So I'm a tech noob and I want to play the Lord of the Rings mod. I got the Lord of the Rings Mod to work with 1.7.10 Forge. I tried to add NEI 1.7.10 with the Recipe Handlers and LOTR master plugins. I just dropped the zip/jar files into my Minecraft Mods folder. Minecraft is now saying that the version of NEI is too old. What do I do? (Explain in less technical terms please, I am still learning)

Also, I apologize if this isn't the right place to ask this, I just don't know where to go and this seems like a pretty knowledgeable place to go.

This is the wrong place for that, but I'll help you. Ask any question you have, I'll gladly answer it.
I assume you already installed Forge for 1.7.10.
Delete all the mods in your mods folder, and add the following ones (LOTR, NEI, NEI Recipe Handlers, NEI LOTR, CodeChickenCore):

• https://www.mediafire.com/file/gltwzjz81se5mgt/
• https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/nei-lotr/files/2761709
• https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/nei-recipe-handlers/files/2761077
• https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/codechickencore/files/2262089
• https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/notenoughitems/files/2302312

Make sure that the files you did download are .jar files and no .zip files (look at the file extension). Firefox causes problems with downloaded .jar files, see https://lotrminecraftmod.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Glflegolas/A_fix_for_laggy_horses

Also, for the future, the place for requests like that is at https://lotrminecraftmod.fandom.com/wiki/Board:LotR_Mod_Technical_Support or the official discord server: https://discord.gg/rfURsD
You can still continue to post in this thread for that specific issue you currently have.