I'm from the "New to cooking thread," and >>4 gives the same advice I would:

> Look up a recipe on the net and see if you have the money and if it seems easy to do.

This is what I've been doing, and it works great. Make sure all the ingredients are easy to get, and also make sure to read the directions carefully so you can plan ahead. Generally, I like to find recipes that are simple but have some sort of meat in them, since they fill you up and have good leftovers.

For example, if you buy some ground beef and cook it, maybe with some spices, you instantly have more than one potential meal. You could stick the meat in tortillas and cover with grated cheddar cheese, and eat with chips. Or, you could boil some noodles, heat some tomato sauce, add the beef and you have spaghetti. Put the leftover beef in the fridge, and you can heat it up again for another meal.

As >>3 said, pasta is your friend. Just boil whatever pasta you buy in water and heat up your favorite sauce. If you get tired of just noodles and tomato sauce, I recommend buying a pasta packet with some meat or cheese inside (like ravioli) and a little jar of pesto. When the pasta is done cooking, put the pasta and some pesto in a bowl and mix it around until it's all covered.

As for money-saving tips:

• I've discovered that the best thing you can do for lunches is buy a loaf of bread, lunch meat, and cheese. If you don't let the bread and meat go bad, you'll save a ton of money on lunches. I was really surprised how much money eating sandwiches for lunch almost every day has saved me in college.

• Another way to save money is never buy sodas or fancy drinks, just drink tap water. I highly recommend this; if you're addicted to sodas, it might be difficult at first, but trust me, you can learn to love water.

• Avoid buying too many snacks. A few are fine, but keep in mind that chips don't have much substance, and can be quite expensive when they add up.

Hope this helps!