Customer Reviews

Cheap and Easy Cooking: The Survival Guide for College Students

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If this book would be helpful to you, THAN YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN COLLEGE!!! This "book" was an absolute joke. For starters, it is no bigger than a pamphlet; it is thinner than your average magazine (and far less wide and long also) and on top of that, it apparently wasn't edited b/c it is full of typos. Here is a quote from the FIRST sentance of the introducion, "I decided to write this cookbook because I couldn't get job after college.... Just kidding." I don't think that he is kidding since most jobs require elementary knowledge of the English language and here we say we couldn't "GET A JOB" not we couldn't "GET JOB". The "book" is full of these very obvious mistakes. I don't claim to be a world-class writer myself, but I would at least get someone to proofread a book I wanted published! The worst part though is easily the recipies. When I read the first recipe, I thought that the author was just trying to be funny; the instructions were to pour cereal and milk into a bowl! Unfortunately though, this was not a joke, and the majority of the "recipes" to follow were just as ridiculous. I am as clueless as the next college student when it comes to cooking, but for the love of God, I've known how to make things like "Waffles the Easy Way" since I was 7 - this consists of buying frozen waffles, toasting them, and then putting butter and syrup on them. "French Toast the Easy Way" is the same exact recipe, however, you will need to substitute frozen french toast for frozen waffles. Or, how about "Cream Cheese Bagel" which consists of slicing a bagel in half and then SPREADING CREAM CHEESE ON IT?!? Then there is the recipe simply titled "Bacon" which expalins the complicated process of cooking bacon in the microwave on a paper towl for those of us college students who can't read the instuctions on the bacon packaging! GIVE ME A BREAK! There are even "recipies" for how to make sandwiches that consist of ONE ingredient, for example, "Tuna Sanwich". This recipe has ONE step, I quote "1. Spread the tuna on the bread". If you don't know how to get tuna onto bread, you don't need this cookbook, you need to go back to kindergarden. Ever wonder how to make mac and cheese from the box you buy in the store? Well, here are your options, buy a box and read the side of it, or waste your money on this book, buy the box and then read THE EXACT SAME INSTRUCTIONS (including buying the box of coures). Unless you are sending a 4 year old off to college, don't waste your money on this insulting "cook book". I mean, look, you've already managed to surf the internet and locate a book and read the reviews, surely you can manage to make a "Micro-Melt Quesadilla" (3 slices of cheese heated in the microwave on a tortialla) without the help of this book. Some books that I DID find helpful, never ever having actually cooked before, were Desperation Dinners, Better Than Take-Out (& Faster, Too), and The (Reluctant, Nervous, Lazy, Broke, Busy, Confused) College Student's Cookbook. The recipies in these books are quick, easy, and delicious and they actually won't insult your intelligence. I would recommend The (Reluctant, Nervous, Lazy, Broke, Busy, Confused) College Student's Cookbook if you really need the fundamentals (such as how much is a teaspoon/tablespoon/cup) but Desperation Dinners had the most recipies and a really good variety - they are almost fool proof too and they all take 20 min. or less to prepare! With these cookbooks, I've found myself eating less fastfood and more dishes such as Italian-style Hamburger Steaks with Garlic Cheese drop biscuits. My third attempt to cook was for my mom when she came to visit and now she keeps hounding me for my recipies! I encourage you to try and learn how to cook for yourself, it adds some variety to the standard dorm food and/or fast food diet and it can be fun and rewarding, but please, don't waste your time and money on this pamphlet - college students have better things to waste their time and money on ;-) !!

I got lots of graduation gifts. The cash went fast but I still have this book. This book has been an easy and useful guide. It demystified cooking for me in a humorous way. It's a great starter book for anyone who has not cooked until they were forced to live on their own or with roommates who are in the same boat. It is what it is, a fun quick jump-start to cooking for the neophytes like myself.

- Sophomore, Northeastern

I bought this for my neighbor's kid when she graduated from high school. After her first year in college, she stopped by and thanked me. She told me it was a great way to get started, since she had never really done much cooking when she was growing up. Rather than fast food or top ramen every night, she had a reference with lots of new ideas. She and her roommates kept it in the kitchen the whole year. Maybe she was being nice, but she sounded sincere about the value of this book.

-D

PS I am not sure what type of personal issues the previous reviewers has (all of that yelling!) Maybe she couldn't get into college, hence the grammatical errors ("then", not "than") and typos in her review. She also says this book is like a pamphlet, but it's 48 pages, that's a pretty thick pamphlet.

A great book for those unaccustomed to the kitchen. A great gift for someone who will be on their own for the first time. If that someone eats their meals over the sink and out of the box this book will be a great help. Its fun, quick and easy to use.

I bought two copies for my kids and they loved it. My son is a sophomore in college and my daughter is a freshman. I usually made their meals for them here at home, so when they got to college they weren't that prepared to cook for themselves. I bought this book on a whim hoping it might give them a start. After they got it they both started cooking more and eating less fast food.

I gave this book to my children at college. They loved it. Easy to read, with really easy recipes. Even my dorky son could use it. My daughters roomates also used it. They need a new copy because they kept it by the stove and now it is stained from heavy use.

I actually read this book after college when I was still on a budget. The recipes are basic, the ingredients are cheap and they taste great. For the budget non-gourmet who is short on time, but doesn't want to be short on taste, this book is perfect. Before I got this book, I mostly ate top ramen and could never follow a recipe. This book makes it easy to cook. I think this book is a perfect gift for college students. Especially if their parents don't want them eating spaghetti and top ramen every night. I also think anyone who likes quick meals with little cost would love this book as well. Also, the author has a very good sense of humor.