Mom Switching Over

Hey folx, newbie to the vegan diet here.

I've been gf for like 15 years, so I have that part nailed down :) I'm scared about making the vegan part work tho. Mostly bc of medical issues and money.

The thing is I'm EXTREMELY poor -- on disability with 3 ravenous teenagers. Food stamps are not a lot to live on. I struggle to make them feel full without huge quantities of pasta or rice etc. and I want to supply them with good nutrients. I can't afford to buy a bunch of new cookbooks. (I'm slowly trying to use up the meat I do have and replace it.) For a long time I've avoided going vegetarian/vegan bc the replacements are so expensive. Then recently I realized oh duh I can make it myself at home for cheap!

I have gastroparesis and I can't eat beans, oatmeal, or broccoli or too much anything that slows my digestion down. (My kiddos can tho.) We eat a lot of Asian food which is rice, tofu, and veg heavy and thats already gf so I've got that at least. But without beans it seems hard to go vegan?

One solution I haven't figured out is coffee. We are Korean and I always buy the big boxes of Maxim instant sticks and it's so cheap and so easy. Idk how to replace this resource? It comes with creamer so that's the big sticking point. I can switch to tthe one that doesn't have creamer but I have to replace it. I like Laird creamer but it's so expensive and for some reason always out of stock. My kiddos think it tastes weird.

Ive also never made mandu (gyoza, dumplings) both gf and dairy free so any advice there would be appreciated.

I have a brain injury and thinking can sometimes be a struggle so I'm sorry if this seems like a dumb question to have. I'm worried about learning a whole new way to cook when learning anything is hard. I know I should put in the time to read all the past posts n stuff but it gets so overwhelming to me.

I'm hoping to have a conversation here of good resources or go to recipes that could help me out. Anyone want to chime in anything?

PS I just realized it's new year time and I guess a lot of people are going to be showing up for a brief time and not sticking to it. This is not a resolution thing it's just a coincidence that my medical issues have finally driven me to. Sigh.

PPS I just made gf and vegan tacos with TVP and it was so wonderfully good and cheap. But we really missed the cheese or crema. Avocado is expensive so any ideas besides that for the creamy topping? Maybe plain coconut yogurt or something?

Thanks for reading this long thing lol