This is an interesting topic. If we are just talking about herbs, some of them can be costly and to me some are just plain easier to work with dry, certain recipes I use fresh garlic some I use powder or gran, just depends on the recipe...
I like fresh basil, but grow it myself. I have 4 pots of it right now, lol... It smells good and when I need it I walk over to the window and pull off what I need, simple and I don't think you can do it cheaper than that lol... I grow a bunch of herbs indoors, my wife tends them so its no trouble, although all you have to do is water them, you do the trimming when you take what you need for cooking...
Now if you are talking quality meat, I have done all the tricks to make "cheap" meats tender and tasty. But I do like a nice quality strip, I buy the entire sirloin {say 20lbs at $6 a lb untrimmed and boneless} normally around $115, BUT you get a lot of meat, I then cut it into steaks, make a roast, I mix a lot of the trimmed fat with my ground chuck as well as all the other trimmings.
So if you can do the work you can get nice expensive ingredients for less money, I grind my own hamburg, I make my own sausage, I cut, trim, and tie my own steaks and roasts.
A friend of my wifes came over a few months back for dinner and I made a strip roast with bacon potato, {I cure my own bacon, so simple its not funny, for bacon potato I hollow out the potato skin, wrap the potatoes center in bacon, re-install it and bake it, amazing...} and her husband was thanking us after the meal, told me it was hands down the best steak and potato he ever ate in his life, lol. He asked what something like that would cost for him to do himself, I told him the bread was probably 30 cents, the beef was about $6 a pound, the bacon cost me about $2 a lb, and the potatoes were from my fathers trash can, lol...
He was shocked, I explained I didn't pick them from my fathers trash, my dad uses 4 trash cans to grow root vegetables and he gives me all I need...
So if you are on a budget and appreciate good food, do the work and feel good about it, it will taste really good no matter what, but when you grow and make your own stuff from scratch you get something more than just a good meal from it. I can afford to buy my own breads, pastas, meats, ice cream, etc etc etc... But there is something extra you get when you do it yourself.
Anyway, kind of sent sideways on that one, to answer the question, I like fresh herbs, I like nice cuts and well graded meats, etc. You get what you pay for when it comes to cooking, A friend of mine buys ground meat in a tube {yes its like a giant jimmy dean sausage tube with the metal ties on the ends} from a place called price rite, he brags that is costs him $2 a lb. Well I never worked up the courage to tast it myself, but when he comes to my house for cookouts, he always comments on how good the burgers taste and how perfect my burgers come and I have heard comments at his bbq's like "this meat tastes funny" and judging by what his burgers look like {crumbly and fast burning}, I can only imagine it has more to do with the quality of the meat than the chef, Although I would love to think I was a good cook, the truth of the matter is I use good quality ingredients and it shows...