Hi B T, I lived in a small town in Kansas for four years and I totally know what you're going through. I hope you like to cook, because you will be making nearly all of your meals if you want them to be vegan. Wal Mart and Kroger carry a lot of normal stuff, like brown rice and beans, all the way to Bob's Red Mill flax seed and vital wheat gluten (for making seitan)....you just have to look, because they separate healthy foods from regular. Wal Mart even has Earth Balance "butter."
For organic veggies and fruit, you might be better off growing your own or trying to locate neighbors/friends who could trade with you. Most Krogers have a small organic section, but I always felt weird looking at expensive organic bell peppers that said 'Product of Belgium.'
The Kind Diet is good but unfortunately, like you said, many of the ingredients can be hard to find (sorry, Alicia!). This book (http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Cheap-Recipes-Simple-Strategies/dp/0470472243) is pretty good for normal recipes and normal ingredients if you want to try it out. You can ask your public library to order it if they don't have it already.
When going out to eat, you might just have to have salads and pick off the cheese/meat, or go for baked potatoes/fries, or bean tacos. Or you can ask them not to put cheese on your food and hope that they actually remember. A couple times, I tried getting Taco Bell's cheesy bean and rice burrito without the cheese, and both times, they still put the cheese on there. When I complained they said, "You don't want ANY cheese on it? not even nacho cheese??" Fast food can be difficult. Wendys (good side salads) is better than McDonalds (McD fruit smoothies give me headaches), and Subway and Quiznos are OK if you like paying $6 for veggies in a roll. Get used to bringing PB&J or popcorn everywhere if you want to get full.
Hope this helps.
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