Thank you for playing my game and for the thoughtful feedback!
I think you raise a really good point! And I think respecting the player's need to actually "waste" ingredients in figuring stuff out by being more generous about it is a simple change that would have big positive effects! (Edit: I've just implemented single items in the shop with quantity between 1 and 3 for a small bump in price in the dev build and I think it does in fact make a world of difference, so thank you again!)
Unfortunately I only had a playable build on the second to last day and had no time to get any playtesting feedback. I'd like to prioritize that in future jams but I'm still glad I actually managed to finish one :D :D :D
Anyway, if you liked the game, I will likely update a post-jam version with some bugfixes, more polish, and certain balance changes like this! Stay tuned :3