While your point is valid for most, there is a possibility the lady you saw has no stove.
You can get a cheap microwave for $50; used, far less. A stove is a little harder to come by.
Then too, some old folks don’t cook because they don’t remember to turn things off when they’re done. Microwaves aren’t that big a fire hazard (except when they’re GE microwaves, but that’s another story).
Old people don’t like to stand in the kitchen, poor old people don’t like to stand in the cold kitchen, preparing meals for one. They don’t see well; they drop stuff; they forget the leftovers in the fridge until said leftovers are furry.
And some never learned to cook.
2-burner hot plates are cheaper than the cheap microwave.
Personally, I'm tired of trying to make excuses for the poor. We tend to idolize the poor while the rich, who are the engine of this economic system, are demonized. Enough! Make two columns labeled "Rich" and "Poor". Under the "Rich" column, write in "supports the freeloaders of this country", "create jobs", "invests", "innovates", "give scholarships", "produces goods and services", "supports the arts", plus a bunch of other things you might think of. Under the "Poor" column, write: "consumes"...that's all I've got.
If it were me, we'd do away with food stamps, welfare, etc. and place it back on charity and the church, like it used to be pre-1930 and if you can fog a mirror but check public assistance, you need to show up each morning for a public job doing whatever needs to be done, from sweeping the streets with a toothbrush to cleaning toilets. Perhaps then you'd realize you're better off to get a real job than sit home on your fat a$$ sucking the life out of productive members of society.