A meal can be modest in cost and generous in the attention it received.

Generosity is measured in effort more reliably than in expense. Cheap ingredients cooked carefully by someone who noticed what you like carry more of a person than an expensive dish assembled without thought. The two get confused because money is the easier signal to read. What actually reaches a guest is the attention rather than the price.

Cook or arrange something inexpensive this week and put the care into the details instead. If someone feeds you simply, notice what they got right about you rather than what it cost.