Not everything you buy needs to be the cheapest you can possibly find. In fact, in some cases, cheaper isn’t necessarily better.

This could be because the item you’ve bought is not as durable and the value for money is better at higher price points.

Sometimes it’s worth going to a higher price point because the lowest price point is not, actually, worth buying at all.

In my humble and totally biased, obsessive and neurotic opinion, coffee is a compromise-free consumable. If you’re going to insist on buying cheap coffee, I think you’re better off not drinking it at all.

I can’t imagine not drinking coffee, and life is too short to drink bad coffee (or wine). As a person with a carefully curated coffee dependency, I’ve been struggling with this for a while now.

If you want good coffee on a regular (daily) basis, then that’s almost a budget line-item in and of itself. The best way to ensure you understand the cost, guarantee the quality and avoid impulse-purchase situations is to get in on one of the many (oh my goodness so many) coffee subscription services out there.

In the new world of social distancing, coronavirus paranoia and responsible collective behaviour, getting your coffee delivered is also one more way to avoid running unnecessary errands and crowding public spaces.

If you’re looking for a discount on your coffee, scroll down to Pact Coffee, as I have a code for their service. Clicking on links in this article may, in a few cases, contribute to my coffee addiction.

I’m going to review them all below. Click to read on…

I’m no master baker. I’m putting that first because I don’t want you getting the wrong idea.

In fact, I’m not a baker at all.

It’s true that at home we typically cook almost every meal from basic ingredients. That’s a lifestyle habit that predates any attempt to be healthy or save money. It’s just the way my wife and I were brought up.

But bread is one of those things that, for the longest time, I never even imagined I would get anywhere other than a supermarket or a bakery.

And yet now I bake bread for the family two or three times a week. Without a machine to do it for me.

I have no idea how much I save by doing this, because again: It’s not a financially-motivated decision. I’m sure it does save money though. That’s like a perk on top of the fact that we get to eat fresh bread.

I like to have snacks available. Sometimes I get unexpectedly hungry, and having something to hand is always useful. If you’ve baked it yourself, it’s that much more satisfying.

This recipe is for super-simple oat cookies which I personally like to spice up with a little cinnamon. Once made, they must be hidden from my daughter, who has a thing for cinnamon.

They rate a ten-out-of-ten on the frugality scale as they cost so little to make. They’re not the healthiest foodstuff in the world, but you can’t be virtuous in all areas of life, all the time!

I enjoy writing about finance, monetary freedoms and the disciplines we need to master to get to that goal. I don’t enjoy doing this on an empty stomach, however.

Not wanting to let my budget get shredded to pieces by my gastromonic impulses, I’ve had to build a collection of affordable meals I can cook at home over time. I’ll be collecting these into a group post once I have enough of them, but in the meantime, here is the first.

I made this last night when I had a sweet tooth and spent a quarter hour in the shop looking at the chocolate and biscuits and talking myself out of buying any. The ingredients are easy to find, the process simple, the result very satisfying.

For the enjoyment of your taste buds, I present to you, my Tarte Fine Aux Pommes, otherwise known as a (thin) apple tart.