This and the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook are great suggestions for beginner cooks.
Stick to the edition of Joy Of Cooking that came out in 1974. You can find them at Goodwill and such. The more recent editions suck. I can also recommend The Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.
Oh, gawd, the tuna and jello pie! I don’t think I’d have gotten past that recipe, either.
Mine is the 1978 New and Revised version. It is such a solid training-wheels cookbook, and I was a not-bad cook even when I received it. My copy is splattered and worn. For basic recipes that remind you of how the entire neighborhood cooked growing up (meat loaf, roast chicken, beef stroganoff, apple pie, chocolate pudding and blah blah), this is the one.
I have a well worn copy of Joy of Cooking, of course. In truth, I didn’t start out using it much except as a compendium to learn about obscure methods (how to disassemble a lobster, e.g.). I found it very useful once I realized I really did love cooking and was ready to expand my horizons. But as a just-starting-out cookbook? I think I’d have found it intimidating, too wordy and the recipes too involved.
I know it’s pretty dates, and many of the recipes are also dated, but for tasty meals that get you out of the kitchen fast, I recommend Peg Bracken’s I Hate to Cook Book. There are a couple of follow-up books that are also good.
Nothing wrong with ramen - as part of a more balanced diet. Adding veggies / protein definitely helps.
A fellow we know lived almost exclusively on the stuff while in grad school… and developed scurvy!! :eek:
I’ve done a little shopping so far.
- One cast iron enamel cookpot (not Le Creuset; Lodge). It’ll add some color, as well as being a good basic pot that’s good for quite a few things
- A Budget Bytes cookbook
- A couple of other simple-recipe cookbooks
- A set of stainless mixing bowls
I’ll hit thrift stores over the next few weeks to look for other additions.
I expect I’ll want to get some things new, e.g. cutting board, dry measures, measuring spoons, but other cookware will be just fine from the thrift stores.
Actually, the first cookbook that I ventured into was McCall’s, and the first ambitious recipe I tried from it was Shrimp Creole. Came out pretty good, although I made at least five trips to the grocery because I would stop every time I came to an ingredient I didn’t have and run to the store. 
A good crockpot and a good sturdy toaster oven. A large pot with a lid, a small one is only ok for boiling an egg. Kitchen doodads are cheap enough at the dollar store, I buy lidded plastic fake tupperware for storage there frequently. The thrift store sometimes has useful stuff. Long ago I loved Peg Bracken’s ‘I Hate To Cook Book’ (and several sequels) but those recipes are hopelessly dated today. Mark Bittman’s ‘How to Cook Everything’ is wonderful, but is several steps up from ‘101 Recipes for Noodles’ or ‘1000 Recipes for Ground Beef’.
The recipes in the “I Hate to Cook” book were dated back when I read them in the 70s. What was good about the book was the attitude and the humor. I suspect those have held up/
Another vote for Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. The version I have, and I think they still come this way, is in a 3-ring binder. So, those printed out recipes can be added right in if there aren’t too many. It covers the basics and serves as a good reference. I still use it as a reference work, and occasionally for a basic recipe to use as a jumping off point.
My other suggestion is a basic kit of spices and such. Salt, pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, plus the most likely other spices and herbs for her favorite dishes. It can be hard when you are contemplating recipes if you have none of the seasonings. And it isn’t too big of a deal if you have to go buy a single spice that you haven’t used before, but it can get really expensive if you need to buy 3 or 4 at once.
Oh, and rather than micro planes, I would suggest a good solid box grater with sides for small and large shredding.
May I ask if you cooked any of the recipes? The book is a fun read. I’d love to hear any recipe reviews.
I’ve made several, and a few I’ve made several times. Most aren’t from the original I Hate to Cook Book, but from one of the follow-up books. I could check to see exactly which book a recipe came from in anyone is interested. Anyway:
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Stayabed Stew. This obviously precedes crockpots (which seem to be making a comeback of sorts these days). It’s a basic stew recipe that includes a can of tomato soup and bakes in a slow oven for several hours. Dated for sure, but yummy.
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Tennis Elbow Bread. A yeast bread that doesn’t require kneading. Not the best bread recipe, but very easy. Although it’s a white bread recipe, I’ve used half whole wheat flour many times, and it’s still good. (Having said that, I’ll point out that if you can start your bread early in the day, the best “no knead” yeast bread is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.)
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Easy Buttery Hot Rolls. Another “no knead” recipe with excellent results.
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Chicken Tortilla Casserole. This is not the name Bracken gave the recipe, but I’d have to look up what she did call it. It’s definitely from the IHTC Almanack book. It’s got chicken, corn tortillas, canned soup, canned chili, cheese and a few other ingredients. It serves a lot of people, and I made it more than once in the years when we had a big Super Bowl party every year. A great buffet dish that people really seem to like.
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Cockeyed Cake. A chocolate cake you mix right in the pan you bake it in. I don’t usually have cake mix in the house, but almost always have the ingredients for this. Fast and tasty.
More Peg Bracken: (I’ve cooked a lot of things, here are favorites)
Can-Can Casserole, which is mixing two cans of canned chicken with a can of evaporated milk, a can of chicken rice soup, a can of cream of chicken soup, and a can of chow mein noodles.
Florentine Casserole, a casserole of noodles layered with cooked hamburger, spaghetti sauce, cooked drained spinach, sour cream, and parmesan cheese.
Jimbo’s Clam Pie, lay a pie crust in a pan, mix canned clams, eggs, soda cracker crumbs, dot with butter, top with the other layer of pie crust, gash, and bake.
Shivering Elizabeth, a jello mold made with orange jello, mandarin oranges, and a pint of orange sherbet.
I’ve made all of these, and they are quite tasty and simple to make. The sodium of so many canned foods and lack of fresh ingredients is what makes them passe, but it’s good old American middle class mom cooking from the 60’s and earlier.
(Peg Bracken’s 'The I Hate to Cook Almanack: A Book of Days, Recipes & Relief for the Reluctant Cook and the Harried Houseperson - is just enchanting! Lots of bread and cookie recipes, and ideas for holiday eats. Again, good and simple, but too many convenience foods for the modern palate.)
Major score at Goodwill this weekend. They have a “color of the week”; everything with a tag of that color is 50% off (75% if you’re a member of their rewards program).
And they had 5 place settings of plain white dishes (bowl, small plate, 2 dinner-sized plates)… 6.00 marked down to 1.50. Drinking glasses (same pattern, 3 different sizes), 25 cents. Several other items marked down to an insane degree. A few things at “full price” like a very nice stainless steel utensil jar for 4 bucks (we’re actually keeping that one for ourselves, LOL). 35 dollars and she now has all the tableware she could possibly need. Few good utensils available, and basically no true cookware, but I can keep looking around. We have at least one spare saucepan she can have, and a couple of Pyrex glass baking pans will last her forever.
I did get her a set of dry measures / spoons at Costco the other day. Will make at least one more run there before we travel up - once we know whether she needs a microwave, for example. A bagful of cleaning cloths will be useful as well.
I’ll definitely get her some basic spices. I have a nice wooden salt shaker / pepper grinder set somewhere that were my mother’s; she gave them to me when I moved out, so those seem fitting 