After your manager makes it clear multiple times that they do not want to spend any money, even on things that are important, many sane people will stop caring.
He may have told the boss multiple times that they were running out of forks, and the boss said "well, we have over 200 forks, that should be enough".
But in the end, I blame the higher-level main manager. Stupidity, poor communication, stinginess, these are all very common. The workers, even first line managers, can only fight so much against it.
The first manager may have already bought a ton of spoons on his own.