Extremely well-designed, and most of the recipes are satisfying and practical. I'm just worried how useful it will be now that my kitchen is fully equipped.

just ok

It's quite interesting and useful!

Delicious, and healthy recipes. It is too bad that there are no photos in here, but the recipes are good enough that they are easy to follow and to make well! So far the English Muffin Sundaes were amazing for breakfast. Can't wait to make some of the other meals!

This is a great intro to cooking and going off to college present. It covers the basics while helping make better cooks. For good cooks or new.

This is a good, basic book for someone just starting out. There are a lot of good suggestions, and the authors keep cost in mind. The recipes are basic and could be made by just about anyone. This book is what it says it is.

According to who?

This was my first cookbook. It seems kind of slim and unexciting (no pictures, really) at first, but the recipes are fun and interesting. Also cheap and healthy (for the most part). I force people I know who want to get into the cooking biz to get this book. They get excited about it. OR ELSE.

This was my first cookbook and kept me from starving (or ODing on Mac n Cheese) during grad school and my first few months of post-grad life. After that, I got kind of sick of it, to be honest. There are better cookbooks out there and this one doesn't have a ton of recipes, so I made most of the ones that sounded good to me.

This book is terrific for those who are new to cooking and don't have a fully stocked pantry already (emphasis on that last bit...the authors of this cookbook are good at keeping the ingredient count down, so you can gradually acquire pantry ingredients instead of having to buy them all at once and go broke).

If you're already a semi decent cook, keep looking, though...

While certainly achieving its claims to be quick, cheap, and easy, this cookbook is a little disappointing in that there are no pictures of the food they talk about, and for me, nothing looked particularly appetizing in it, but that could also be because I couldn't see anything.

The intro to cooking they give you, though, is good for new cooks. It explains a bunch of cooking terms, gives you a rundown of what any kitchen needs, and demystifies the kitchen in general.

This book is great! The recipes in here are super simple and the ingredients cheap. This was a perfect cookbook when I was in college and I still use it now! I mostly stuck with the appetizer section, the bean dip to be specific. People rave about how good it is. I haven't made a bad recipe from this book. Highly recommended for anyone looking for any or all of the requirements listed in the title.

I am a graduate student on a tight budget, and I found many of these recipes helpful and even pretty good. It even provides advice on how to stock your kitchen with the bare essentials. It has been a helpful resource, and has helped me steer away from resorting to fast food (for the most part). On the negative side, it does not have pictures.