Learn to make rice and beans. The rice part is set and forget if you have a rice cooker or buy microwaveable rice. The beans part requires a little learning, bu

Learn to make rice and beans. The rice part is set and forget if you have a rice cooker or buy microwaveable rice. The beans part requires a little learning, but very little. You fry onions, then toss in a can of beans and a bouillon cube. The only learning involved is how to chop the onions and how long to fry them first. How I chop an onion: Cut off the top and bottom. Cut the onion in half across the top (or bottom). Peel each half. Put each half flat side down and make a grid of cuts. It's worth investing in a good sharp cooking knife. Many grocery stores sell frozen chopped onions. If you can find these, you may as well start with them. Start by frying the onions in olive oil for 10 min at medium heat. Rice and beans is about as good as it gets in nutrition/cost. Once you master the basics, there are a lot of options to add variety. And it's the sort of thing you can invite friends over for and it will seem like an actual meal.