Saskatchewan Cheap Dinners: Skillet at $4/Serving

June 2, 2026 · 17 min read · SK

Key Facts

Introduction

According to eezly's real-time tracking of 196,000 products across 2,700 Canadian grocery stores, Hamburger Rice Skillet costs $27.99 total, or $4.00 per serving, in Saskatchewan as of June 2026. For your budget meals Saskatchewan plan, the cheapest fully priced dinner in this recipe set is built from Lean Ground Beef at Independent for $10.00, Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43, Celery Sticks at Freshco for $5.49, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at Independent for $1.79, Instant Rice at Independent for $4.29 and Water Coconuts at Freshco for $5.99.

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 Saskatchewan households, the practical takeaway is straightforward: you can build a seven-serving skillet dinner for $27.99, and you can bring the cost below $4.00 per serving by using the same tracked ingredient prices in simpler rice-and-vegetable or beef-and-rice variations. The active Saskatchewan grocery banners in this price set include Independent, Freshco, Extrafoods, Costco, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Safeway, Sobeys, Walmart, Wholesale Club and Your Independent Grocer. The three recipes below use only the concrete June 2026 prices supplied in the dataset, so you can see exactly where each cost comes from before you shop.

Recipe 1: Hamburger Rice Skillet — $4.00 per serving

Hamburger Rice Skillet costs $27.99 total and serves 7 people, making it a $4.00-per-serving Saskatchewan dinner as of June 2026. The key price anchor is Lean Ground Beef at Independent for $10.00, while the lowest individual ingredient cost in the recipe is Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the most complete dinner in the set because it includes beef, rice, vegetables, seasoning and Water Coconuts from Freshco. If your goal is to find cheap dinner recipes under $4 or near $4 per serving, this recipe sits right at the practical ceiling for a filling, meat-based skillet meal. You are not relying on vague pantry assumptions here; the $27.99 total is the exact sum of the priced Saskatchewan ingredients supplied for this recipe.

From a household budgeting perspective, the recipe works because the cost is spread across seven servings. Your most expensive line item is Lean Ground Beef at $10.00, which accounts for 35.7% of the $27.99 total. Your lowest-cost line item is Carrots at $0.43, which adds volume and vegetable content without materially changing the per-serving price.

Ingredients with Prices

The full priced basket for Hamburger Rice Skillet includes six Saskatchewan grocery items. Independent supplies three of the six priced ingredients: Lean Ground Beef, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix and Instant Rice. Freshco supplies Water Coconuts and Celery Sticks, while Extrafoods supplies the Carrots.

IngredientStorePriceShare of $27.99 recipe cost
Lean Ground BeefIndependent$10.0035.7%
Water CoconutsFreshco$5.9921.4%
Celery SticksFreshco$5.4919.6%
Instant RiceIndependent$4.2915.3%
Onion Recipe and Soup MixIndependent$1.796.4%
CarrotsExtrafoods$0.431.5%

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

When you look at the recipe this way, your first opportunity to control cost is the beef. At $10.00, it is the single largest component of the meal, but it also provides the protein base that makes the skillet feel like dinner rather than a side dish. Your second and third biggest costs are Water Coconuts at $5.99 and Celery Sticks at $5.49, both at Freshco.

The seasoning and starch are comparatively modest. Onion Recipe and Soup Mix is $1.79 at Independent, while Instant Rice is $4.29 at Independent. Together, those two items cost $6.08, or 21.7% of the full recipe price, which is why rice-based dinners remain useful when you need predictable budget meals in Saskatchewan.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Independent is the best store in this recipe for the core skillet base because it has Lean Ground Beef at $10.00, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at $1.79 and Instant Rice at $4.29. Freshco is the required stop for the $5.99 Water Coconuts and $5.49 Celery Sticks in this dataset, while Extrafoods has the lowest listed carrot price at $0.43. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you want the simplest shopping route, you would start at Independent for the beef, rice and soup mix because those three items represent $16.08 of the $27.99 basket. You would then decide whether the Freshco stop is worthwhile for the two Freshco items totalling $11.48. Finally, you would add Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43 if you are already near that store or if you are building a larger vegetable basket.

Independent offers Lean Ground Beef at $10.00, while Freshco charges $5.49 for Celery Sticks and Extrafoods charges $0.43 for Carrots — the comparison is not a like-for-like product match, but it shows where your dollars concentrate across this recipe basket. For your weekly grocery planning, the most important pattern is that no single store supplies every lowest-priced item in the recipe. You get the most accurate cost picture when you compare by ingredient rather than assuming one banner is automatically cheapest for the full meal.

Recipe 2: Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet — $1.71 per serving

Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet costs $12.00 total using the Saskatchewan prices in this dataset, which works out to $1.71 per serving across 7 servings. The costed ingredient set is Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43, Celery Sticks at Freshco for $5.49, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at Independent for $1.79 and Instant Rice at Independent for $4.29. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the lowest-cost dinner variation in the article because it removes the $10.00 beef and the $5.99 Water Coconuts from the full Hamburger Rice Skillet basket. You still keep the rice base, the onion soup seasoning and two vegetables, so the meal remains structured around a skillet format rather than becoming a single-ingredient side. If you are searching for the cheapest recipes in Saskatchewan and you are comfortable with a meatless dinner, this is the strongest price-per-serving option.

The arithmetic is simple and important: $0.43 for Carrots, plus $5.49 for Celery Sticks, plus $1.79 for Onion Recipe and Soup Mix, plus $4.29 for Instant Rice equals $12.00. Dividing $12.00 by 7 servings gives $1.71 per serving when rounded to the nearest cent. Compared with the $4.00 Hamburger Rice Skillet, this variation lowers the per-serving cost by $2.29, or 57.3%.

Ingredients with Prices

This version uses four of the tracked ingredients and avoids the two higher-cost items that are not essential to a rice-and-vegetable skillet. Your vegetable base is split between Extrafoods and Freshco, while Independent supplies the seasoning and rice. That mix gives you a costed recipe that is especially useful when you want a low-cost side that can also function as a light dinner.

IngredientStorePriceRole in recipe
CarrotsExtrafoods$0.43Low-cost vegetable base
Celery SticksFreshco$5.49Main vegetable bulk
Onion Recipe and Soup MixIndependent$1.79Seasoning
Instant RiceIndependent$4.29Starch base

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

The most important number is the $0.43 carrot price at Extrafoods. It is the smallest ingredient cost in the full dataset and helps keep this variation below $2.00 per serving. Celery Sticks at $5.49 are the largest cost in this meatless skillet, so you should treat celery as the item to verify first if you are comparing in store.

Instant Rice at $4.29 gives the recipe most of its serving power. Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at $1.79 adds flavour without creating a large price burden. For your grocery list, those two Independent items total $6.08, which is just over half of the $12.00 recipe cost.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Extrafoods is the cheapest listed source for Carrots at $0.43, Freshco is the listed source for Celery Sticks at $5.49 and Independent is the listed source for Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at $1.79 and Instant Rice at $4.29. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you want to minimize store visits, your most efficient choice is to prioritize Independent for the rice and soup mix because those two items are foundational to the recipe. You can then decide whether to add the Freshco celery and Extrafoods carrots depending on your route. Since the carrot price is only $0.43, you should not spend extra travel time solely to capture that item unless you are already shopping at Extrafoods or combining it with other groceries.

This is where AI-powered grocery price comparison becomes practical for everyday dinner planning. You are not just asking which store is cheapest overall; you are asking which store is cheapest for the exact ingredient you need. In this recipe, your answer is split across Extrafoods, Freshco and Independent, which is why ingredient-level comparison matters for Saskatchewan grocery budgets.

Recipe 3: Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice — $2.36 per serving

Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice costs $16.51 total using the Saskatchewan prices in this dataset, or $2.36 per serving across 7 servings. The recipe uses Lean Ground Beef at Independent for $10.00, Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at Independent for $1.79 and Instant Rice at Independent for $4.29. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the best compromise between the full $4.00 Hamburger Rice Skillet and the $1.71 meatless variation. You keep the $10.00 beef, which gives the meal its main protein, but you remove the $5.99 Water Coconuts and the $5.49 Celery Sticks. That lowers the total recipe cost by $11.48 compared with the full Hamburger Rice Skillet while preserving the beef-and-rice structure many households expect from a quick dinner.

The cost calculation is exact: $10.00 for Lean Ground Beef, plus $0.43 for Carrots, plus $1.79 for Onion Recipe and Soup Mix, plus $4.29 for Instant Rice equals $16.51. Dividing $16.51 by 7 servings gives $2.36 per serving. Compared with the full $27.99 recipe, this version costs 41.0% less while still including the most expensive and most filling ingredient, the beef.

Ingredients with Prices

This recipe keeps your ingredient list short and focused. Independent supplies the beef, soup mix and rice, while Extrafoods supplies the carrots. That means most of your spend is concentrated at Independent, which can make the shop easier if you are trying to reduce the number of stops in a week.

IngredientStorePriceRole in recipe
Lean Ground BeefIndependent$10.00Main protein
CarrotsExtrafoods$0.43Vegetable and bulk
Onion Recipe and Soup MixIndependent$1.79Seasoning
Instant RiceIndependent$4.29Starch base

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

Lean Ground Beef is still the dominant cost. At $10.00 out of $16.51, it represents 60.6% of this recipe’s price. That is higher than its 35.7% share in the full Hamburger Rice Skillet because this version removes the Freshco items that otherwise spread out the cost.

Carrots remain the most efficient add-in at $0.43. They contribute only 2.6% of the recipe cost but give you an inexpensive vegetable component. For your budget, that is exactly the type of ingredient that helps keep a beef dinner under $3.00 per serving.

Where to Buy Cheapest

Independent is the main store for Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice because it supplies $16.08 of the $16.51 basket: Lean Ground Beef at $10.00, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at $1.79 and Instant Rice at $4.29. Extrafoods supplies the remaining $0.43 carrot item. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you want a practical one-store strategy, you would build your list around Independent first. The beef, rice and seasoning are the functional backbone of the dinner, and they account for 97.4% of the recipe’s cost. Extrafoods has the listed carrot price, but the carrot is a very small portion of the total, so you should weigh the extra stop against your time and transportation costs.

For Saskatchewan families comparing cheap dinner recipes under $4, this $2.36-per-serving version may be the most realistic weeknight option. It is less expensive than the full Hamburger Rice Skillet, but it does not require you to drop the meat. If your household prefers beef-based dinners, this variation gives you a clear way to cut cost without changing the overall meal format.

Saskatchewan Recipe Basket Index

The Saskatchewan recipe basket index shows that Lean Ground Beef at Independent is the highest-priced item at $10.00, while Carrots at Extrafoods are the lowest-priced item at $0.43. The six tracked ingredients together form the $27.99 Hamburger Rice Skillet basket. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Basket itemCheapest listed storeJune 2026 priceUsed in recipes
Lean Ground BeefIndependent$10.00Recipes 1 and 3
Water CoconutsFreshco$5.99Recipe 1
Celery SticksFreshco$5.49Recipes 1 and 2
Instant RiceIndependent$4.29Recipes 1, 2 and 3
Onion Recipe and Soup MixIndependent$1.79Recipes 1, 2 and 3
CarrotsExtrafoods$0.43Recipes 1, 2 and 3

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

This basket index is useful because it separates the recipe into decisions you can actually make. You can see immediately that beef, Water Coconuts and celery are the three largest dollar items. You can also see that carrots, soup mix and rice are the low-to-mid-cost items that make the skillet format affordable.

For your own grocery planning, the index also highlights why per-serving math matters more than item price alone. A $10.00 ground beef package can still make sense when it helps produce seven servings, while a $0.43 carrot item has limited effect on the final bill because it is already so inexpensive. When you compare ingredients this way, you can decide whether to trim the highest-cost components or keep them for nutrition, preference and meal satisfaction.

Top Ingredient Deals for These Saskatchewan Recipes

The top ingredient deal in this Saskatchewan recipe set is Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43, followed by Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at Independent for $1.79 and Instant Rice at Independent for $4.29. Regular-price and flyer-savings fields are not asserted where they are not present in the source data; the current prices below are the live tracked prices used for recipe costing. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

RankProductCurrent priceRegular priceSavings %Store
1Carrots$0.43Not provided in source dataNot calculatedExtrafoods
2Onion Recipe and Soup Mix$1.79Not provided in source dataNot calculatedIndependent
3Instant Rice$4.29Not provided in source dataNot calculatedIndependent
4Celery Sticks$5.49Not provided in source dataNot calculatedFreshco
5Water Coconuts$5.99Not provided in source dataNot calculatedFreshco
6Lean Ground Beef$10.00Not provided in source dataNot calculatedIndependent

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

This table is intentionally ranked by current out-of-pocket price rather than unverified percentage savings. That is the safest way to compare these ingredients because the dataset provides live prices, not regular-price baselines. For your grocery budget, the current shelf price is still the number that matters when you are deciding what dinner will cost this week.

If you are trying to reduce the total bill, start with the largest items rather than the smallest. Removing Water Coconuts at $5.99 and Celery Sticks at $5.49 from the full skillet basket cuts $11.48, which is how Recipe 3 falls from $27.99 to $16.51. Removing beef cuts another $10.00, which is how Recipe 2 reaches $12.00 total, but that also changes the meal from beef-based to meatless.

Price Comparison Table

The cheapest recipe in this Saskatchewan comparison is Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet at $12.00 total, or $1.71 per serving, while the highest-cost option is Hamburger Rice Skillet at $27.99 total, or $4.00 per serving. Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice sits between them at $16.51 total and $2.36 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

RecipeTotal CostServingsCost/ServingCheapest Store
Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet$12.007$1.71Extrafoods, Freshco and Independent
Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice$16.517$2.36Independent and Extrafoods
Hamburger Rice Skillet$27.997$4.00Independent, Freshco and Extrafoods

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

The spread between the cheapest and most expensive recipe is $15.99 per batch. On a per-serving basis, that is the difference between $1.71 and $4.00, or $2.29 per plate. If you are feeding a larger household, that difference becomes meaningful because the same seven-serving structure lets you compare like with like.

Your choice depends on what you need the meal to do. If you want the lowest possible price, Recipe 2 is the clear answer. If you want beef at a lower cost, Recipe 3 is the best balance. If you want the full ingredient set and a more complete skillet, Recipe 1 gives you the full $27.99 dinner at $4.00 per serving.

How to Use These Prices for a Saskatchewan Grocery Plan

You can use these Saskatchewan prices to build a practical weekly dinner plan by starting with the $1.71, $2.36 and $4.00 per-serving options, then choosing based on protein needs and store access. The same six ingredients support three different budget levels, which makes them useful for households trying to control dinner costs without rebuilding the entire grocery list each week. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

For your lowest-cost night, choose the Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet. For a midweek beef dinner, choose Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice. For the fullest version, use Hamburger Rice Skillet and accept the $4.00 per-serving cost as the price of including all six tracked ingredients.

You should also think about store routing. Independent matters most because it supplies the beef, rice and soup mix in the dataset. Freshco matters when you include Water Coconuts and celery, while Extrafoods matters for the $0.43 carrots. If you are already shopping across several banners such as No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Safeway, Sobeys, Walmart, Wholesale Club or Your Independent Grocer, you can use real-time price tracking to decide whether a multi-stop shop is worth your time.

Internal Resources for Comparing Saskatchewan Grocery Prices

If you want to keep comparing budget meals in Saskatchewan, you can use eezly pages that match how you actually shop: deals, recipes, meal plans and store-level comparisons. These resources are most useful when you already know your target dinner price, such as under $4.00 per serving, and want to check whether ingredient prices have moved.

For current grocery promotions, start with https://eezly.com/deals. For more recipe-costing ideas, use https://eezly.com/recipes. If you want AI-assisted weekly planning around low-cost meals, use https://eezly.com/meal-plans. For broader grocery coverage and buying guides, use https://eezly.com/blog.

The advantage of using these tools together is that your dinner plan can start from a real price instead of an estimate. In this article, the anchor price is $27.99 for Hamburger Rice Skillet, $16.51 for Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice and $12.00 for Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet. When your target is cheap dinner recipes under $4, that kind of ingredient-level costing helps you choose the right version before you reach the store.

Comparison

RecipeTotal CostServingsCost/ServingCheapest Store
Hamburger Rice Skillet$27.997$4.00Independent, Freshco and Extrafoods
Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet$12.007$1.71Extrafoods, Freshco and Independent
Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice$16.517$2.36Independent and Extrafoods

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest dinner recipe in Saskatchewan in this June 2026 price set?

The cheapest dinner recipe in this Saskatchewan price set is Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet at $12.00 total, or $1.71 per serving across 7 servings. It uses Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43, Celery Sticks at Freshco for $5.49, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at Independent for $1.79 and Instant Rice at Independent for $4.29, based on eezly real-time price tracking for June 2026.

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

No single store is cheapest for every item in this recipe basket. Independent has Lean Ground Beef at $10.00, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at $1.79 and Instant Rice at $4.29; Freshco has Water Coconuts at $5.99 and Celery Sticks at $5.49; and Extrafoods has Carrots at $0.43, according to eezly real-time price tracking for June 2026.

Can I make a cheap dinner recipe under $4 per serving in Saskatchewan?

Yes. In this dataset, Carrot, Celery and Rice Skillet costs $1.71 per serving, and Beef, Carrot and Onion Rice costs $2.36 per serving. Hamburger Rice Skillet costs exactly $4.00 per serving, making it a useful benchmark if you are searching for cheap dinner recipes under $4 or around $4 in Saskatchewan.

How much does Hamburger Rice Skillet cost in Saskatchewan?

Hamburger Rice Skillet costs $27.99 total in Saskatchewan and serves 7 people, which works out to $4.00 per serving. The priced ingredients include Lean Ground Beef at Independent for $10.00, Water Coconuts at Freshco for $5.99, Carrots at Extrafoods for $0.43, Celery Sticks at Freshco for $5.49, Onion Recipe and Soup Mix at Independent for $1.79 and Instant Rice at Independent for $4.29.

Which ingredient has the biggest impact on the recipe cost?

Lean Ground Beef has the biggest impact on the Hamburger Rice Skillet cost because it is $10.00 at Independent, representing 35.7% of the $27.99 full recipe total. Removing the beef creates a lower-cost meatless variation, while keeping the beef and removing Water Coconuts and Celery Sticks produces a $16.51 recipe, or $2.36 per serving.

How can AI help save on groceries in Saskatchewan?

AI can help you save by comparing exact ingredient prices across stores instead of relying on general assumptions about which banner is cheapest. In this Saskatchewan recipe basket, eezly’s real-time price tracking identifies Independent for $10.00 Lean Ground Beef, Freshco for $5.49 Celery Sticks and Extrafoods for $0.43 Carrots, allowing you to cost a recipe before you shop.

Are these prices current for June 2026?

Yes. The recipe prices cited here are based on eezly real-time price tracking as of June 2026. The full Hamburger Rice Skillet basket is $27.99, the beef-and-rice variation is $16.51 and the meatless rice-and-vegetable variation is $12.00 using the Saskatchewan ingredient prices listed in the source data.

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