I'm using InDesign CS 3.0.1 with WindowsXPpro

I've just produced my first catalogue with InDesign and I'm looking at ways
to automate pricing of items in future catalogues.
The catalogues are usually around 32 pages with about one or two dozen items
per page arranged in small tables.
Many items have the same price because they're just variations of colour,
design, etc.

Ideally I'd like to be able to use Excell cell references. eg: =Sheet1!B34

I've seen plugins which seem to do exactly what I want but are way over
budget. The PageMaker plugin looks about right price-wise but I'm not sure
it'll do what I want any easier than manually editing the prices which I can
do fairly quickly anyway.

I'm not expecting anyone to do the work for me but a few pointers in the
right direction would be greatly appreciated.
eg: is scripting the answer? What about batch find-and-replace? Can I
reference items in a hidden table in the same document?

I have a reasonable knowledge of web-based javascript and ASP database
integration so scripting shouldn't be a problem if that can do what I need.