If you can get a crock pot, you can throw a lot of ingredients in there and let it cook all day and do little of the work. Pretty darn good meals. Pot roast is a family fave. One caveat is that you need to brown the meat in the fry pan before putting it in the crock pot. I highly recommend this, and it will open up new avenues for you until you improve your skills. You can find decent ones at Thrift store like Goodwill if money is a problem, but new ones aren’t too terrible.
When I was a kid in college, I cooked a lot like you do now. All I had was a hotpot and an electric fry pan. Microwaves were allowed but I didn’t have money for one. Bought my stuff with Green Stamps (does anyone remember those?). It was all I could afford. I made Steak Diane in my electric frypan for my boyfriend, now my husband, as well as hamburger stroganoff, and chicken cacciatore. One pot meals is what I call them. My mom thought I should’ve written a cookbook. Maybe I would be rich now if I had but I bet there are a lot of one pot cookbooks out there. You can make some tasty and even elegant meals in one skillet or sauce pan. Good luck!
I still have some flatware I got with green stamps!
And I would bet at one time you thought about getting a Pressure Cooker.
During WW2 , my widowed mother made most of our evening meals with a Pressure Cooker.
I shied away from that choice because I felt like cooking with a Pressure Cooker was like cooking with a bomb. LOL. -Tom
When I was in college, my brothers and I pitched in to buy a microwave for my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. My Mom was afraid of it!!!
After my Dad used it for a couple months and didn’t keel over she finally started to use it!