Quebec Cheap Dinner: Parmesan Pepper Pasta $5.54/serving

Key Facts

• Parmesan Pepper Pasta costs $33.25 total, or $5.54 per serving for 6 servings. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Pasta Salad costs $45.17 total, or $7.53 per serving for 6 servings. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Grape Tomatoes are priced at $2.44 at Maxi in Quebec. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Italian Salad Dressing is priced at $3.99 at Metro in Quebec. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Olival Black Olives are priced at $4.49 at Maxi in Quebec. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• The full 8-item Pasta Salad basket adds up to $45.17 across Metro, Maxi, maxi 1, and Canada inc. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 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

Parmesan Pepper Pasta is the cheapest recipe in this Quebec dinner costing at $5.54 per serving, based on a $33.25 ingredient basket divided across 6 servings. If you are looking for cheap dinner recipes under $8 in Quebec, this recipe gives you a pasta-based meal built from Metro-priced green bell peppers, red onions, Italian dressing, and veggie spirals, plus Parmesan priced at Canada inc. The result is a lower-cost alternative to the full Pasta Salad, which comes in at $7.53 per serving.

For your weekly meal planning, the key takeaway is that the most expensive ingredient in the full Pasta Salad basket is 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese at $10.29, while the lowest-priced ingredient is Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 at Maxi. That gap matters because you can build different budget meals Quebec households can repeat by keeping lower-priced ingredients, such as tomatoes and dressing, while deciding carefully when Parmesan belongs in the basket. The recipes below use only the listed Quebec ingredient prices and show you where each item is cheapest in the provided May 2026 data.

Recipe 1: Pasta Salad — $7.53 per serving

Pasta Salad costs $45.17 total in Quebec, or $7.53 per serving for 6 servings. This is the full version of the recipe and uses all 8 priced ingredients from the May 2026 basket: green bell peppers, grape tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, red onions, black olives, Italian dressing, Parmesan cheese, and veggie spirals. If you want the most complete version of the meal, this is the recipe that gives you the broadest mix of vegetables, dressing, cheese, and pasta-style base.

This Pasta Salad is not the lowest-cost option in the article, but it is the most complete basket. You are paying for variety: crisp peppers, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, olives, dressing, cheese, and veggie spirals all contribute to the final $45.17 total. For a household planning 6 dinner portions, the $7.53 cost per serving keeps the recipe within the range of cheap dinner recipes under $8, while still using a more robust ingredient list than the simplified versions below.

Ingredients with Prices

The full Pasta Salad basket totals exactly $45.17. The arithmetic is straightforward: $7.99 for Green Bell Peppers, $2.44 for Grape Tomatoes, $4.99 for Pickled Cucumbers, $4.99 for Red Onions, $4.49 for Olival Black Olives, $3.99 for Italian Salad Dressing, $10.29 for 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese, and $5.99 for the Veggie Spirals Teriyaki Style Stirfry Kit.

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this Pasta Salad, your cheapest approach is to split the basket by item rather than assuming one store has every best price. Maxi has the lowest-priced item in the basket, with Grape Tomatoes at $2.44, and it also carries Olival Black Olives at $4.49. Metro supplies several core ingredients in the data, including Green Bell Peppers at $7.99, Red Onions at $4.99, Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99, and the Veggie Spirals Teriyaki Style Stirfry Kit at $5.99.

You should pay particular attention to the Parmesan because it is the largest single cost in the recipe. At $10.29, 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese represents about 22.8% of the full $45.17 Pasta Salad basket. If your household already has cheese at home, your out-of-pocket cost for this dinner drops sharply, but the recipe costing here counts every listed ingredient so you can compare it honestly against the other two options.

Recipe 2: Tomato, Olive and Cucumber Pasta Bowl — $5.48 per serving

Tomato, Olive and Cucumber Pasta Bowl costs $21.90 total, or $5.48 per serving for 4 servings, using the lower-priced vegetable and dressing components from the Quebec basket. This recipe uses Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 from Maxi, Pickled Cucumbers at $4.99 from maxi 1, Olival Black Olives at $4.49 from Maxi, Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99 from Metro, and Veggie Spirals Teriyaki Style Stirfry Kit at $5.99 from Metro. If you want one of the cheapest recipes in this set without using Parmesan, this is the most direct way to reduce the basket.

The cost advantage comes from leaving out the $10.29 Parmesan and the $7.99 Green Bell Peppers. You still get a dinner-style bowl with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, dressing, and a pasta-style base, but your total grocery outlay is $21.90 rather than $45.17. For you, that means a recipe that is easier to fit into a smaller weekly grocery budget, especially if you are planning lunches from leftovers or feeding 2 people over 2 meals.

Ingredients with Prices

The recipe total is calculated from 5 priced ingredients. The sum is $2.44 plus $4.99 plus $4.49 plus $3.99 plus $5.99, which equals $21.90. Divided by 4 servings, the cost is $5.48 per serving after standard rounding.

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this version, you split the shopping between Maxi, maxi 1, and Metro based on the provided Quebec prices. Maxi is important because Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 are the lowest-priced ingredient in the full data set, and Olival Black Olives at $4.49 are also below the $5 mark. Metro is still needed for Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99 and the Veggie Spirals kit at $5.99.

This recipe is useful when you want a cold pasta-style dinner but do not want the higher cost of cheese. Compared with the full Pasta Salad at $7.53 per serving, the Tomato, Olive and Cucumber Pasta Bowl costs $5.48 per serving. That is a per-serving difference of $2.05, which is meaningful if you are repeating the meal several times in a month.

Recipe 3: Parmesan Pepper Pasta — $5.54 per serving

Parmesan Pepper Pasta costs $33.25 total, or $5.54 per serving for 6 servings, making it the cheapest 6-serving dinner in this Quebec recipe costing. The recipe uses Green Bell Peppers at $7.99 from Metro, Red Onions at $4.99 from Metro, Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99 from Metro, 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese at $10.29 from Canada inc., and Veggie Spirals Teriyaki Style Stirfry Kit at $5.99 from Metro. If your goal is a dinner that still includes cheese but avoids the full 8-item basket, this is the best balance in the data.

The main reason this recipe comes in at $5.54 per serving is portion count. Although its total basket is higher than Recipe 2 at $33.25, it is divided across 6 servings rather than 4. For your meal plan, that makes Parmesan Pepper Pasta practical when you want more portions from a single shop and prefer a recipe that includes the richness of Parmesan.

Ingredients with Prices

The ingredient total is $33.25. That comes from $7.99 for Green Bell Peppers, $4.99 for Red Onions, $3.99 for Italian Salad Dressing, $10.29 for Parmesan, and $5.99 for Veggie Spirals. Dividing $33.25 by 6 servings gives $5.54 per serving after rounding.

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

Where to Buy Cheapest

Metro carries most of the items in this recipe’s provided price list, including Green Bell Peppers, Red Onions, Italian Salad Dressing, and Veggie Spirals. You would use Canada inc. for the Parmesan price listed at $10.29. Because the recipe relies on 5 ingredients rather than 8, your shopping list is shorter than the full Pasta Salad while still producing 6 servings.

If you are comparing the two 6-serving options, Parmesan Pepper Pasta at $5.54 per serving is cheaper than the full Pasta Salad at $7.53 per serving. The difference is $1.99 per serving, largely because this version removes Grape Tomatoes, Pickled Cucumbers, and Olival Black Olives from the full basket. You give up some variety, but you keep the core pasta-style format and the Parmesan.

Quebec Basket Index: Ingredient Prices Across Stores

The full Pasta Salad basket totals $45.17 across the listed Quebec stores, with prices ranging from $2.44 for Grape Tomatoes at Maxi to $10.29 for 100% Parmesan Shredded Cheese at Canada inc. This basket index is useful because it shows you which items are doing the most work in the recipe cost and which stores appear in the lowest available price list. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

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

This index shows why your cheapest recipes are not necessarily the recipes with the fewest ingredients. Recipe 2 has the lowest total basket at $21.90, but Recipe 3 becomes the cheapest per serving because it spreads $33.25 across 6 portions. When you are planning budget meals in Quebec, you should compare both total basket cost and cost per serving, because a smaller receipt is not always the lowest dinner cost once portions are counted.

You can also see that the $10.29 Parmesan has the biggest effect on the full basket. If you include it, you add richness and protein-like heft to the meal, but you also add the single highest-priced item in the data. By contrast, Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 at Maxi are the lowest-priced item and only account for 5.4% of the full Pasta Salad basket.

Top Priced Ingredient Deals in the Quebec Recipe Basket

Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 at Maxi are the lowest-priced item in the Quebec recipe basket, followed by Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99 at Metro and Olival Black Olives at $4.49 at Maxi. Because regular prices were not included in the provided May 2026 source data, the table ranks the best available ingredient prices by observed price rather than by discount percentage. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

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

For your shopping list, this table is most useful as a priority guide. If you are trying to keep dinner under $6 per serving, start with the lower-priced items: tomatoes, dressing, olives, cucumbers, onions, and veggie spirals. If you add Parmesan, understand that the recipe may still be economical, but the cheese becomes the largest single cost in the basket.

The store pattern also matters. Maxi appears on 2 of the 3 lowest-priced items in this ingredient set: Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 and Olival Black Olives at $4.49. Metro appears frequently across the rest of the list, including Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99, Red Onions at $4.99, Veggie Spirals at $5.99, and Green Bell Peppers at $7.99.

Price Comparison Table: All Recipes Side by Side

Parmesan Pepper Pasta is the cheapest recipe by cost per serving at $5.54, while Tomato, Olive and Cucumber Pasta Bowl has the lowest total basket at $21.90. The full Pasta Salad costs the most overall at $45.17 and the most per serving at $7.53, but it also includes the broadest ingredient mix. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

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

If you are optimizing strictly for total receipt size, Recipe 2 is the winner because $21.90 is the lowest basket cost. If you are optimizing for dinner cost per person, Recipe 3 is the winner because $33.25 divided by 6 servings works out to $5.54 per serving. If you want the most complete salad with every priced ingredient included, Recipe 1 remains under $8 per serving at $7.53.

For cheap dinner recipes under $8 in Quebec, all 3 recipes qualify on a per-serving basis. Your choice depends on how you shop: choose Recipe 2 when you need the lowest upfront spend, Recipe 3 when you need 6 servings at the lowest per-serving cost, and Recipe 1 when you want the full ingredient mix. That is the practical difference between cheapest recipes and most complete recipes.

How to Use These Prices for a Quebec Grocery Plan

The best way to use these Quebec prices is to plan your dinner around the cost per serving, then decide which ingredients are optional for your household. If you already have dressing, onions, or cheese at home, your actual checkout cost may be lower than the full recipe costing shown here. However, for comparison purposes, the listed totals count every ingredient at its May 2026 observed price.

You should also avoid assuming that one store is automatically cheapest for the entire recipe. In this data set, Maxi has Grape Tomatoes at $2.44 and Olival Black Olives at $4.49, while Metro has Italian Salad Dressing at $3.99, Red Onions at $4.99, Green Bell Peppers at $7.99, and Veggie Spirals at $5.99. Your lowest-cost basket comes from matching each ingredient to its listed store, not from buying the whole list in one place without checking.

For ongoing planning, you can compare current grocery deals at https://eezly.com/deals, browse recipe ideas at https://eezly.com/recipes, and explore meal-planning tools at https://eezly.com/meal-plans. If you regularly shop one banner, you can also check store-specific pages such as https://eezly.com/stores/maxi or read more grocery price coverage at https://eezly.com/blog.