A major food company survey a few years ago found that the part of cooking that stumps people the most is knowing when something is done. That's especially important when you're cooking meats. An instant-read thermometer tells you a dish's internal temperature just seconds after you insert it into the food. This helps you make a great roast chicken that isn't still pink inside or serve a steak that hasn't turned to shoe leather under the broiler. The thermometers are widely available at stores that carry kitchen goods, hardwares and even drugstores.
Bowls have a million uses.
Depending on their size, they can hold ice or chips for a party, serve a salad, let you mix a batch of cookie dough or store leftovers in the fridge. Nested plastic mixing bowls are fine, too. Look for sturdy but inexpensive measuring devices. You need three kinds, starting with a set of five or six graduated measuring spoons , one-eighth of a teaspoon to 1 tablespoon. The larger size allows you to use it for heating liquids in the microwave, for example, or to treat it as a small mixing bowl.