I think that is fair advice but not for an emergency kit.
Depends on budget
for some people if they had a £100 budget
spending £90 on a knife and having not much else wont help
when there is a £12 more that ticks all the boxes
with clients, if I said they ahd to spend £700 to get a smartphone, most wouldnt botehr, but £150 for a motoG8 power, which is an excellent phone, then its a much better option
so its not always worth it to spend a lot more when the item is many times better, as long as its doing its job For example most new smartphones that are less than £60 wouldnt be good for much...
so their is a balance
Cost efficient doesnt always mean the cheapest, but if it means someone will have all the items they need instead of only 1 expensive item because they ran out of budget and in the years taken to save up for otehr items they ahve nothing, if you get good value at the start, then at least you have some kit in the mean time.
In the above example of phpnes, years ago i splashed out on £600 for a samsung note4 and really regreted it as i think could afford to swop for quite a while.
to end the ramble, bushcraft kit isnt neccesarily as important to have bombproof as emergency kit i do agree.