I couldn't cook anything that didn't have a box and directions until I was 19 and I got my first cooking job. Most of the time my mom did the cooking at home, and on the nights she worked, I just stuck with things like frozen pizza, mac and cheese, mashed potato flakes, and other things that you can get really really cheap at any grocery store. I've recently started branching out a bit and trying different things, so this was a good video to me because it takes a very small amount of knowledge and stretches it out a little, instead of having either this really plain "heat water to boiling, put rice into pan, put butter in, sprinkle salt in, simmer, done" approach, or this super-complicated nine-course meal project.
A good comparison would be that this is similar to punk music when I first got into it -- simple, easy to learn, not always SUPER easy, but enough to where you can bullshit your way through it until you're good at it. And the ingredients are cheap and come in large quantities (like lentils), so you can afford to mess up a few times without bankrupting yourself.
For the record, I never knew how to cook lentils until I saw this video. lol
Side note: I'm just casually wondering:
What surprises me is that you think that everyone who watches that video knows nothing about budget meals and is learning for the first time, heh heh. Half of the video is learning about what that brave woman went through and hearing the stories she tells. Shame you are too above that to appreciate it. That's so disrespectful of you. Then again, that's really no surprise...
What the hell is your problem? I've see you using this rude-ass language with very little provocation several times recently.
"I'm sorry
For all the things that I never did
For all the places I never was
For all the people I never stopped
But there was nothing I could do..."