The idea that being vegetarian or vegan is more expensive than eating meat seems utterly absurd to me. Meat, excepting processed barely-food bollocks like froz

The idea that being vegetarian or vegan is more expensive than eating meat seems utterly absurd to me. Meat, excepting processed barely-food bollocks like frozen chicken nuggets or whatever, is substantially more expensive than any food item I regularly buy. Dried pulses are like 1-2 USD per kilogram. You're eating stuff like lettuce, cucumber etc anyway unless you're a savant, same for pasta, rice, etc. The only place I can think of in which it's potentially more expensive is stuff like McDonalds not having a vegan option. I'm guessing this is either an American market distortion, or one of those "but I work 80 hours a week so can't do anything other than the most convenient thing ever" weird might-as-well-end-yourself-because-you-are-a-cog things. What gives?