it's as if they thought their penny-pinching wouldn't result in *literally everybody* going over every cent they spend with a fine-toothed comb 🤣

Who is the "they" you are referencing here? Because I expect that a) the organisers and delegates at this conference are not the same people mandating the austerity idiocy. And b) the beat up around the underfunding of health happened long after the conference catering was finalized.