I don't know anything about your friend's basic cooking skills, so I'll throw this in the pot..if it's inappropriate feel free to throw it back out again.

Several years ago my job required me to live single for a year and, for one reason or another (home to army to marriage), this was really the first time in my life that I had had to do so. My wife and daughter gave me a neat book called Dad's Own Cookbook, which included basic information on such things as how many tablespoons are in a teaspoon and how to boil water. While it does have recipes for the multitudes, it also provides good guidelines on how to reduce them to meals for one.