Quebec Chicken Bowls Cost $4.01 per Serving

May 31, 2026 · 18 min read · QC

Key Facts

According to eezly's real-time tracking of 196,000 products across 2,700 Canadian grocery stores, Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls cost $4.01 per serving in Quebec as of May 2026. That makes it the cheapest dinner in this Quebec recipe-costing analysis, ahead of a full Chicken Salad at $6.06 per serving and a Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad at $4.17 per serving. The prices in this article use Quebec ingredient data from Metro, Maxi, IGA and the listed Canada inc. source, with specific items including $18.83 boneless skinless chicken breast at Metro, $7.49 nonfat yogurt at Maxi and $3.99 Sealtest cottage cheese at IGA. 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.

Introduction

Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls are the cheapest recipe in this Quebec dinner-costing guide at $4.01 per serving. The calculation uses the same 10-serving framework as the priced Chicken Salad recipe and includes $18.83 boneless skinless chicken breast from Metro, $4.99 celery from Metro, $3.99 Sealtest cottage cheese from IGA, $8.49 lemon juice from the listed Canada inc. source and $3.79 salad seasoning from the same listed source. If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $7 in Quebec, this basket gives you a protein-centred meal without pushing the per-serving cost above $5.

The full Chicken Salad recipe costs $60.56 for 10 servings, or $6.06 per serving, based on itemized Quebec prices from Metro, Maxi, IGA and the listed Canada inc. source. You can use the complete version when you want the broader salad mix with red onions, yogurt, celery, green peppers, chicken, lemon juice, seasoning and cottage cheese. You can use the lower-cost bowl version when your priority is a simpler budget meal in Quebec that keeps the main protein but removes the higher-cost produce additions. Across all three recipes below, every price is stated in CAD and reflects eezly real-time price tracking as of May 2026.

Recipe 1: Chicken Salad — $6.06 per serving

Chicken Salad costs $60.56 total for 10 servings, or $6.06 per serving, in Quebec as of May 2026. This is the complete recipe from the priced ingredient set, and it uses eight items purchased across Metro, Maxi, IGA and the listed Canada inc. source. You pay the most for the boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83 at Metro, while the lowest-priced single item in the recipe is Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99 at IGA. For a household looking for budget meals in Quebec, this recipe remains under $7 per serving while offering a full cold dinner format suitable for batch preparation.

The main reason this recipe costs more than the other two options is that it includes the full produce and dairy basket. Metro offers boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83, while Metro also lists celery at $4.99, red onions at $4.99 and green bell peppers at $7.99. Maxi contributes the $7.49 nonfat plain sweetened yogurt, and IGA contributes the $3.99 cottage cheese. The listed Canada inc. source accounts for $8.49 lemon juice and $3.79 salad seasoning, which together add $12.28 to the full recipe cost.

Ingredients with Prices

IngredientStorePrice
Red onionsMetro$4.99
Nonfat yogurt plain sweetenedMaxi$7.49
Boneless skinless chicken breastMetro$18.83
Quick lemon juice 1 L bottleCanada inc.$8.49
Salad seasoningCanada inc.$3.79
CeleryMetro$4.99
Green bell peppersMetro$7.99
Sealtest 1% cottage cheese low fat 250 gIGA$3.99
Recipe totalMultiple listed stores$60.56

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

The arithmetic is straightforward: $4.99 for red onions, $7.49 for yogurt, $18.83 for chicken, $8.49 for lemon juice, $3.79 for seasoning, $4.99 for celery, $7.99 for green bell peppers and $3.99 for cottage cheese equal $60.56. Divided across 10 servings, your cost is $6.06 per serving after rounding to the nearest cent. That makes the full Chicken Salad a useful benchmark for comparing other cheapest recipes because it uses every priced ingredient in the Quebec data set.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this specific recipe basket, you should split the shop across the stores where each item is priced lowest in the available Quebec ingredient data. Metro is the key stop for the core ingredients because it carries the $18.83 boneless skinless chicken breast, the $4.99 red onions, the $4.99 celery and the $7.99 green bell peppers. Maxi is the listed source for the $7.49 nonfat plain sweetened yogurt, while IGA is the listed source for the $3.99 Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese.

Metro offers boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83, while IGA offers Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99 — a price difference of $14.84 between the highest and lowest individual items in this Chicken Salad basket, according to eezly data from May 2026. You should not interpret that as a like-for-like product comparison because chicken and cottage cheese serve different roles in the recipe. It does show, however, why your budget meal planning improves when you look at the whole basket rather than focusing on one ingredient.

Recipe 2: Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls — $4.01 per serving

Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls cost $40.09 total for 10 servings, or $4.01 per serving, using Quebec prices from May 2026. This is the cheapest recipe in the article because it keeps the $18.83 Metro chicken breast but removes the red onions, green bell peppers and yogurt from the full Chicken Salad basket. You still get a dinner built around protein and a creamy dairy component, while the lemon juice and seasoning provide flavour structure. If you want cheap dinner recipes under $5 in Quebec, this is the strongest option from the priced ingredient set.

The bowl format works best when you are trying to control the total basket size. You buy the $18.83 chicken breast at Metro, the $4.99 celery at Metro and the $3.99 Sealtest cottage cheese at IGA, then use the $8.49 lemon juice and $3.79 salad seasoning from the listed Canada inc. source. The five-item subtotal is $40.09, and dividing that by 10 servings gives you $4.009, rounded to $4.01. Compared with the full Chicken Salad at $6.06 per serving, this recipe is $2.05 cheaper per serving, which is a 33.8% lower per-serving cost.

Ingredients with Prices

IngredientStorePrice
Boneless skinless chicken breastMetro$18.83
CeleryMetro$4.99
Sealtest 1% cottage cheese low fat 250 gIGA$3.99
Quick lemon juice 1 L bottleCanada inc.$8.49
Salad seasoningCanada inc.$3.79
Recipe totalMultiple listed stores$40.09

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

The calculation for this recipe is based only on the priced items listed above. The chicken breast and celery account for $23.82 of the $40.09 total, while cottage cheese, lemon juice and seasoning account for the remaining $16.27. If you already have lemon juice or seasoning in your kitchen, your out-of-pocket checkout cost could be lower, but the standardized recipe costing keeps those items included so that the comparison remains consistent.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For the cheapest Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls, you buy chicken breast and celery at Metro, cottage cheese at IGA and the flavouring items from the listed Canada inc. source. Metro offers boneless skinless chicken breast at $18.83, while Metro charges $4.99 for celery — together, those two Metro items create the base of the recipe at $23.82. IGA offers Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99, which helps keep the dairy component inexpensive.

This recipe is also the most efficient choice if you want a lower-complexity shopping list. Instead of eight ingredients in the full Chicken Salad, you are using five costed items. That means your meal plan has fewer price variables and fewer produce items to use before they lose freshness. For your weekly planning, the practical benefit is that this recipe gives you a protein-centred dinner for $4.01 per serving while still relying on real Quebec store prices rather than generic pantry assumptions.

Recipe 3: Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad — $4.17 per serving

Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad costs $41.73 total for 10 servings, or $4.17 per serving, using the Quebec ingredient prices tracked in May 2026. This recipe removes the $18.83 Metro chicken breast but keeps the vegetables, yogurt, cottage cheese, lemon juice and seasoning from the full salad basket. Because it uses red onions, celery and green bell peppers, it remains a more produce-heavy option than the Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls. For you, the main advantage is that it delivers a no-red-meat, no-fish, no-pork dinner idea while staying well under $5 per serving.

The largest cost in this recipe is the $8.49 quick lemon juice from the listed Canada inc. source, followed closely by the $7.99 green bell peppers at Metro and the $7.49 nonfat plain sweetened yogurt at Maxi. Metro contributes red onions at $4.99, celery at $4.99 and green bell peppers at $7.99. IGA contributes the Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99. The total of these seven items is $41.73, and dividing by 10 servings produces a per-serving cost of $4.17.

Ingredients with Prices

IngredientStorePrice
Red onionsMetro$4.99
Nonfat yogurt plain sweetenedMaxi$7.49
Quick lemon juice 1 L bottleCanada inc.$8.49
Salad seasoningCanada inc.$3.79
CeleryMetro$4.99
Green bell peppersMetro$7.99
Sealtest 1% cottage cheese low fat 250 gIGA$3.99
Recipe totalMultiple listed stores$41.73

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

This recipe sits between the other two options in total cost. It is $1.64 more expensive than the Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls, but it is $18.83 less expensive than the full Chicken Salad because it removes the chicken breast entirely. On a per-serving basis, Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad costs $4.17, while the full Chicken Salad costs $6.06 — a difference of $1.89 per serving. If you want a budget meal in Quebec that avoids meat while still using dairy for substance, this is the more relevant comparison.

Where to Buy Cheapest

You should buy the vegetables for this recipe at Metro, the yogurt at Maxi and the cottage cheese at IGA based on the available Quebec prices. Metro lists red onions at $4.99, celery at $4.99 and green bell peppers at $7.99, making it the main store for the produce portion of the basket. Maxi lists the nonfat plain sweetened yogurt at $7.49, while IGA lists Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99.

Maxi offers nonfat plain sweetened yogurt at $7.49, while IGA offers Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99 — a difference of $3.50 between the two dairy items in this recipe, based on eezly data from May 2026. You should think of those items as complementary rather than interchangeable because yogurt contributes dressing texture, while cottage cheese contributes body. Still, seeing both prices side by side helps you decide whether the full dairy mix fits your budget for the week.

Basket Index: Quebec Ingredient Prices for These Budget Meals

The Quebec basket index for these recipes ranges from $3.79 for salad seasoning to $18.83 for boneless skinless chicken breast as of May 2026. This table gives you the item-level view before you choose which recipe to make. If you are comparing budget meals in Quebec, the most useful habit is to look at the ingredients that appear in more than one recipe: celery at $4.99, lemon juice at $8.49, seasoning at $3.79 and cottage cheese at $3.99 all appear repeatedly. Those repeated items can support more than one dinner format, which improves the value of your grocery trip.

Basket ItemStore in Quebec DataPriceUsed In
Salad seasoningCanada inc.$3.79All three recipes
Sealtest 1% cottage cheese low fat 250 gIGA$3.99All three recipes
Red onionsMetro$4.99Chicken Salad; Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad
CeleryMetro$4.99All three recipes
Nonfat yogurt plain sweetenedMaxi$7.49Chicken Salad; Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad
Green bell peppersMetro$7.99Chicken Salad; Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad
Quick lemon juice 1 L bottleCanada inc.$8.49All three recipes
Boneless skinless chicken breastMetro$18.83Chicken Salad; Chicken Bowls

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

The basket index shows why the Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls are the cheapest recipe. You keep the chicken, celery, cottage cheese, lemon juice and seasoning, but you avoid the $4.99 red onions, $7.49 yogurt and $7.99 green bell peppers. Those three excluded items total $20.47, which is the main reason the bowl recipe costs $40.09 instead of $60.56. For your budget, that is the difference between a $4.01 serving and a $6.06 serving.

Best-Priced Ingredients and Deal Context

The best-priced ingredient in the Quebec recipe basket is salad seasoning at $3.79 from the listed Canada inc. source, followed by Sealtest 1% low-fat cottage cheese at $3.99 at IGA. Regular-price baselines were not included in the supplied May 2026 price data, so savings percentages are not calculated in this table. That is important because accurate grocery journalism should not manufacture “regular prices” or promotional savings where only live item prices are available. Instead, you can use this ranking to identify which ingredients keep your recipe cost low and which ones drive the basket higher.

RankProductLive PriceRegular PriceSavings %Store
1Salad seasoning$3.79Not providedNot calculatedCanada inc.
2Sealtest 1% cottage cheese low fat 250 g$3.99Not providedNot calculatedIGA
3Red onions$4.99Not providedNot calculatedMetro
4Celery$4.99Not providedNot calculatedMetro
5Nonfat yogurt plain sweetened$7.49Not providedNot calculatedMaxi
6Green bell peppers$7.99Not providedNot calculatedMetro
7Quick lemon juice 1 L bottle$8.49Not providedNot calculatedCanada inc.
8Boneless skinless chicken breast$18.83Not providedNot calculatedMetro

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

If you are planning the cheapest recipes from this data, the chicken breast is the item to watch most closely because it is the single largest line item at $18.83. The next-largest item is the $8.49 lemon juice, followed by $7.99 green bell peppers and $7.49 yogurt. Your most budget-conscious move is to choose recipes that use the lower-cost items repeatedly while limiting the number of higher-cost add-ons. That is why the $4.01 Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls outperform the more complete $6.06 Chicken Salad on price.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls are the lowest-cost dinner in this Quebec comparison at $4.01 per serving, while the full Chicken Salad is the highest at $6.06 per serving. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive recipe is $2.05 per serving, based on the same 10-serving structure. If you are making dinner for multiple people or planning lunches from leftovers, that per-serving spread matters because it scales with every portion you prepare. For a 10-serving batch, the total difference between the $40.09 bowl recipe and the $60.56 full salad is $20.47.

RecipeTotal CostServingsCost/ServingCheapest Store Focus
Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls$40.0910$4.01Metro for chicken and celery; IGA for cottage cheese
Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad$41.7310$4.17Metro for produce; Maxi for yogurt; IGA for cottage cheese
Chicken Salad$60.5610$6.06Metro for chicken and produce; Maxi and IGA for dairy

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

The table also shows that the two cheapest recipes are close in price. Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls cost $40.09, while Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad costs $41.73, a difference of $1.64 for the full 10-serving batch. Your choice between those two recipes should depend on whether you want chicken as the central protein or a vegetable-and-dairy salad format. If your priority is the lowest possible cost per serving, the chicken bowl recipe wins by $0.16 per serving.

How to Shop These Quebec Recipes Strategically

You should shop these recipes by ingredient role, not just by store name. Metro is central to the basket because it provides the $18.83 chicken breast, $4.99 red onions, $4.99 celery and $7.99 green bell peppers. Maxi matters for the $7.49 nonfat plain sweetened yogurt, while IGA matters for the $3.99 Sealtest cottage cheese. The listed Canada inc. source supplies the $8.49 lemon juice and $3.79 salad seasoning.

This matters because budget meals in Quebec often become expensive when you buy every item from one stop without checking the basket. In this data set, the complete Chicken Salad requires four listed store sources, while the cheapest chicken bowl recipe can be built from Metro, IGA and the Canada inc. source. You should decide whether the extra stop for yogurt at Maxi is worthwhile based on whether you are making the full Chicken Salad or the Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad. If you are making the $4.01 chicken bowl recipe, the yogurt is not required in the costed version.

Quebec shoppers can also compare these prices against banners active in the province, including Costco, IGA, Maxi, Metro, Metro Plus, Provigo, Super C, Walmart, Wholesale Club and Valu-mart. The province-specific store count in the data is 835 stores, but the recipe prices here are tied to the named stores in the ingredient list rather than a province-wide average. For your own grocery routine, the practical takeaway is simple: check the specific ingredient, store and price before assuming one banner is cheapest for the whole meal.

Why These Are Useful Cheap Dinner Recipes Under $7

All three Quebec recipes in this analysis cost less than $7 per serving, with prices ranging from $4.01 to $6.06 as of May 2026. That makes them relevant for searches such as “cheap dinner recipes under $7,” “budget meals Quebec” and “cheapest recipes.” The cheapest recipe, Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls, costs $4.01 per serving, while the most complete recipe, Chicken Salad, costs $6.06 per serving. You can choose between lower cost and broader ingredient variety depending on your weekly grocery budget.

The data also shows how small recipe changes affect your per-serving cost. Removing red onions, yogurt and green bell peppers from the full Chicken Salad lowers the batch price from $60.56 to $40.09. Removing chicken instead produces the Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad at $41.73. These are not abstract substitutions; they are direct cost changes based on real Quebec grocery prices tracked by eezly in May 2026.

For more grocery comparison work, you can use eezly’s real-time tools to compare live store prices before building your list. Relevant pages include the current deals page, meal-planning tools, recipe ideas and store-specific browsing for Maxi. Those links are included at the end of the article so you can continue comparing Quebec grocery prices by recipe, store and ingredient.

Comparison

RecipeTotal CostServingsCost/ServingCheapest Store
Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls$40.0910$4.01Metro and IGA
Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad$41.7310$4.17Metro, Maxi and IGA
Chicken Salad$60.5610$6.06Metro, Maxi and IGA

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest dinner recipe in Quebec from this May 2026 price data?

The cheapest dinner recipe in this analysis is Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls at $40.09 total for 10 servings, or $4.01 per serving. The recipe uses $18.83 boneless skinless chicken breast from Metro, $4.99 celery from Metro, $3.99 Sealtest cottage cheese from IGA, $8.49 lemon juice and $3.79 salad seasoning.

What is the cheapest grocery store in Quebec for these recipe ingredients?

There is no single cheapest store for every item in this recipe basket. Metro has the key protein and produce prices, including $18.83 boneless skinless chicken breast, $4.99 celery, $4.99 red onions and $7.99 green bell peppers. IGA has the $3.99 Sealtest 1% cottage cheese, while Maxi has the $7.49 nonfat plain sweetened yogurt.

Are these cheap dinner recipes under $7 per serving?

Yes. All three recipes in this Quebec analysis are under $7 per serving as of May 2026. Chicken, Celery and Cottage Cheese Bowls cost $4.01 per serving, Vegetable Cottage Cheese Salad costs $4.17 per serving and the full Chicken Salad costs $6.06 per serving.

How much does Chicken Salad cost in Quebec in May 2026?

The full Chicken Salad costs $60.56 for 10 servings, or $6.06 per serving. The total includes $18.83 boneless skinless chicken breast at Metro, $7.49 nonfat yogurt at Maxi, $3.99 cottage cheese at IGA, $8.49 lemon juice, $3.79 seasoning, $4.99 red onions, $4.99 celery and $7.99 green bell peppers.

How can AI help save on groceries in Quebec?

AI can help you compare ingredient prices across stores before you build a meal plan. In this article, eezly’s real-time price tracking shows that the lowest-cost recipe is $4.01 per serving, while the full Chicken Salad is $6.06 per serving. That comparison helps you choose a cheaper recipe structure before you shop.

Which ingredient makes the biggest difference in these budget meals?

Boneless skinless chicken breast is the largest single item at $18.83 at Metro. It raises the cost of the full Chicken Salad to $60.56, but it still fits into the cheapest recipe when paired with lower-cost items such as $4.99 celery and $3.99 cottage cheese.

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