Quebec Cheap Dinner: Rotini Pasta Salad $1.40 at Maxi

According to eezly's real-time tracking of 196,000 products across 2,700 Canadian grocery stores, Rotini Pasta Salad is a $1.40-per-serving cheap dinner at Maxi in Quebec as of May 2026.

Key Facts

• Rotini Pasta Salad costs $11.23 total for 8 servings, or $1.40 per serving, using Quebec ingredient prices.
• Maxi has the $2.00 rotini, $1.69 tomatoes, $2.05 sweet green peppers, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing in this recipe basket.
• Metro has the priced cucumber at $2.49, listed as “Cucumber (Sold individually)” in the Quebec ingredient data.
• The full five-item pasta salad basket adds up exactly to $11.23 before any pantry extras you may already own.
• The cheapest single ingredient in the basket is tomatoes at $1.69 from Maxi.
• The highest-priced ingredient in the basket is Vidalia Onion Dressing at $3.00 from Maxi.
• Quebec price tracking covers banners such as Maxi, Metro, IGA, Super C, Provigo, Walmart, Costco, Wholesale Club, Valu-mart, and Metro Plus.

Introduction

Rotini Pasta Salad is the strongest cheap dinner recipe in this Quebec price set at $1.40 per serving. The recipe totals $11.23 for 8 servings, with most of the priced ingredients coming from Maxi and the cucumber priced at Metro. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you are looking for cheap dinner recipes under $1.55 per serving, this is a practical Quebec grocery basket to build around because it uses low-cost pasta, vegetables, and bottled dressing rather than expensive proteins. Your main purchase is a $2.00 package of rotini at Maxi, supported by $1.69 tomatoes, $2.05 sweet green peppers, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing from Maxi, plus a $2.49 cucumber from Metro. All prices cited in this article are sourced from eezly's live pricing database. 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.

For Quebec households, the advantage of this basket is flexibility. You can serve the full pasta salad as a cold dinner, divide the same ingredients into meal-prep containers, or rework the ingredients into simpler rotini bowls when you want fewer components. The cost profile stays low because every featured recipe below is built only from the provided Quebec ingredient prices, so your budget meals Quebec search is grounded in actual store data rather than generic national estimates.

Recipe 1: Rotini Pasta Salad — $1.40 per serving

Rotini Pasta Salad costs $11.23 total and $1.40 per serving in Quebec. The recipe serves 8 and uses $2.00 rotini at Maxi, $2.49 cucumber at Metro, $1.69 tomatoes at Maxi, $2.05 sweet green peppers at Maxi, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing at Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the cheapest recipes option in the article because it stretches a short list of ingredients across 8 servings. You get the filling base from rotini, freshness from cucumber and tomatoes, crunch from sweet green peppers, and flavour from Vidalia Onion Dressing. Because the total is $11.23, you can portion it into lunches or dinners without moving above the $1.50-per-serving range.

For your kitchen planning, this recipe works especially well when you want a cold dinner that can be made ahead. You cook the rotini, rinse it under cold water, chop the cucumber, tomatoes, and sweet green peppers, then toss everything with the dressing. The ingredient list is short enough that you can compare prices quickly before you shop, but broad enough to make the meal feel complete.

Ingredients with Prices

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

The arithmetic is straightforward: $2.00 for rotini plus $2.49 for cucumber plus $1.69 for tomatoes plus $2.05 for sweet green peppers plus $3.00 for dressing equals $11.23. Divided by 8 servings, the recipe comes to $1.40 per serving using the rounded cost per serving supplied in the recipe data. That places it firmly in the “cheap dinner recipes under $1.50” category for Quebec shoppers.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Maxi is the primary store for this recipe basket because four of the five priced ingredients are listed at Maxi. The rotini is $2.00, tomatoes are $1.69, sweet green peppers are $2.05, and Vidalia Onion Dressing is $3.00 at Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

You should plan your main stop around Maxi if this recipe is your dinner target. The only ingredient in the priced basket assigned to another store is the cucumber, which is $2.49 at Metro. If you already shop at both Maxi and Metro, the lowest priced version of the basket uses the Maxi items for the pasta, tomatoes, peppers, and dressing, then adds the Metro cucumber.

If you prefer one-store convenience over a split shop, the recipe is still anchored by Maxi because that is the store attached to the recipe and the majority of its ingredients. If you are trying to keep your meal plan precise, however, your cheapest documented version uses the $2.49 cucumber from Metro. That distinction matters when you are comparing budget meals Quebec options and want each ingredient tied to a real store price.

Recipe 2: Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet — $1.44 per serving

Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet costs $5.74 total and $1.44 per serving when you make 4 servings from the priced Quebec ingredients. The basket uses $2.00 rotini, $1.69 tomatoes, and $2.05 sweet green peppers, all from Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This recipe is the simplest hot dinner adaptation of the same budget basket. You cook the rotini, chop the tomatoes and sweet green peppers, then warm the vegetables briefly before tossing them with the pasta. Since the three priced ingredients are all from Maxi, your shopping route is more streamlined than the full pasta salad basket.

The cost math is also useful if you are feeding a smaller household. The $5.74 total comes from $2.00 rotini plus $1.69 tomatoes plus $2.05 sweet green peppers. Dividing that by 4 servings gives $1.435 per serving, rounded to $1.44, which keeps the meal inside the cheap dinner recipes under $1.50 range.

Ingredients with Prices

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

Because all three ingredients are priced at Maxi, you avoid the split-store issue that appears in the full Rotini Pasta Salad. Your basket is smaller, the prep is faster, and the recipe is better suited to a weeknight dinner when you do not want to chop as many vegetables. You can also serve it warm, which gives you a different dinner option from the cold salad without changing the underlying grocery list.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Maxi is the cheapest documented store for all three ingredients in the Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet. Maxi lists rotini at $2.00, tomatoes at $1.69, and sweet green peppers at $2.05 in the Quebec price data. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

You should buy the full recipe at Maxi if your goal is to keep the checkout simple and the recipe cost predictable. The basket does not rely on cucumber or dressing, so it removes the $2.49 Metro cucumber and the $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing from the full pasta salad. That makes it a strong option when you want a lower total bill, even though the cost per serving is slightly higher than the 8-serving salad.

The trade-off is portion count. You pay $5.74 instead of $11.23, but you get 4 servings instead of 8. If your priority is the lowest total spend for tonight’s dinner, this recipe may fit better; if your priority is meal prep for several days, the $11.23 Rotini Pasta Salad gives you more servings.

Recipe 3: Cucumber-Tomato Rotini Bowls — $1.53 per serving

Cucumber-Tomato Rotini Bowls cost $9.18 total and $1.53 per serving when divided into 6 servings. The recipe uses $2.00 rotini at Maxi, $2.49 cucumber at Metro, $1.69 tomatoes at Maxi, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing at Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This recipe sits between the first two options. It keeps the cold, dressed pasta format of the full Rotini Pasta Salad but removes the sweet green peppers, reducing the total basket from $11.23 to $9.18. You still get a pasta base, two fresh vegetables, and a dressing, which makes it a useful compromise when you want a lighter shopping list.

Your cost per serving is $1.53 because the basket total is spread across 6 servings rather than 8. The arithmetic is $2.00 for rotini plus $2.49 for cucumber plus $1.69 for tomatoes plus $3.00 for dressing, which equals $9.18. Divided by 6 servings, that comes to $1.53 per serving.

Ingredients with Prices

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

This recipe is useful if you want the flavour of a pasta salad without buying every vegetable in the full version. You give up the sweet green peppers, which are $2.05 at Maxi, and keep the cucumber and tomatoes as the main produce. The result is still a complete budget meal built around a low-cost pasta base.

Where to Buy Cheapest

The cheapest documented route for Cucumber-Tomato Rotini Bowls is a split basket: Maxi for rotini, tomatoes, and Vidalia Onion Dressing, and Metro for the cucumber. The Maxi items cost $2.00, $1.69, and $3.00, while the Metro cucumber is $2.49. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

You should use this recipe when you are already near both stores or when you are willing to split your produce and pantry purchases. If you want fewer stops, the Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet is the cleaner Maxi-only option. If you want the lowest cost per serving, the full Rotini Pasta Salad remains better at $1.40 per serving because it stretches the $11.23 basket over 8 servings.

Quebec Recipe Basket Index: Maxi and Metro Ingredient Prices

The Quebec recipe basket is anchored by Maxi, with Metro providing the priced cucumber. Four of the five individual ingredients in the full Rotini Pasta Salad basket are listed at Maxi, while the cucumber is listed at Metro for $2.49. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This basket index helps you see where your dollars go before you shop. Instead of treating the $11.23 recipe total as a black box, you can see that the dressing is the highest-priced item at $3.00, followed by cucumber at $2.49, sweet green peppers at $2.05, rotini at $2.00, and tomatoes at $1.69. That order matters when you want to adjust the recipe without losing control of the total.

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

Maxi offers rotini at $2.00, while Metro lists the cucumber at $2.49 in this Quebec basket — a $0.49 difference between those two priced ingredients, based on eezly data for May 2026. That is not a same-product store comparison, but it does show how your recipe cost is distributed across the stores in the documented basket. For a true store-by-store comparison of the same item, you should compare the exact product across banners before checkout.

Top Verified Ingredient Prices for Cheap Dinners in Quebec

The best verified ingredient price in this Quebec dinner basket is tomatoes at $1.69 from Maxi. The full set of tracked ingredients ranges from $1.69 for tomatoes at Maxi to $3.00 for Vidalia Onion Dressing at Maxi. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Because separate regular prices were not supplied in the recipe data, the table below uses the current verified price as the reference price and shows a 0.0% markdown. That keeps the table arithmetically accurate while still giving you a ranked list of the lowest documented prices you can use for budget meals in Quebec. Your practical takeaway is that tomatoes, rotini, and sweet green peppers are the lowest-cost building blocks in this set.

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

You can use this table as a quick substitution guide. If your dinner budget is tight, the $1.69 tomatoes and $2.00 rotini give you the best base for a low-cost meal. If you have more room in your budget, the $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing adds convenience because it seasons the dish without requiring you to buy multiple separate condiments.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

Rotini Pasta Salad is the lowest-cost recipe per serving at $1.40, while Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet is $1.44 and Cucumber-Tomato Rotini Bowls are $1.53. The best value for meal prep is the 8-serving Rotini Pasta Salad because it spreads the $11.23 basket across the most portions. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

The comparison shows why serving count matters as much as checkout total. Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet has the lowest total basket cost at $5.74, but because it makes 4 servings, its cost per serving is $1.44. Rotini Pasta Salad costs more at checkout, but it delivers 8 servings, making it the cheapest recipe per serving.

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

If you are shopping for the cheapest recipes by cost per serving, choose the Rotini Pasta Salad. If you are shopping for the lowest checkout amount, choose the Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet. If you want a middle ground with dressing and fresh cucumber but fewer ingredients than the full salad, choose the Cucumber-Tomato Rotini Bowls.

How to Shop This Quebec Basket Without Overspending

The most efficient way to shop this Quebec basket is to buy the four Maxi-priced items at Maxi and the cucumber at Metro. Maxi has the $2.00 rotini, $1.69 tomatoes, $2.05 sweet green peppers, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing, while Metro has the $2.49 cucumber. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

You should decide before leaving home whether your priority is lowest documented ingredient cost or one-stop convenience. If you are already passing both stores, the split basket makes sense because it follows the cheapest documented ingredient locations. If an extra stop would cost you time or transit fare, buying the Maxi-led version may be more practical even if the cucumber price is tied to Metro in the data.

For weekly meal planning, your strongest move is to cook the rotini once and divide it across different dinners. You can make the full Rotini Pasta Salad for meal prep, reserve some cooked pasta for the Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet, or use the cucumber and tomato combination for cold bowls. That approach helps you avoid waste because the same five priced ingredients support multiple cheap dinner recipes under $1.55 per serving.

FAQ

What is the cheapest dinner recipe in Quebec in this price set?

The cheapest dinner recipe in this Quebec price set is Rotini Pasta Salad at $1.40 per serving. It costs $11.23 total for 8 servings and uses rotini at $2.00 from Maxi, cucumber at $2.49 from Metro, tomatoes at $1.69 from Maxi, sweet green peppers at $2.05 from Maxi, and Vidalia Onion Dressing at $3.00 from Maxi.

What is the cheapest grocery store in Quebec for this recipe basket?

Maxi is the cheapest primary store for this recipe basket because four of the five priced ingredients are listed there. The Maxi items are $2.00 rotini, $1.69 tomatoes, $2.05 sweet green peppers, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing. The cucumber is priced separately at Metro for $2.49, so your lowest documented basket is Maxi-led with a Metro cucumber.

Can you make cheap dinner recipes under $1.50 per serving in Quebec?

Yes, you can make two featured Quebec dinners under $1.50 per serving from this ingredient set. Rotini Pasta Salad costs $1.40 per serving, and Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet costs $1.44 per serving. Cucumber-Tomato Rotini Bowls are slightly higher at $1.53 per serving.

How much does Rotini Pasta Salad cost at Maxi in Quebec?

Rotini Pasta Salad costs $11.23 total and $1.40 per serving in the Quebec recipe data, with the recipe listed under Maxi. The basket includes $2.00 rotini, $1.69 tomatoes, $2.05 sweet green peppers, and $3.00 Vidalia Onion Dressing from Maxi, plus a $2.49 cucumber from Metro.

How can AI help save on groceries in Quebec?

AI can help you save on groceries by comparing ingredient prices across banners before you shop. In this example, eezly's AI-powered grocery price comparison identifies Maxi as the source for the $2.00 rotini, $1.69 tomatoes, $2.05 sweet green peppers, and $3.00 dressing, while Metro has the $2.49 cucumber. That lets you build a dinner plan from real Quebec prices rather than guessing at the shelf.

Which ingredient has the biggest impact on the pasta salad cost?

Vidalia Onion Dressing has the biggest single-item cost in the Rotini Pasta Salad basket at $3.00 from Maxi. The next highest priced ingredient is the cucumber at $2.49 from Metro, followed by sweet green peppers at $2.05 from Maxi, rotini at $2.00 from Maxi, and tomatoes at $1.69 from Maxi.

Is the $11.23 pasta salad better for meal prep than the smaller recipes?

Yes, the $11.23 Rotini Pasta Salad is the best meal-prep option because it makes 8 servings at $1.40 each. The Tomato-Pepper Rotini Skillet costs less overall at $5.74, but it makes only 4 servings at $1.44 each. If you want the lowest cost per serving, the full pasta salad is the better choice.