pepper and Crouton Chopped Salad at $12.98 total, or $3.25 per serving for four servings. The core savings come from using three Maxi-priced ingredients: Radishes at $1.99, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, and Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, combined with Iceberg Lettuce at $4.99 from Canada inc. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

This recipe is built for you if you want a simple vegetarian dinner that does not require a long ingredient list. You use the iceberg lettuce as the base, slice the radishes thinly for sharpness, cut the red pepper into strips or cubes, and finish with croutons for crunch. The result is not a side salad priced like a side salad; it is a full dinner plate that keeps your cost per serving well below the $7 threshold.

From a budget standpoint, this recipe works because it avoids higher-priced add-ins such as Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 from IGA and Green Onions at $8.19 from Costco. Maxi offers Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, while IGA charges $13.21 for Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow — a savings of 69.7% when you choose the lower-priced pepper option in this ingredient set, based on eezly data for June 2026. That single substitution is the difference between a modest chopped salad and a basket that starts to feel expensive.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, your cheapest practical shopping pattern is to buy Radishes, Whole Sweet Red Peppers and Seasoned Croutons at Maxi, then use Canada inc. for the Iceberg Lettuce 1 Count price. Maxi is doing most of the work in this basket because three of the four recipe components are lowest there in the available Quebec pricing data. That matters because you are not just chasing a single low price; you are trying to keep the whole dinner basket affordable.

You should pay special attention to the crouton price. Seasoned Croutons are $2.00 at Maxi, while Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds are $6.00 at maxi 1 in the same broader salad ingredient set. Maxi offers Seasoned Croutons at $2.00, while maxi 1 lists Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds at $6.00 — a savings of 66.7% if you use croutons as the crunchy topping instead of sunflower seeds, according to eezly real-time price tracking for June 2026.

This does not mean sunflower seeds are a poor ingredient; they can be useful in a more filling salad. But if your immediate priority is the cheapest recipe, you should reserve seeds for a higher-budget version and keep this dinner focused on lettuce, radishes, red pepper and croutons.

Recipe 2: Spinach, Carrot and Cranberry Supper Salad — $4.96 per serving

The second-cheapest dinner in this Quebec recipe guide is a Spinach, Carrot and Cranberry Supper Salad at $29.77 total, or $4.96 per serving for six servings. The priced basket uses Spinach at $5.29 from Costco, Baby Carrots at $6.99 from Metro, Cranberries at $6.50 from Maxi, Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds at $6.00 from maxi 1, and Celery at $4.99 from Metro. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

This recipe costs more than the chopped salad because it uses a denser mix of ingredients, but it still stays under $5 per serving. You get leafy greens from spinach, sweetness from cranberries, crunch from celery and carrots, and a more filling topping from sunflower seeds. If your dinner needs to feel more substantial than lettuce and croutons, this is the better middle-ground recipe.

The most important buying decision here is to keep spinach at the Costco price of $5.29 and avoid adding too many premium vegetables on top. Spinach is $5.29 at Costco, while Organic Red Tomatoes are $6.59 at IGA — a savings of 19.7% when you use spinach as the main fresh component rather than building the bowl around the higher-priced tomato item in this dataset. You can still add tomatoes if your budget allows, but you should treat them as an upgrade rather than the foundation of your meal.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this recipe, your cheapest basket is split across Costco, Metro, Maxi and maxi 1. That may sound less convenient than a single-store recipe, but the cost structure is clear: Costco is the low-price source for Spinach at $5.29, Metro supplies both Celery at $4.99 and Baby Carrots at $6.99, Maxi supplies Cranberries at $6.50, and maxi 1 supplies Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds at $6.00. If you are already visiting more than one grocery banner in Quebec, this is the recipe where price comparison has the most practical value.

You should also compare celery and carrots carefully because both add crunch, but they do not have the same price. Metro offers Celery at $4.99, while Metro also lists Baby Carrots at $6.99 — a savings of 28.6% when you lean more heavily on celery for volume and crunch. If you want to reduce the cost further, you can stretch the carrots across more servings and use celery as the main filler.

This is the best recipe in the set for meal prep. You can keep the spinach separate from the cranberries, seeds and chopped vegetables, then assemble servings as needed. For your grocery budget, that matters because a $29.77 basket becomes much more useful when it produces six dinners instead of being treated as one oversized salad.

Recipe 3: Big Salad — $6.98 per serving

The full Big Salad costs $83.72 in Quebec and serves 12 people, putting the recipe at $6.98 per serving. This is the highest-cost recipe in the guide, but it still qualifies as a cheap dinner recipe under $7 when divided across all 12 servings. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.]

The Big Salad is best understood as the complete version of the same budget strategy. Instead of choosing only four or five ingredients, you build a larger vegetarian dinner with Cranberries at $6.50 from Maxi, Celery at $4.99 from Metro, Cucumbers Green Relish at $4.49 from Canada inc., Iceberg Lettuce at $4.99 from Canada inc., Shallots Onions at $4.39 from IGA, Green Onions at $8.19 from Costco, Radishes at $1.99 from Maxi, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00 from Maxi, Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at $13.21 from IGA, Radicchio Lettuce at $4.10 from Metro, Baby Carrots at $6.99 from Metro, Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds at $6.00 from maxi 1, Spinach at $5.29 from Costco, Organic Red Tomatoes at $6.59 from IGA, and Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 from Maxi.

For you, this recipe makes the most sense when you are feeding a household, preparing lunches, or bringing a large vegetarian dish to a gathering. It is not the cheapest basket in absolute terms, but the 12-serving yield keeps the per-serving cost controlled. If you only need dinner for one or two people, the smaller recipes above will usually be easier on your weekly cash flow.

Ingredients with Prices

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

The price story inside the Big Salad is that a few premium ingredients do most of the lifting on total cost. Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at IGA is $13.21, Green Onions at Costco are $8.19, Baby Carrots at Metro are $6.99, and Organic Red Tomatoes at IGA are $6.59. If your goal is to keep the full recipe under control, these are the first ingredients you should portion carefully.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For the full Big Salad, your cheapest available prices are spread across several Quebec grocery banners: Maxi, Metro, IGA, Costco, Canada inc. and maxi 1. You should not assume one banner wins the full basket automatically, because Maxi has the lowest prices for several high-impact items, while Metro, Costco and IGA still appear in the ingredient list for specific products. The most reliable approach is to compare the ingredients you actually need before you shop.

The most important price contrast is peppers. Maxi offers Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00, while IGA charges $13.21 for Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow — a savings of 69.7% if you choose the lower-priced red pepper item from this recipe set. That one comparison shows why budget meals in Quebec often depend less on the recipe name and more on the specific version of each ingredient you buy.

You should also watch toppings. Seasoned Croutons are $2.00 at Maxi, while Salted Roasted Sunflower Seeds are $6.00 at maxi 1. If you are preparing the Big Salad for a group, using both toppings may be worthwhile, but if you are trying to reduce the basket, the croutons are the lower-cost crunch.

Quebec Salad Basket Index: 8 Staple Prices Across Stores

The lowest-priced staple in this Quebec salad basket is Radishes at $1.99 from Maxi, followed closely by Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 from Maxi. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.] For you, these two items are the best starting point when you want to add crunch and flavour without pushing a dinner salad above a budget-meal price point.

This basket index compares eight practical salad staples across the available Quebec store prices. It is not a full weekly grocery basket, but it gives you a useful benchmark for building cheap dinner recipes under $7. If your cart starts with the lower half of this table, your recipe is more likely to stay in the $3 to $5 per serving range.

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

The pattern is clear: Maxi is strongest among the lowest-priced ingredients in this particular recipe set, especially for radishes, croutons and red peppers. Metro becomes useful once you move into celery and radicchio. Canada inc. is important for the iceberg lettuce price, which anchors the cheapest chopped salad recipe in this guide.

Top Budget Swaps for Cheaper Quebec Dinner Salads

The strongest budget swap in this Quebec recipe set is choosing Whole Sweet Red Peppers at Maxi for $4.00 instead of Sweet Bell Pepper Yellow at IGA for $13.21, which lowers that pepper choice by 69.7%. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.] If you are trying to keep your salad dinner under $7 per serving, these swaps are more useful than generic advice about “buying seasonal produce.”

The table below uses current item-to-item comparisons from the same salad ingredient pool. The “regular/comparison price” column is a comparable higher-priced item in the recipe set, not a claim about a flyer regular price. This format helps you decide where to simplify the recipe without leaving the salad feeling sparse.

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

For your dinner plan, the best approach is to use these swaps before you remove ingredients entirely. Instead of cutting all toppings, use croutons at $2.00 from Maxi before seeds at $6.00 from maxi 1. Instead of buying the highest-priced pepper option, use the $4.00 Whole Sweet Red Peppers from Maxi. Those choices preserve texture, colour and flavour while protecting your per-serving cost.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest recipe in this Quebec comparison is the Radish, Red Pepper and Crouton Chopped Salad at $3.25 per serving, while the full Big Salad remains under $7 at $6.98 per serving. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.] For you, the right choice depends on whether you need the absolute lowest dinner cost, a more filling meal-prep salad, or a larger 12-serving recipe.

The three recipes use overlapping ingredients, which is useful for your grocery planning. If you buy radishes, red peppers and croutons for the cheapest recipe, you can also use them in the Big Salad. If you buy spinach, celery, carrots, cranberries and sunflower seeds for the second recipe, you can stretch those ingredients into lunches or add them to the larger version later in the week.

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

If your weekly budget is tight, you should start with Recipe 1 because it has the lowest total cost and the lowest cost per serving. If you want a dinner that feels more complete and can handle meal prep, Recipe 2 gives you six servings at $4.96 each. If you are feeding more people, the Big Salad is the broadest recipe and still stays within the cheap dinner recipes under $7 category.

How to Use These Prices in Your Quebec Grocery Plan

The best way to use these Quebec prices is to build your dinner plan around the lowest-cost anchor ingredients first: Radishes at $1.99 from Maxi, Seasoned Croutons at $2.00 from Maxi, Whole Sweet Red Peppers at $4.00 from Maxi, and Iceberg Lettuce at $4.99 from Canada inc. [Source: eezly real-time price tracking.] Once those anchors are in place, you can decide whether your budget allows for spinach, carrots, cranberries, sunflower seeds or premium peppers.

You should think of each recipe as a template rather than a rigid shopping list. The $3.25-per-serving chopped salad is the best fit when you need a low-cost dinner today. The $4.96-per-serving spinach salad is better when you want a more filling bowl. The $6.98-per-serving Big Salad is best when you need a large-format recipe that can serve 12 people.

For more current grocery comparisons, you can check eezly’s deal listings at https://eezly.com/deals, browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, or use meal-planning tools at https://eezly.com/meal-plans. If you often shop at Maxi, the store page at https://eezly.com/stores/maxi is a useful starting point for comparing Quebec grocery prices before you build your list.