You have plates, cups, and food. Now what?
A chef's knife
A chef's knife is the most essential part of this list, and with good reason. It not only will do almost everything you need a knife to do, but also the more you use it the better your knife skills will get. They can be an investment (hellooo, Bob Kramer), but even a $50 knife is good enough to start you off. Just make sure the steel (or whatever else it is made from) runs through the handle.
Knife sharpener
What's the point of spending money on a good knife if you aren't to keep it sharpened? You can get a decent sharpener for under $5, (or the one above for $16) so you have no excuse not to.
