Budget Books

This book is just exactly what I was looking for and I was not disappointed. I found the recipes down to earth, not needing extravagant ingredients. All the recipes tried so far have tasted very good. I started doing just one week in advance and building up to a month's worth. Good planning tips. Good shopping tips. All around good book, worth the money.

I have been interested in bulk cooking for quite some time. I have many books but this is definately the best. The recipes do not require any weird or special ingredients. I also like the section on appetizers and sandwiches. This book arrived right before my pregnant daughter broke her rib and I was able to fill her freezer in one afternoon! If you take advantage of sales, like I do you can cook many different entrees with the same protein. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone interested in eating well and staying on or even below their budget!

This book is wonderful! It helps you organize the kitchen and refrigerator so that you can make meals efficiently and quickly, especially when we don't have time to cook half the time.

This is an awesome cookbook. I have only made some of the breakfasts so far. (For me, breakfast is the most difficult meal to get my kids and husband to eat.) The recipes turned out great and they were easy to make and easy to alter to fit my family's tastes. I recommend this book to everyone! But, it is important to note that cooking in bulk means taking a few extra hours to cook and prep, but well worth the reward that lasts for days and weeks.

I love once-a-month cooking: LOVE. IT. My freezers (yes, multiple!) are always stuffed with good things because we have insanely busy lives, so I am always on the lookout for good recipes and OAMC resources.

This is sadly not it.

There are some VERY good things in here - I have been particularly pleased with the recipes for things I would historically have bought a mix for (dried onion soup mix, etc) - but much of it is too reminiscent of things my Grandmother would've cooked and not refelctive of today's heathier diets. Many of the recipes felt like retreads, and I wasn't thrilled with the ways it's organised.

But it's a decent resource at a reasonable price for those who are just begining to experiment with OAMC and would like to have a base arsenal.

I purchased this audio hopping to get some new ideas and new strategies but much of the information on the audio was common sense.

This would be great for someone new to the music industry.

I was disappointed in this product. If it were a book, it would be more of a pamphlet than a book, and never worth the price charged for the cd. Many of the topics "covered" are merely mentioned with maybe one "expert" tip thrown in. For example: according to him, the key to sending out mailings is addressing them by hand. That's pretty much all you need to know. At one point, he tells the listener to stop the recording and write long lists of answers to specific questions. In good faith, I did as he said. Then he dropped the ball and never explained the purpose of that exercise or followed up on it in any way. The topic he covers most thoroughly seemed to be the range of ways to serve alcohol at an event, which was not high on my list of concerns. If alcoholic beverages are crucial to your music, this cd could be just what you need.

The bonus CD included serves primarily to promote Discmakers, and secondarily has some interesting anecdotes. Still, I felt manipulated. What he proves with this CD is that he is a master of promotion, who can make people pay a lot to get a little, and then thank him for it. I can't help wondering if he even wrote the positive customer reviews himself. Being a master at promoting is not the same thing as having a top quality product, and I suppose that is the most useful lesson I got out of this cd.

As a person who works with musicians alot (and a musican myself) I have seen people make the same mistakes over and over when it comes to releasing a CD. This books helps you avoid those, and many I had not thought of. I've enjoyed every title from David, and HEARING the book gives it even more of a personal touch.

In addition, David interviews the head of a CD manufacturing plant, and I found that VERY informative as now not only can you avoid the mistakes of releasing the CD, you can avoid the mistakes of manufacturing the CD.

Not that he left out any details, but David then spends some time at the end of the CD answering questions from his musician clients. This was awesome as many of them were questions that I might have asked.

I highly recommend this to anyone recording a CD. The money you spend on it will easily be made back in CD sales.

Do you want to release a CD? Would you like it to help your career or hurt it? Dave will put you on the right track to making sure everything goes right. Get it Now!

Being in the funk/jazz genre with a violin as the lead, our sound is not often viewed as "mainstream" on the music scene. David Hooper has managed to put together a thorough tretise on what encompasses the album release process, applicable to all musicians regardless of their style! The methods described are well-rounded, not just "D-I-Y" hype without true solutions to problems in the process! For our upcoming release I now feel confident that by implementing these strategies we'll garner more fans, back-end revenue streams and wider connections with those who hunger for the Phatfunk sound!

This book is great, I especially love the brownie recipe, the baked pancake recipe, the mojito pork, and the green goddess salad dressing. I can't get enough! I have done almost every recipe in the book. My only complaints: I wish it were a bit longer and I wish it would stay open on my counter without having to put something heavy on the binding.

Books on domestic chores like cooking usually inspire take-out instead of whipping out the cooking utensils. Not with this one. The recipes are not intimidating but easy and inviting. I've even grabbed this cookbook and toted it to the grocery with me for inspiration. Have fun with it.

I bought this book recently, after borrowing it many times, and memorizing at least two of the recipes, from making them so often (Chick's Pea Soup and the apple betty recipe). These recipes really are easy, using easy to find ingredients, and especially good for anyone living alone. The style is bright and fun, and for the most part, the recipes are carefully chosen to step in and fill a need in most categories. There is one inexplicable cookie recipe (2 eggs, but only 1/2 cup of flour? How can that work?). And, personally, I could have done without the two pages devoted to whipped cream (Pour in bowl, whip), and the page devoted to tequila shots (pour in glass, drink). But for the most part, the level of cooking skills required by this book and the level of skills acquired by your typical single just about mesh. Especially appreciated are the variations at the end of most recipes, with suggestions for making a meat dish vegetarian, or changing the flavor from oriental to southwestern. I highly reccommend this book for anyone just starting out, or any recent divorcees on your gift list. Get one for yourself, while you're at it, and enjoy real, yummy, homemade food again.

While this cookbook claims to be for "girls on the go", I guess they meant 4 girls - as most of the recipes are four servings. I was looking for a cookbook with one or two servings. Also there are only 6 main entree recipes!! I have tried 2 of them, the wings were okay (but again too many servings) and the spicy pasta (which was WAY too spicy - even for my boyfriend who enjoys spicy food...I don't see too many girls enjoying this). If you are like me and are looking for a healthy and simple cookbook with only one or two servings, try "Healthy Cooking for Two (Or Just You)" by Frances Price. This is the best cookbook I have ever bought - hands down. It has recipes with ONLY one or two servings, easy to find ingredients, and are very easy to prepare (believe me, this was my first cookbook and I had no clue what I was doing...but this book really lays it out for you). So if you want my advice, don't waste your money on "Cheap and Easy..." invest in "Healthy Cooking for Two" - unless of course you are looking for a book full of salad dressings and cocktails - which consumes half of "Cheap and Easy..." recipes.

This book is perfect for single women on the go. The recipes are easy and don't require a lot of time. Also, the list of ingredients is not long at all which means you won't be stuck with items you won't use again for months or may have to throw away because they are rotting in the refrigerator.

Its nice that menus are put together for you based on the event i.e. romantic dinner, the morning after, picnics, etc.

I've made the lasagna, meatloaf, and pasta puttanesca and they were all delicious. My roommate has sampled them all and was equally impressed. You won't go wrong buying this book. If you are looking for another good cookbook for beginners, then check out Now Your Cooking by Elaine Corn. I've tried 90% of those recipes and they are both easy and tasty.

Lots of info. packed inside this book and there are website references throughout. Provides a variety of ideas to make a small wedding special and unique. I'd definitely recommend to anyone planning a small wedding.

This book was very helpful. We had three months to plan and it has great check lists.

You will not be sorry! The information is organized and practical! There are real-life examples that really make sense and will be useful to you if you are planning an intimate wedding. The author also has first-hand knowledge since she has been through the same experience! My favorite part was the budget guide!

While planning my wedding, I found this book to be okay. There were some interesting ideas, but nothing that I really found to be too new/novel; nothing I hadn't already seen in a lot of the bridal magazines. After doing a lot of searching, I found the books published by The Knot to be a lot more helpful.

Was a gift for my sister and future brother-in-law. Had it shipped to them, but it was never received. Sounds like a good book though.

After reading the reviews for this book I was excited to read it. I didn't find it very useful though. Most of the ideas in the book I've read online for free.

I believe that we play both offense and defense in our personal finances. Offense is the amount of money we earn through income, investments, businesses, and odd jobs. Defense is how much we save through being debt free, coupon clipping, getting great deals on cars or houses and saving. This book does an excellent job showing how to play good financial defense through really looking at our spending habits in all areas of our lives and then showing how to think differently and spend more intelligently. Whether it is food, insurance, telecommunications, cars, houses, weddings, funerals, this book covers it all and the suggestions should save you thousands easily in all areas. Whether it is stock piling sale items at the grocery store or using term life instead of whole life insurance this book has it all.
"The point of reading this book, assuming you accepted the spending smart philosophy, is to spend less money on things you don't care about so you can spend more on things you do care about".

"Positive life experiences contribute to happiness more than things do".

More reading suggestions for financial defense:
Dave Ramsey's "Total money makeover"
Joe Dominguez "Your money or your life"
Amy Dacyczyn "The Tightwad Gazette"

This tiny little book packs quite a surprising amount of wisdom. Yes, it tells you to control spending (including lattes), but you can find coupons and other money saving tips on various items online. However, what I found most useful was the chapter on how to check one's emotional urge (call it being "shopoholic") when it comes to spending money. The author gives some excellent advice on how to have a goal and use that goal as an objective not to spend money on other impulsive purchases. Overall, a quick, crisp read (it took me all but 2 hrs to finish) that made me really think about my long term spending strategy.

It makes sense!!! If you want to save, you have to cut back on your spending and when you do spend, spend smart. Hmmmmmmm, what a novel idea in this day and age. Good book!

I read the book's description and some other reader reviews about how it was promised to be able to get the purchase price of the book back by using some of the book's information. Well, I guess I'd say I'm left questioning if I actually would recoup my purchase price by changing some spending habits. My career revolves around purchasing (which I've taken many of the tricks and applied to my personal expenditures).

I thought most of the suggestions in the book are grounded in common sense, but I didn't find the majority of them either ground breaking or new (to me). This book is good for those that really haven't thought about how they spend money, but not worth the money/effort if you actively manage your expenses.

Although this book had some nice ideas and cited a few good examples, I was expecting something a little more, well, off-the wall. There are plenty of marketing books around, and many of them carry similar ideas to this one (as another reviewer pointed out already). Many of these books also have a greater wealth of the kind of ideas I was hoping to find in this one (try 'Do Something Different' by Jurgen Wolff for a better source of marketing techniques small businesses can use). There is also a slant towards PR, which is actually quite helpful, but just be aware it forms a significant part of this book.

All in, a pretty good book to have on your shelf but not a definitive guide and probably not the best example of books in its class. Perhaps I can best make my point by saying I finished this book in a couple of hours whilst waiting for a flight as I skipped over much of it (having seen it before). However, if you need help with some PR ideas and are looking for some inspiration and an easy read, then this book will help you.

As a long time marketing consultant, I found this book to be essentially a rehash of ideas that have long been explored/suggested by others. The first sections on personal and office appearance struck me as extremely dated given our current business climate and 'young' mindset. If you're new to marketing for a small business, I'd recommend Guerilla Marketing over this book by far.

Part Four (Madcap Marketing) came as close to living up the the book's title and does include some good ideas and approaches, but not enough IMHO to save the book.

I loved reading the many ideas entrepreneurs used to market their business. Originally, I bought this book to help market my web sites, www.MaryJoRulnick.com and www.FranticWoman.com, but I found several ideas that I could use to market my first book. As an author, it isn't always easy to find unique ways to sell your work without spending a lot of money. However, I was able to tweak some of the ideas, such as creating your own day. By following several of the suggestions in this book, I was able to grab the attention of the media and there were several articles published highlighting my book. Now that my second book "The Frantic Woman's Guide to Feeding Family and Friends" will be published, I'm reading Off The Wall Marketing Ideas again.

This book is OK if you actually have a product to sell. If your business, like mine, is a service business this book offers little help in creating "Off the Wall" marketing ideas. At least 70% of the book involves high dollar radio, TV, and other expensive marketing ideas. Very little practical examples of non budget busting ideas...

There are two self-promotion marketing books that I really think are great and that stand out from the rest of the crowd: 101 Ways to Promote Yourself (ISBN: 0380785080) and Self-Promotion for the Creative Person (ISBN: 0609806262). In my humble opinion, the instant book being reviewed comes in third to these books. I really liked it. It was fun to read, made me think, and I loved the story about the restaurant owner who took taxicab rides regularly to get the cab drivers to refer patrons to him.

The book is broken into six parts:

1. Personal Packaging
2. People Who Need People
3. The Power of Prestige & Expertise
4. Madcap Marketing: The Power of Pizzazz
5. Pro Bono: Civic Marketing
6. Press Waltz: How to Attract the Media.

The first part talks about being professional in all you do and to brand yourself and your business. The second part reminds us that nobody is an island unto himself or herself. We all need other people to help us thrive. That's so we can do things correctly, get the word out about our business, and to continue to move forward rather than stagnate. The third part explains the importance of becoming an expert, the go-to source, for whatever you do. The fourth part is about doing things a little different so your business will stand out. It's one thing to be an expert, and it's another to be THE expert. The fifth part reminds us that not all marketing is done solely to help ourselves. Sometimes we can help ourselves by helping others. And the last part discusses public relations and publicity.

I really don't have much to say in the form of criticism of this book. I probably would have liked the book better if the title had been different. And I would have liked the six parts listed above to have been included in the Table of Contents. Instead I had to turn through the pages in the book to find the titles. But, all in all, this is a wonderful fun read for someone who has just finished reading my two favorites listed here above. 5 stars!

I've been vegetarian for 5 years now and have accumulated a collection of different vegetarian cookbooks over the years. Most of them make several fundamental assumptions: 1)you have plenty of money to spend on difficult-to-find spices and rare items 2) you have the time to buy and prepare these items (chopping things from hand and other meticulous work). Fact is, it ain't so for most college students. We're busy and we're on a budget. Healthy food choices are limited-- especially if we're vegetarian.

I've never had to cook for myself until moving into my apartment, and let me tell you, this cookbook is my Culinary Bible! It's great because it offers fast, cheap, healthy, meat-free, and yummy small-serving recipes (I recommend the Twice As Nice Stew yum...). What more could a college vegetarian want?

I give it three thumbs up. :)

A nice, no nonsense book with good easy to follow recipes. Catchy illustrations might help capture the interest for the younger readers!

This is a great book to cook out of when my husband is traveling and it's just me & the kids. With kids, I need healthy, not lots of left overs, quick, and variety. My husband and I both have experience cooking, and like books like this as they give us new ideas to spring our newest creations off of. These "begginer" recipe books are also great for more experienced, creative chefs. We aren't vegetarians, but there are recipes that meat could be added into. It is hard to come by great vegetable recipes and recipes with lots of healthy ingredients like fiber and vitamins. So this book is great health wise. I've found a few good veggie recipe websites, but this book is also a must! I will be ordering more for gifts. I wish the author would combine this one with the original in a binder type book, so it would be easier to leave open on the counter.

This is one of the few books that really IS practical for a vegetarian college student like me. I love this book, and it is really fabulous for getting you started in everyday vegetarian cooking, and healthy too! I really do wish it had nutrition info, but I just sit down and figure it out for the recipe I'm doing before/while its cooking. Many of the recipes are wonderful and surprisingly low cal. My favorite is the creamy broccoli soup, but I find that rather than adding a little rice to the soup, I serve it over brown rice and it is WONDERFUL! Super easy, super cheap, and healthy. Oh, and did I mention its just about 100% kitchenette compatible!! I only wish I had this when I was living in the dorms, I might not have gained those freshman-15. This really is a must-buy graduation gift.

Having been vegetarian for a short period of time, I was worried about how I was going to eat when I went from full-time student and part-time worker to working the 40 hour weeks with an hour commute round-trip.

There are so many facets of the book that I applaud:

Most importantly, Starving Students vegetarianizes the comfort foods that students (and busy professionals) crave . . . just like mom used to make. There isn't much glamour to many of the recipes, but that's a refreshing change from many of the cookbooks I've bought in the past. You don't go to this book for a sophisticated, gourmet meal. You go because you're hungry, don't have time to chop 50 things, and want to feel full and satisfied. Another thrilling point is that the majority of the recipes are prepared in under 20 minutes, and those that take longer involve baking in a oven with a short prep time (though I wish the time indicated on the recipes differentiated between the amount of time you're actively cooking).

And finally, I am so relieved to find a vegetarian cookbook with ingredients that I have heard of and have seen in a regular grocery store. There's nothing more frustrating than perusing a cookbook and getting excited about a recipe to only find that I would need to go to a specialty store to find ONE ingredient that I may never use again. The ingredients are simple, easily obtained, and though most of the recipes are for 1-2 servings, you can very easily double the ingredients so you have leftovers for lunch and avoid half an onion sitting in the fridge.

While I didn't find them particularly useful, there are lists included to help you stock your kitchen (basic supplies, utensils, appliances, and cooking ingredients sorted by supermarket department). There also are hints and tips to chopping and preparing for the easily-intimidated.

This isn't a book intended for the gourmet vegetarian chef. However, if the gourmet chef was exhausted, had a slow week at the restaurant and needed to pinch pennies, he or she would go to this book for some vegetarian comfort food.

Will go into detail about all you need to know and some helpful hints it's all in there.

Buy this only if you haven't been following news and magazine articles that outline the same issues. There is no enlightening message or original statistical model here.

I'm preparing to sell my house and this book is exactly what I wanted to help me figure out what I needed to do, what I could do, and what I shouldn't bother with. On top of it's rather useful information, it's highly readable. I was afraid it would be overly wordy or bogged down with real estate-y stuff, but it's an easy read for your casual non-DIYer home seller. I wouldn't recommend that you use this as your reference on your first flip or anything, but if you want to sell your house and prepare it as well as possible first, this book suits.

The premise of the book seems to be that you won't recover all of the money you spend on improvements let alone make any. The book references remodeling magazine as a source of obtaining a dollar cost and value added. Again, cost is always higher than value added.

Another fitting title might be "improve the value of your home by 100,000 dollars while spending 130,000 to do it!"

I strongly recommend that people read through the table of contents and possibily skim through it if you have the opportunity. Read one of the chapters and you'll see what I mean, then decide if it's right for you. Most of the chapters follow the same format with different projets. Unfortuately for me, I already bought it based on the amazing scores everyone else gave it.

this book is a must have for anyone doing real estate of any kind. If you are trying to re-finance or to buy this ideas are wonderful and make completer sense.

Michael Weldon's PSYCHOTRONIC GUIDE TO FILM is one of the most entertaining of all the video guides out there. It doesn't carry reviews as extensive as those in Maltin's book and may not cover all the current films like Ebert's book, but it is a terrific additon to those.

Most of the films talked about, (heck, probably 90%) aren't listed in Maltin's book, you can't find them to rent or buy. But that is what is so much fun. The films in this are so odd, so bizarre, you can't believe they actually exist. Weldon's descriptions are just wonderful.

In fact, if you are able to watch any of them, you'll often find that they are more fun to read about than to actually see.

The book is an oversized paperback, larger in size than a phone book but about the same weight.

One warning though, it is extremely addictive reading. You will pick it up while watching TV and, without even realizing it, hours have passed and you are still reading about these obscure and hysterical movies.

A must own for any film fan.

Being a big fan of outre cinema, I own a slew of movie review books. While this book has it's flaws (see other reviews), it is still one of the best. Videohound covers more territory, but then it doesn't focus on just the weird and the wonderful, its reviews are too brief, and it's not as fun to read.

...that tries to be everything for everybody.
First of all, I am a huge fan of Weldon's original _Psychtronic Enclyopedia..._, which is why this review is difficult to write. I don't want to give it a bad review, but it is simply a bad video guide.
What made the Encyclopedia so good was that it was comprehensive for a specifc genre--the B-movie. The _Video Guide_, on the other hand, includes many mainstream movies, such as Basic Instinct. Sounds good, doesn't it? Think again.
After a few minutes of looking up movies or just skimming through, you realize that this guide is poorly done. In his reviews, Weldon frequently refers to other movies which are _not_ listed in the guide. It's pretty dang frustrating when the review of Day of the Dead mentions the film Dawn of the Dead, a movie that is not reviewed. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens a lot.
I don't understand why the author would include so many middle-of-the-road, non-"psychotronic" movie reviews when this guide doesn't even have a decent listing of sci-fi & horror movies.
Finally, this guide has no reliable way of rating the films--the write-ups don't often mention how good or bad the movies are.
I give it (a generous) 3 stars for Weldon's erudite and enjoyably snarky comments on the films. But, if you're interested in an excellent guide to B-films, get a copy of the out-of-print _Psychotronic Encyclopedia_. It's dated (published in the early 1980's, I think), but a much better choice for old scifi/horror/exploitation flicks.

This is the companion title to the cult film bible (The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film) but with the focus that everything reviewed within is or was available on videotape. It updates the other publication and there's very little, if any, duplication of reviews. I like how they also include some more mainstream releases that have a Psychotronic bent (Silence of the Lambs etc...) which like it or not deserve a place here.

If your movie tastes gravitate to the offbeat, and you want to know whether that 3AM horror movie on TV will be worth setting a tape for, this book will steer you right. As with the companion publication, a must have in every B-Movie fan's library. I eagerly anticipate an updated publication.

I'll freely admit my admiration for Michael Weldon's work, this book, his previous, and his magazine. Even when I disagree with his assessment, he's always honest and straight-forward.

I read some other reviews complaining about the content, or lack thereof, in this book. I think there's a misundserstanding as to what this is. It is a continuation of Michael's previous book, the Psychotronic Encylcopedia. There may be references in the reviews to movies not listed here, but that's because those movies are listed in the Encyclopedia. The two books have very little common content.

I also read a complaint about inclusion of some mainstream pictures such as Basic Instinct. In defense, I would say that Michael's content covers exploitation films of all genres and budget levels, whether made for $26,000 or $26,000,000.

I also like Michael's editorial inserts in this volume, such as his favorite movies of each decade.

Both books are essential, though admittedly his first covers most of the classics. This volume, thankfully, is not only more up-to-date, but stretches back into the silent era as well.

I say...buy them both.

This book is not only for college students. It is also very good for single people who want simple, easy meals to cook for one or two servings.

This is a great book for college students on their own. It is simple and easy.

Both my sons are grown and are on their own. Being the smart Mother that I am, I bought each son one of these cookbooks as he was leaving home for college. I had already taught them some cooking basics, but I knew they would "starve" for Mother's cooking. These recipes would at least give them tasty meals and remind them of Mother's cooking. We actually used the cookbook before they left home, and we would critique the recipes. I would give them hints on substitutions, optional ingredients to add to the recipe, and dishes to round out the meal. They thought that was valuable. As one son reminded me over the weekend, "Mom, cooking a meal for a girl will really get her attention!" I'm about to get my 10-year-old grandson his copy now. We have a tradition to continue!

Decent starting point for cooking-impaired college students if they don't mind eating eggs and potatoes often. A little more variation in the recipes would be nice as well as some pointers on how to substitute ingredients and an explanation on why some ingredients do (What is the purpose of using cornstarch? I know, some of it is common sense, but heyyyyyyy.... I'm a stupid college student). For example, for one recipe for frying chicken, I used pork and it tasted fine.

Also, some of the recipes don't really work. Baking chicken drumsticks at 375 degrees in the oven for 40 minutes is not enough for thoroughly cooked chicken.

On the upside, the cooking tips were really helpful. The book could use more of those, like be aware that if you heat oil, it pops and it could land on your face or burn your arm.

Overall, this book provides some ideas, but I wouldn't rely on it too much. Not really worth the purchase. Flip through it in the bookstore like I did and save some bucks for uhhh.... buying food. =P

The author does a good job of covering a lot of food choices; there's even a section for vegetarians. The handy hints - "Don't dump grease from cooked meat down the drain! Drain grease into old can and discard when solidified" - will be a great help, not only to students but to any novice cook out there. The style of the book though, could use a bit of pizzazz, especially since it's audience is 20-somethings who will need visual interest to draw them in. Other than that, this book will help a lot of kids who are feeding themselves for the first time. 50 Ways to Leave Your Mother