Having Skills in the Kitchen != "poor"
Don't insult those that might not see the sense in spending 3 - 10 times the amount you do on every meal just because you don't know how to cook, or picked the wrong "paint by the numbers" meal to make for the evening.
I eat $5 - $10 cost meals all the time (between those $100 per head sushi or $75 per head steak-house nights out), and I guarantee I eat better than 98% of the people here.
Cooking is a skill-set... just like anything else.
For example, you can learn to fix your car yourself, and save hundreds, or don't worry about it, and get taken for far more than you should need to every time your "check engine" light turns on.
Cooking's the same thing. You could make that same Kung Pao chicken you're having tonight - and it'd taste even better - or you can pay someone $20 more than it's worth to cook it and drive it out to you.
But then, maybe the skillset wasn't the only tool you were missing. Setting up a kitchen with the right spices and ingredients and utensils and pans and such can be it's own thing.... and if you were lacking that, well, could explain part of why your effort turned out so bunk.