Meals That Cook Themselves - And Cut the Costs #252653

<i>Meals That Cook Themselves: And Cut the Costs</i> is an advertising booklet for the Sentinel Automatic Cook Stove authored by Christine Frederick.<br><br><i>Meals That Cook Themselves</i> was published by The Sentinel Manufacturing Company and is a piece of marketing for the company's gas stove. At seventy-one pages, it is short by the standards of most books but quite lengthy by the standards of an advertisement. The text is divided into chapters, most of which focus on a specific attribute of the stove. There are chapters about the appearance of the stove, the principles of fireless cooking, what the appliance saves in fuel, and how its purchase will reduce the work of the housewife, amongst other topics.<br><br><i>Meals That Cook Themselves</i> is interesting as a piece of long form advertising and is a good example of a marketing technique rarely used today. The true purpose of the title is never disguised, and the work actually concludes with a detailed section on where and how readers can buy the stove.<br><br><i>Meals That Cook Themselves: And Cut the Costs</i> should definitely not be considered as a cookbook, it does, however, provide readers with a glimpse into the past and can be used to understand marketing techniques in the past.