Every recipe on this site carries four numbers. This page explains exactly where each one comes from, because a price you cannot check is just a claim.
The four numbers
- Ingredient cost. What the amounts in the recipe cost, pro rated from the package. Half a 900 g bag of lentils counts as half the bag’s price.
- Batch cost. The ingredient cost of the whole pot, pan, or tray.
- Cost per serving. The batch cost divided by the tested yield. Servings are real portions, the size a hungry adult eats, and the yield is stated on the recipe.
- Basket cost. What you pay at the till if you need every package on the list. A recipe can cost $1.34 a serving and still need a $30 basket the first time, and we would rather show you both numbers than surprise you at the store.
The sources
The backbone is Statistics Canada Table 18-10-0245, monthly average retail prices for selected products, published for Canada and for each province. It covers the staples this site cooks with: lentils and dry beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, rice, pasta, eggs, milk, cheese, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables, and the common cuts of chicken, pork, and beef.
Where the table does not list an item, we price it from the current regular price in a national chain’s public online catalogue and say so on the recipe. Store brands are the default buy: No Name, President’s Choice, Compliments, Great Value, and their peers. Figures are Canadian dollars, before tax.
The rules
- Regular prices carry the headline. A sale can be mentioned, and a recipe built around a sale is labelled sale priced with the regular price result shown too. A number that only works during one flyer week is not a budget recipe.
- Every figure carries a range. A typical low to high range sits beside the headline price, built from the provincial figures and package choices in the same sources. National averages are a planning tool, not a promise about one store on one day.
- Sources and the month checked are printed on the recipe. Prices are rechecked on a rhythm: the most visited recipes monthly, the rest quarterly, oldest first. When a recheck moves a recipe to a different price tier, the recipe gets a visible update note with the new date and the new cost per serving.
- Small pantry items are an allowance, and it is labelled. Salt, pepper, dried spices, and garlic are costed as a small flat allowance per recipe rather than pretending a teaspoon of paprika has a knowable price. The allowance is in the breakdown where you can see it.
- A serving is never shrunk to hit a number. A recipe that misses its tier gets a cheaper protein, a different package, or a seasonal swap, or it is relabelled at the honest tier.
The price tiers
- Green: up to $1.50 a serving. The core bargain tier, and where breakfasts and most soups live.
- Butter: $1.51 to $2.50 a serving. The normal dinner tier.
- Tomato: $2.51 to $3.25 a serving. A filling splurge, used rarely and labelled honestly.
What the numbers are not
They are not a live shelf price for your store, and they are not a guarantee. They are a careful, sourced estimate that tells you what a recipe should cost within a known range, so you can plan a week of dinners without doing arithmetic in the aisle. If your store beats the range, that is a good day. Tell us, and the range gets better.