Okay, the sticks you use are cheap at ten for a quid.
Each of the visually read strips can be cut into 4, or even 5.
I think that works out at around 2p per test. So that's very cheap.
But what I really like about them is that they give me feeling. (Or at least, I feel that they do.) A digital display doesn't have much feeling.
One needs to be pretty well controlled to make best use of them. For anything over 8mmol/l, they're not too accurate. But for low readings especially, I find them to be very accurate indeed.
I might say that my rye-based diet helps me tremendously to safely stay near normal in terms of blood sugar for 24 hours.