Paul, I cook from scratch all the time, personally I find it far cheaper (albeit more time consuming) than using ready made food products.

Good quality IMO doesn't have to mean expensive, it can mean a sack of red potatoes, a sack of basmati rice, a sack of onions, a bulk bag of lentils, a bulk bag of brown rice.. and so-on. All of these items last us months and cost us peanuts.

I would suggest looking to where you source and rethinking what 'quality' means. For me it means simple and decent food stuffs, as natural and unprocessed as dammit - then you can go crazy with the herbs and spices at home.