I hate this argument. I was vegan when I was living off $10 a week. I was vegan when I was in the homless center.
I cried my first night in that shelter. They provided dinner, it was cheap box mac n cheese, some meat I forget and broccoli, I started crying, a hormonal nursing mother, the cook noticed. He let me swap the meat and cheese for extra broccoli and there was always apples and oranges in a bowl for folks. Fridays, they let us bring in our own food and use the kitchen, once they set me up with food stamps, it was game on fridays for me.
I was vegan for my poorest years. Before being at the shelter, in them $10 a week days.. Not proud of it, but I stole zuchini from a farm stand once. took three of them, I was truly starving. One day later, I saw random cans of tomatoes on the sidewalk in front of a church, took those too. made a nice meal I hadnt had in a while.
I ate can veg and beans as meals. I ate plain ass noodles with salt, I ate weird veg mashes I got from the foodbank and just threw it all in a pan with some rice.
Desperation teaches you many things.
No I couldnt afford vegan products, vegan meat or cheeses, but anything marked vegan is going to have a jacked price. The entire produce section, and a lot of the tinned section, the whole pasta section, is all vegan without having the little V printed on it.
Learning to cook is the way.
In fact I stumbled on veganism because I legit wanted cake, but had no milk, eggs or butter. Was too broke to buy them. I found a recipie for "Depression Cake" and that was my first vegan meal I ever made myself intentionally. I got into vegan baking, because it was cheaper. Then I just gave up all meat, and eventually cheese, because it was cheaper. Thats why I started, to save money. Then I started reading about factory farming practices. Dont watch Earthlings while nursing a newborn. Dont recommend, but that film changed my life. I was already plant bases (I always consumed local honey seasonally tbh) but Earthings solidified everything.