$40 a Day Online

I actually like Rachel Ray. She does go a bit far on her cooking shows when she tries to be too cute, but she has great ideas. Unfortunately, I don't think this is one of them. This show was filmed in 2002, but even then folks were struggling to make ends meet. Ray would do better showing people how to make entire meals for a family of four on $20 a day. Oh yeah....that's been done.

Anyways, back to this show. I don't care for the BIG EATERS type shows and I simply loathe shows where we WATCH people eat!! Ray is not an entertainer, so we are stuck with silly comments and giggling, while simply watching her eat (oh, I already said that). She also likes to drink. She's a good boozer.

She likes the food and drinks.....but cheats the wait staff. Rachel shouldn't rely on her cutesy ways alone to get past a decent tip! (My nephew is a former chef...he's actually seen what they do to the food for cheapo's!!)

The only good thing I can say about this program is that it is no longer on the air. Rachel Ray, a very limited "talent," spends a day and the amount of money some people spend in a week, to stuff food down her gullet. Is this REALLY a great feat?! To be fed for $40 a DAY??? Yikes. Perhaps this show would be palatable if the host wasn't so annoying. NAH....it wouldn't. Ray obviously tries to be so ingratiating, laughing at her own inane comments and scatterbrained jokes. Unfortunately she only succeeds in being annoying to the nth degree. She's LOUD, and literally talks out the side of her mouth. She's more suited for a job as a greeter in Walmart. Ray loves the camera (and obviously thinks she's being delightful), but the love is purely one-sided. Watching this greedy lush fork down big plates of food and chug down alcohol like it's great entertainment is too much for me. GAG.

I think a few reviewers stated this up front, but I will too. Ray goes big on the food and Alcohol, but she's cheap with the tips! Even when people fall all over her to serve her good meals and lots of alcohol, I don't see much of a tip if any at all.

She should know better if she's a chef.

As far as the show itself. Been there, seen that. Others have done a much better job of showing off good restaurants in the U.S., where we can get a good meal. She appears to be drunk when she's talking to the owners, or is it just that she always looks lit? One thing for sure, Ray really likes her booze.

Nothing original or entertaining here.

$40 a Day is Tasty Travels cheap big sister. With truly inspired hints as: Ask around, order half portions when available, or dine on a appetizer instead of a main course; how can you go wrong? It would seem as though American's have lost all ability to think for themselves and common sense had gone out the window. Without Rachael who would have thought of going online, reading a newspaper or checking out a guide book. The kicker is the lousy tips she leaves the poor servers. I can see a revolt where wait staff around the country come together and pelt Ray with small change. I only hope that viewers don't emulate her tipping scale. Servers bust their butts to bring us our food and get no respect. The least we can do is show our appreciation by tipping them well.

This is a wonderful show, 100% because of Ms. Ray, who is a treat for the eyes, in every possible way. Her smile alone makes it worth tuning in, and it's pure heaven to watch her taste the food and sigh, "Mmmmmm," before sharing with us the specifics of her culinary bliss.

The only negative thing I can say about her is that she leaves unbelievably crappy tips, and sometimes, she cheats. For instance, on a recent show (I believe it was the Napa Valley one), she bought a $13.95 bottle of wine to take with her to the chosen restaurant for dinner, and the price of the entrée was $12.95. On the final talley ticket that she always shows, the dinner was listed as $12.95, without any tip or tax included - this kept her under the $40 limit which she clearly went over. I think it would have been much cooler - and far more human - for her to show that she indeed went over the limit, rather than try to pass it off without tax and tip, hoping we didn't notice.

I do like how she is fond of a cocktail (or a decent bottle of wine), and how she works that into the budget; this makes the show far more realistic for me, since going out to dinner - and sometimes lunch - generally will involve a drink and/or a glass of wine. All in all, this show is most definitely worth catching whenever you have 30 minutes' worth of time.

ADDED ON 12/17: So on a few other segments, I see she has shown herself going over the $40, and as I had imagined, I love this. It does make her more human and even more adorable, when she 'just can't help' herself.

$40 Dollars a Day with Rachael Ray has become my favorite television program. Compared to the standard theatrical offerings on the other cable channels and broadcast channels, Rachael Ray beings a vibrant form of entertainment to television.

Even though her persona comes to the audience in the form of her flagship cooking show, "30 Minute Meals," Rachael Ray brings "fresh" entertainment with each show. Her meals that she and her staff work on may be simple and not haute cuisine, but, what average person wants to cook expensive high end restaurant meals in their own home? So, Rachael relies on using lots of store prepared ingredients that the usual home shopper can find in their supermarket. She advises to save time by purchasing salad greens in prepared bags. The usual veggies she chops or slices are onions, herbs, and garlic! But, the key ingredient is the entertainment Rachael offers as she talks to the audience as if she were talking to her high school classmates. Very informal and loaded with comedy, facial gestures, hand movements, and her own brand of culinary vocabulary called "Rachael-speak" or "Rachaelisms." Probably her most used expressions are "E.V.O.O." (for extra virgin olive oil) and "Yumm-O"(her expression for delicious). A regular viewer can accumulate a count of up to 30 Rachaelisms in no time! One of the difficulties in copying some of her recipes is the cost that one incurs in purchasing ingredients at the local supermarket. As an example, I made two pan pizzas with my grandson teaching him how to do it the Rachael method. When we went to the supermarket to purchase the needed food stuffs the bill came to $16 for the ingredients. So, the cost is almost the same as a commercially bought item. The benefit was showing the child how to make the pizza.

Rachael brings her upbeat personality to all of the four shows of which she is the host. In "$40 Dollars a Day" Rachael usually makes her budget because she carefully selects the ratio of her funds to allocate across three or four meal purchases (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack). It seems that she saves lots of money by not ordering soft drinks with her meal purchases. Her "usual" request is for free ice water with lemon. Thus, you can add up the cost of four soft drinks a day to be up to $8 more not including tax if she where to purchase these. Then, the show would have to be called "$50 Dollars a Day" and the number 40 seems to sit better than 50!

One can rationalize that Rachael diverts the cost of drinks into providing a tip for the waitpersons. Often she gets criticized for tipping too low. However, in one early episode she remarked that as a waitress herself she knows the value of a tip. While most diners attempt to justify an appropriate tip by using a formula of say, 10, 12, 15, 18, or 20 percent of the total bill, the key to remember is what the term T.I.P.S. was supposed to mean - To Insure Prompt Service. Realistically, the author considers a flat gratuity based upon the dollar value, usually, one dollar up to $5, two dollars from $5 - $15, three dollars from $15 - $25, for the single dinner and two dollars a person for small families. In evaluating a tip one must consider whether the wait-staff first brings a glass of water to the table. Many restaurants do not do this service, a necessary safety measure to insure that should a diner begin to choke on the food there is water at the table for that emergency. Further, does the wait-staff return to the table to help along the meal or is the dinning party abandoned until the bill/check is presented? A tip needs to be determined on the involvement of the wait-staff with the dining party.

While Rachael's show serves to provide nationwide free advertising exposure for the restaurants she selects to highlight on her show, maybe, the tip she leaves is adequate, considering! Rachael Ray's television shows are a great way for those persons who "don't now how to cook" to learn about food and get entertained at the same time. Hopefully, Rachael Ray will have many more seasons on television and continue to be as entertaining as she is at the present time.

If you don't think this show earns a grade of "excellent" than at least award her a "9."