"What is blossom water and pistachio halva?" asked a reader on the Guardian letters page last week? The pair were listed as ingredients for a salad scheherazade featured in some free recipe cards offered by the Guardian.

Behind the question is an issue that readers have been making irritable noises about for some time. Here is the first part of that letter: "In these straitened times we need recipe cards for cheap cuts of meat like ox cheek, brawn and breast of lamb, recipes that our parents might have used, not those that need a trip to a big city to gather their ingredients … none of which, I suggest, would be found in an average reader's cupboard."

Setting aside the intriguing question of what would be found in a Guardian reader's cupboard, the continuing difficult economic outlook and changes to the paper have prompted readers' questions about aspects of our coverage of food, fashion, gadgets and cars.

Last September, after the price of the Saturday Guardian rose to £2.10, one reader said she felt the paper was good value "compared with £2.99 for a card from WH Smith … But then you go and fill the Weekend magazine with pictures of expensive tat, culminating in four pages entitled Vital Extras. Personally, I have never considered kitten heels or a handbag vital, let alone those costing £425 and £1,700 respectively."

One interesting division between readers and journalists is that the former, when they complain, tend to feel that coverage means a recommendation. The latter strongly disagree.

Merope Mills is the editor of Weekend: "We are often highlighting a [fashion] trend that is out there and showing you different ways you can wear it … we are not literally instructing you to go out there and buy that item. It is as much a forum for ideas as anything else."

For recipes, she argues, the ingredients are widely available. "The supermarkets are now full of them, but if not then absolutely every ingredient we feature can be bought online. My experience is that in hard times people go out less and cook at home more. And I'd like to bring them something sumptuous and exciting to cook at home because not everything has to be subject to cuts and I think home cooking is one of those things that should be cherished!"

Sean Finch, the head of the creative department, which commissioned the recipe cards as part of a marketing push, said: "We were aiming for creating a series of collectible cards that asked guest chefs to provide recipes that incorporated comforting memories from their past … it's probably also true that we wanted recipes to be somehow aspirational, of high quality and perhaps to some extent challenging in terms of technique, ingredients and final dish … We have previously produced similar promotions based on other less ambitious or expensive themes – such as the student cookbook, soups and stews, quick and healthy recipes."

Jess Cartner-Morley, the Guardian's fashion editor, said: "Our fashion pages are aimed at an intelligent, independent-minded reader who is capable of using them as inspiration rather than a shopping list. We are always price-conscious. The 'get it on the high street' angle featured in G2 is one which is always popular with our readers.

"There are a variety of factors influencing what product we feature. Price is one. But newness, originality, desirability, usefulness, availability, suitability for different ages and ethical production credentials are others. Fashion pages are not merely shopping lists. I don't imagine our reviewers choose which opera/ballet to report on based on cheapness of ticket price – they make a call judged on cultural significance. We do the same with fashion, to some extent. You can appreciate loveliness and beauty and design without owning it – isn't that rather the logic behind museums?"

These are all good and valid reasons for covering subjects that represent major industries or major areas of interest for readers, and Guardian coverage of them has been appreciated by the overwhelming majority of readers hitherto. But a further prolonged period of austerity may bring a change in outlook.