Even the Shoestring Cook’s kitchen has a few essentials. Buying a few basic cooking utensils will pay off in major savings down the road, when you’re cooking your own meals instead of hitting the drive-thru window. Not to worry, however: Our shoestring kitchen employs only the most basic tools–and every one of them is inexpensive, and can be purchased at your local Wal-Mart or dollar store (or, if you’re really on a shoestring, you might pick some of them up used at your local thrift store or a garage sale).

Below is a list of the basic cooking utensils that can help you go from novice cook to master chef.

1. A Cookie Sheet. Cookie sheets aren’t just for baking cookies (although that is a very good use for them). You can use them to bake pizza, biscuits, rolls, nachos (yes, nachos), chicken breasts, hamburger meat–all kinds of glorious gourmet goodies. Don’t skip this one; get a cookie sheet or two.
2. A Skillet or Shallow Saucepan. A good skillet (or shallow saucepan) is an excellent tool. Skillets can be used to grill just about anything on a stovetop. There’s some debate over which is better: skillets with high sides or skillets with low (almost-non-existent) sides. My opinion: Get both, if you can afford it; if you can’t afford both, go with the high sides. High-sided skillets can still be used to fry eggs and bacon or grill chicken, but they’ll also let you heat up spaghetti sauce, make a quick stir-fry, or whip up some Hamburger Helper.
3. Some Basic Measuring Cups. We’re not talking about anything real fancy here. Some cheap, plastic measuring cups from Wal-Mart or Target will more than suffice. A set of measuring cups doesn’t cost much, but suppose you’re set is missing a few cups (maybe your roommate mistook them for drinking cups, I don’t know). In that case, just be sure you at least have 1/4 and 1/3 cup measures. If you have at least these two, you’ll be able to measure ingredients for most recipes.
4. Two Measuring Spoons (Table Spoon and Teaspoon). Along with #3, some measuring spoons are pretty handy. You can pick up a teaspoon and Tablespoon on the cheap pretty much anywhere. If all you have is a teaspoon, however, never fear: 3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon. Armed with this knowledge and your trusty teaspoon, you can measure all kinds of stuff. Bonus Information: Teaspoons are smaller than Tablespoons (hence why it takes 3 teaspoons to equal a single Tablespoon); in most recipes, ‘teaspoon’ is abbreviated with a lower-case ‘t’ while ‘Tablespoon’ is usually abbreviated with an upper-case ‘T’.
5. One or Two Mixing Bowls. Pretty much any kind of large, plastic bowl(s) will serve this purpose. You can get by with one, but it’s easier if you have two (especially since a lot of recipes call for mixing sets of ingredients separately).
6. A mid-size saucepan. A mid-size saucepan has one big advantage over the shallow saucepan: You can mix up more stuff in it. While it’s not an absolute necessity, it sure makes life easier when cooking chili, rice, stir-fry, and many other “shoestring” meals.
7. A 9″ x 13″ Pyrex Casserole Dish. Casserole dishes in general are handy to have around, because you can make all kinds of stuff in them (particularly casserole); Pyrex dishes are good, because they’re fancy enough you can serve directly from them when entertaining guests, and yet they’re nearly indestructible when it comes to cooking.
8. Metal Mixing Spoon. Metal mixing spoons are durable and can take a beating when you’re trying to scrape food off the bottom of your pan. You also don’t have to worry about them melting if you get careless around the stovetop (but be careful).
9. Plastic mixing spoon. Plastic mixing spoons are nice because 1) They don’t transfer heat the way a metal spoon does, and 2) They’re cheaper than metal mixing spoons.  If you don’t want to get burned by a hot spoon, or if you just don’t want a spoon you’re going worry about damaging, go with the cheaper, plastic spoons.
10. Something to eat on. Whether it’s fine China dishes or plasticware plates, it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s clean enough to eat off of.