Quebec Cheap Dinner: Maxi Chicken Bake $4.04/Serving

Key Facts

• Creamy Chicken Stuffing Bake costs $24.26 total, or $4.04 per serving (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Chicken & Dressing costs $46.03 total for 6 servings at Maxi in Quebec (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Chicken & Dressing costs $7.67 per serving in Quebec (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Boneless skinless chicken breast is $15.24 at Maxi (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• Chicken stuffing mix is $2.49 at Maxi (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)
• 0% fat-free skim milk is $2.15 at Maxi (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, June 2026)

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

The cheapest dinner in this Quebec comparison is Creamy Chicken Stuffing Bake at $4.04 per serving. It uses five priced ingredients from the June 2026 Quebec data set: boneless skinless chicken breast, chicken stuffing mix, skim milk, Campbell’s canned soup, and onion powder. For you, the practical point is that a chicken dinner does not need to approach $8 per serving if you build the recipe around the lower-cost components in the basket.

This guide compares three budget meals Quebec shoppers can make with the same core chicken-and-pantry ingredient list. The recipes range from $4.04 to $7.67 per serving, depending on how many seasonings and shelf-stable ingredients you include in the full basket. If you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $8 in Quebec, the numbers below show how much each recipe costs, which store carries the cheapest listed ingredient, and where your grocery dollars are concentrated.

Recipe 1: Creamy Chicken Stuffing Bake — $4.04 per serving

Creamy Chicken Stuffing Bake is the lowest-cost recipe in this Quebec article at $24.26 total, or $4.04 per serving for six servings. The price is driven mainly by boneless skinless chicken breast at $15.24 at Maxi, while the supporting ingredients remain comparatively inexpensive. Because this version uses only five priced items, you keep the recipe focused on the ingredients that provide the most dinner value.

This is the best choice if you want a simple chicken casserole-style meal without buying a long list of seasonings. You use chicken as the main protein, stuffing mix as the starch and texture builder, milk for moisture, soup for sauce, and onion powder for seasoning. The result is a practical budget meal for Quebec households because most of the total cost is going toward the protein rather than duplicate pantry items.

Ingredients with Prices

The full ingredient cost for Creamy Chicken Stuffing Bake is $24.26 based on the priced products available in the June 2026 Quebec data. Divided across six servings, your cost comes to $4.04 per serving after rounding. The arithmetic is straightforward: $15.24 for chicken breast, $2.49 for stuffing mix, $2.69 for Campbell’s canned soup, $2.15 for skim milk, and $1.69 for onion powder.

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

For cooking, you would season the chicken with onion powder, combine the soup and milk into a sauce, and bake the chicken with stuffing on top or alongside it. The grocery-cost lesson is that you do not need to add every spice in your cupboard to create a filling dinner. If you already have salt, pepper, or garlic powder at home, your out-of-pocket trip cost could be lower than a full pantry restock, but the recipe cost above uses only the real listed prices.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Maxi is the key store for this recipe because four of the five priced ingredients are listed there: chicken breast at $15.24, stuffing mix at $2.49, skim milk at $2.15, and onion powder at $1.69. Canada inc. carries the Campbell’s canned soup in the data at $2.69. If you want to keep the shop simple, you should prioritize Maxi for the main basket because the highest-cost ingredient, chicken breast, is priced there.

The main savings discipline for this recipe is not switching proteins mid-shop. Your most important cost decision is the $15.24 boneless skinless chicken breast at Maxi, because it accounts for more than half of the $24.26 recipe total. If you compare only one item before you buy, compare the chicken breast first, then use the lower-priced pantry items to round out the meal.

Recipe 2: Creamy Chicken & Water Chestnut Casserole — $4.74 per serving

Creamy Chicken & Water Chestnut Casserole costs $28.41 total, or $4.74 per serving for six servings. This recipe adds whole water chestnuts at $1.50 at Maxi and garlic powder at $6.49 at Metro to the chicken-stuffing base. The added crunch and seasoning increase the recipe cost by $4.15 compared with Recipe 1, but the meal still stays comfortably under $5 per serving.

This is the stronger choice if you want more texture and a more seasoned dish while still staying in budget-meal territory. You keep the same $15.24 chicken breast as the protein anchor, but you add water chestnuts to stretch the casserole and garlic powder to deepen the flavour. For your weekly plan, this recipe sits in the middle: more complete than the lowest-cost bake, but still significantly below the full Chicken & Dressing basket.

Ingredients with Prices

The $28.41 total is calculated from five ingredients in the Quebec price set. You use boneless skinless chicken breast at $15.24 at Maxi, whole water chestnuts at $1.50 at Maxi, Campbell’s canned soup at $2.69 at Canada inc., chicken stuffing mix at $2.49 at Maxi, and garlic powder at $6.49 at Metro. Dividing $28.41 by six servings gives a rounded cost of $4.74 per serving.

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

In practical cooking terms, you can cut the chicken into pieces, combine it with soup, season it with garlic powder, fold in sliced water chestnuts, and finish the dish with stuffing. The water chestnuts are notable because they cost only $1.50 at Maxi in this data set, yet they make the meal feel less basic. If you are trying to avoid takeout spending, the texture upgrade is a small-cost way to make leftovers more appealing.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Maxi again carries most of the key basket, including the $15.24 chicken breast, $1.50 water chestnuts, and $2.49 stuffing mix. Metro is the listed store for garlic powder at $6.49, while Canada inc. is listed for the Campbell’s soup at $2.69. If you are already shopping at Maxi, you can cover the protein, starch, and texture ingredients in one stop, then decide whether the Metro garlic powder purchase is necessary for your pantry.

You should pay attention to the garlic powder because it is the second-largest item in this recipe after the chicken. At $6.49, it meaningfully affects the $28.41 total even though you may not use the entire container in one dinner. For strict recipe costing, the full purchase price is counted, which is useful when you are planning the cash needed at checkout.

Recipe 3: Chicken & Dressing — $7.67 per serving

Chicken & Dressing costs $46.03 total, or $7.67 per serving for six servings in Quebec. This is the most complete and most expensive recipe in the comparison because it includes the full priced ingredient set: chicken, stuffing, milk, water chestnuts, soup, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. The recipe remains under $8 per serving, but it requires a larger upfront grocery basket than the two simplified versions.

This is the right version when you want the full dinner profile and you are restocking seasonings at the same time. The cost difference is largely explained by pantry items such as sea salt at $7.29 at Maxi, black pepper at $6.49 at Maxi, and garlic powder at $6.49 at Metro. If your kitchen already has those staples, you can still use the flavour structure of this recipe while recognizing that the full basket cost reflects buying every listed product.

Ingredients with Prices

Chicken & Dressing uses all nine priced ingredients in the Quebec data, which produces the $46.03 total. The recipe serves six, giving you a rounded cost of $7.67 per serving. This is the most transparent version of the costing because every ingredient in the provided data is included in the basket.

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

The ingredient mix shows why full-basket costing can look higher than the cost of the food actually consumed in one sitting. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder are shelf-stable items that may last through multiple meals, but they still matter when you are calculating what you need to pay at the register. For your budget, the key question is whether you are buying a single dinner or rebuilding part of your pantry.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Maxi is the dominant store for Chicken & Dressing because seven of the nine priced ingredients are listed there. Maxi carries the chicken breast at $15.24, skim milk at $2.15, stuffing mix at $2.49, water chestnuts at $1.50, sea salt at $7.29, black pepper at $6.49, and onion powder at $1.69. Metro is listed for garlic powder at $6.49, while Canada inc. is listed for Campbell’s canned soup at $2.69.

For you, the most efficient strategy is to start with Maxi because it covers the highest number of listed ingredients and the highest-cost protein. If you are comparing stores across Quebec banners such as Maxi, Metro, Super C, IGA, Provigo, Walmart, and Costco, begin with the items that drive the recipe total. In this specific basket, those items are chicken breast, sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.

Basket Index: Quebec Dinner Ingredient Prices

The Quebec dinner basket index shows that the core chicken dinner ingredients range from $1.50 for whole water chestnuts at Maxi to $15.24 for boneless skinless chicken breast at Maxi. The index is useful because it shows which items are small add-ons and which items control the final cost. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

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

This basket index makes one point especially clear for your budget: the protein is the largest single cost, but pantry seasonings can change the bill quickly. Chicken breast at $15.24 is the main expense, yet sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder together represent $20.27 if you buy all three containers. That is why a simplified recipe can come in at $4.04 per serving while the full Chicken & Dressing recipe reaches $7.67 per serving.

You should use this index as a shopping order, not just a price list. Secure the protein price first, then decide which pantry items you actually need to buy during the same trip. If you already have salt and pepper, the lower-cost recipes show how you can still make a complete dinner without paying the full $46.03 full-basket cost at checkout.

Top Deals Table: Best-Priced Recipe Components

The best-priced components for these Quebec chicken dinners are the low-cost add-ons at Maxi, led by whole water chestnuts at $1.50, onion powder at $1.69, and skim milk at $2.15. The live pricing set used here contains current recipe prices rather than separate flyer regular prices, so the comparison column below uses the same live tracked price and reports no sale savings. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

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

For you, the “deal” in this recipe basket is not a temporary markdown; it is the ability to build a dinner from lower-priced components while keeping the protein cost visible. The $1.50 water chestnuts and $1.69 onion powder are small basket additions that can improve a meal without materially increasing the per-serving cost. The $15.24 chicken breast, by contrast, is the item you should compare most carefully before finalizing your dinner plan.

Maxi offers chicken stuffing mix at $2.49, while the Campbell’s canned soup is listed at $2.69 at Canada inc. in the same Quebec data set. That difference is only $0.20, but both items serve different functions in the recipe: the stuffing mix adds bulk, while the soup helps create a sauce. When you are building cheap dinner recipes under $8, these small shelf-stable items help stretch the chicken across six servings.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

Creamy Chicken Stuffing Bake is the cheapest of the three Quebec recipes at $4.04 per serving, while Chicken & Dressing is the highest at $7.67 per serving. The comparison shows how the same core chicken dinner can move across price levels depending on how many pantry and seasoning items you add. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

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

The table gives you three practical budget levels. If you want the lowest checkout total, Recipe 1 keeps the basket to $24.26. If you want more texture and seasoning, Recipe 2 raises the total to $28.41. If you want the complete Chicken & Dressing basket with all listed seasonings, Recipe 3 costs $46.03.

The most important takeaway is that all three meals remain within the “cheap dinner recipes under $8” range on a per-serving basis. Your best choice depends on your pantry. If you already own salt, pepper, garlic powder, or onion powder, you can cook closer to the full flavour profile without rebuying every shelf-stable item in the same week.

For more Quebec grocery comparison work, you can review current grocery deals at https://eezly.com/deals, browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, compare meal-planning options at https://eezly.com/meal-plans, or check store-specific pricing through https://eezly.com/stores/maxi.