gourmet, mettle, skinflint

As my dinner for friends approached, I was feeling my nerves. Eager to test my true mettle, I’d decided that the ingredients would have to be exclusively 99 cents or less — the gourmet section had dulled my skinflint edge. So I cast my eye across the 99-cent world to see what other delicious treasures lay out there.

gourmet Hide phonetics
noun [C]
a person who knows a lot about food and cooking, and who enjoys eating high-quality food:
a gourmet restaurant (= restaurant that has high-quality food)

mettle Hide phonetics
noun [U]
ability and determination when competing or doing something difficult:
The German athletes showed/proved their mettle in the final round.
The real test of her political mettle came in the May elections.

skinflint Hide phonetics
noun [C] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
a person who is unwilling to spend money:
He's a real skinflint.