Helpful Score: 12
At first glance, one might think this book is geared solely toward the college crowd. While it is certainly useful for them, its also very useful in our house of 30-somethings on a budget. Many of the recipes don't use the seasoning packet, so those with sodium concerns can relax. Most of the recipes are very easy and simple with cheap things you're likely to have on hand (i.e. hamburger, cheese, onion, sour cream, soup) and a lot of variety (soups, salads, beef, chicken, pork, etc.). Most of the recipes are for 2 servings, making it nice for couples, though certainly you could double it for a larger household. The book even has a plastic cover (to protect from splatters) and is spiral bound so you can lay it flat on the counter and read the recipes while you cook. There is plenty of space on each page to make notes (i.e. "next time add more onions"). The only negative thing is that most of these recipes use several pans -- you need one to boil the noodles in (why are there no microwave directions for Ramen Noodles?) while you're making the bulk of the recipe in another pan, then you have to drain the noodles with the strainer ... you get the idea.
The content of this book may be summarized by pointing out that ramen is a pasta, so you can use it in place of other pasta, or mix things with it that you might mix with other pasta. I thought it might be very interesting, that it might come up with something very creative to do with ramen, or interesting ways to jazz it up. Unfortunately, it didn't do these things, and the recipes are generally straightforward and not very exciting.
