Ehh when you buy exact pre-made organic vegan fairy fart shit it absolutely is more expensive. But that's not cooking, that's just buying stuff already made. Most vegans don't do that or cook that way. I can get a 2lbs bag of store brand frozen meatballs for $7.99. The 1/3 lbs box of vegan meatballs cost $4.99....so yeah, getting 2lbs of frozen meatballs for an appetizer would be pricy.

But also, if you read labels you have to be careful with some (often cheaper) brands that are produced on the same lines. You can absolutely not trust some store brands produced "in the same factory that processes egg and meat" if you are truly vegan. Which turns the $1.99 broth into needing the $3.49 broth. My FPIES friends can tell you all about that mess.

I actually only know about most vegan things due to allergy and not choice to go vegan, so from that perspective being 100% safe can be expensive.

But for serious if you're vegan there are so many GREAT vegan recipes that are not 100% mock meat recipes. They are often WAY cheaper, too.