what your suggesting takes time and equipment (and some experience with seasoning). the time alone can make it cost-prohibitive.

You're being a bit too selective here. Let's be honest, there's a lot more to making good tasting vegan meals than just rice and beans. In general I've found that eating vegan is more expensive than the equivalent alternative.

If you want more people to eat vegan meals they also have to taste good, and you want to mix up your meals so you're not eating the same thing every day.

For burger equivalents any vegan meat alternative is more expensive than a regular burger (I'm really hoping that cultured meat can help turn this around).

For meat alternatives seitan tastes awesome, but it's way more expensive than most meat itself.

Tofu tastes great when you know how to prepare it well, and that's going to be closer to alternative meat prices.

Egg alternatives are more expensive than eggs.

For dairy alternatives, milk alternatives are more expensive than milk itself.

Vegan butter is more expensive than regular butter. Vegan cheese is way more expensive than regular cheese (especially if you want it to actually taste good). Vegan yogurt is more expensive than regular yogurt. Vegan mayonnaise is way more expensive than regular mayo. Vegan ice cream is way more expensive than regular ice cream.