I used to submit stories because I needed the money, so buying copies wasn't usually an option. Nor were mail submissions. I sent work by post a handful of times, and only flash fiction, because anything else would've pushed the price up too much. If I'd done anything else, I'd have spent more on submissions than I'd have earnt back from selling work. I'd offer a few pieces of advice in this situation:
1) Look for reprints of things that were originally in the market. In almost all cases, I managed to find some work that had been previously published by the market. If that's not possible, read other work by the authors they've published. Some authors tend to have a very stable style, so you can get a feel for what they do, and what the market evidently liked about their work. (Some authors will do everything from comedy to graphic horror, so they're not as helpful as a guide.)
2) If you're a writer who can't afford to spend money to submit, there will be little understanding of that. Writing is mainly a middle to upper class industry, where people don't really need the money, and can afford to spend money until they're successful. I realised early on as a working class writer that people wouldn't understand my situation, and would judge me harshly. It's important to remember that this is their problem, not yours. Do what you need to do. If that's finding free samples from a market and submitting for free via their online submission form, that's what you do.
3) You don't have to tell people what you're doing. All discussing it does it lead to people trying to discourage you from submitting work. They'll say you're not a real writer, because if you were really dedicated, you'd gladly spend money on stamps/subscriptions/submission fees. Constant rejection is hard enough as it is, so this is one thing you might want to consider not sharing in public if you're feeling down about your submissions.
4) When you do start selling stuff, you might have some money you can use to support projects... but you can't support all of them. Don't feel bad about that. If a market fails because the business plan targeted people with less disposable income who couldn't afford it, rather than people who could pay the money easily, that's an issue with the business plan. The fault isn't with the people who couldn't afford it.
5) Also don't feel bad if you use that money for others things. That includes buying nice things sometimes, because that can help you get through.