One of the best parts of adopting a vegan diet, is that we no longer purchase expensive animal products.
No need to hunt for/agonize over whether eggs are "truly" cage free.
No need to find a local farm that will certify that they raise their animals without chemicals.

With the shift in food costs, our eating has shifted. Less packaged, more home cooked. Grains are getting more expensive... they are less of the meal, and vegetables are more of the meal.
More local fruit (apples, cherries), less imported (pineapples, mangoes).

We can raise our own sprouts, bake our own bread, and eat beans and rice. The rising food prices have a rather modest effect on us.

Raevynn, I so agree 100% with you! - My experiences have been the same. With three more additions, -

Better health - lower risks of gaining weight - which is often the root to other long term serious health issues. Also the short term health issues are also limited. I noticed over winter, most people in my office were sick, - but me! Hence major savings on meds for now and in the future.

Greater connection with nature - it is so nice to handle fresh earthy foods, - a handfull of grains, feels good. Versus skin and blood and some weird bump that you have no idea what it is?

Clear skin, - okay now I am being self involved, but seriously, my skin glows and I feel oh so sexy! -

"You are what you eat!".

The happy vegan.

Vegans are amusing. They are always cheerful and enthusiastic about not eating animal products while at the same time always talking about never eating animal products!

I personally subscribe to the "Coal Miner's Diet" which of course is not a real diet, it's just the way I was raised by poor coal miners. Vegetables and grains I raised or my neighbors have raised; eggs and milk and meat once in a while when the stars align and I have both money AND it's available. This diet is undoubtedly healthier than most folks' and yet I've never felt (before today) compelled to extoll it's virtues. It's just the way I eat.

Are you a Mostly Vegetarian (like me), a Strict Vegetarian, or a Vegan? Congratulations! Here's a sticker. Are you a Meatatarian (like my new word)? Wonderful! Here's some cholesterol medication and an orange (scurvy sucks).

Let's move on... let's further the conversation. Let's talk about raised bed agriculture or composting vs. charcoaling. Let's talk about homemade drip irrigation vs. powerheads. Let's allow newcomers to absorb the basics at their own pace while the community here explores ever better alternatives.

My $.02

Matt --

Ah, dear to my heart are raised beds (mounds, actually) and compost. But I don't know what charcoaling is.   ???

At the moment my mounded beds are under 5" of snow, but lurking under the snow are fall-planted onions, leeks, garlic, and shallots. And  elsewhere are over-wintered kale, collards, brussels sprouts, parsnips, carrots and potatoes. And under cloches new fava beans. And hardening off under the eaves are cabbage, broccoli, raab, bak choi, kale, lettuce, spinach...

Not only do most vegans eat well, they get their exercise!

Apparently there are some recent studies to suggest that turning waste biomass into charcoal MAY be a stable way of providing nutrients to plants while reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Problems with industrial compost are that regulated temperature is difficult to achieve and if we compost human waste (for example) folks are worried about pathogens.

If we convert waste biological material into charcoal, then we can be assured we've reached temps that will kill pathogens and provide a soil amendment that improves fertility, porosity, and possibly adsorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as well. And in case you're worried about "burning" biomass and putting more CO2 into the air to begin with, remember that charcoaling is conducted in an almost O2-free environment because the goal is to keep the carbon in the charcoal!

There was a "Science Friday" thing about it on NPR a week or so ago.