$40 a Day
 

A great place to get advice on how to eat on a budget but still get the great eating experience is $40 a Day on the Food Network

Doesn't hurt at all that the host, Rachel Ray, is a kinda cute. :)

Instead of "$40 a Day," I'd rather see "$400 a Day." And I'd like to see them film it in New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, Hong Kong, etc. It wouldn't be that difficult to blow $400 a day on food and libations per person in these cities.

How about the following in New York?

Breakfast at Norma's:
I'll take the Lobster Frittata with 1 ounce of sevruga. $100
http://parkermeridien.com/normas.htm

Lunch at Masa at Columbus Circle
prix-fixe $300
can't find web site
review: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/di...e25589&ei=5070

Dinner at Alain Ducasse
prix-fixe plus cheese course $168
http://www.alain-ducasse.com/public_...fr_cuisine.htm

Ooops.... That's a bit over $400....

Rachel Ray
 

She never tips appropriately! It's always "my meal was $9.00 and with tax and tip my total came to $10.32". The best is when she's rented a mustang convertible in Hawaii (waaaay more then $40 a day!) but she has to travel 10 miles to get a $7.00 breakfast. I watch it, but only so I know how NOT to travel.

I have always loved Rachel. If you ever get a chance to see her perform live (she was one of the celiberty chefs at the Boston Wine Tasting a few eyars back) she is both cute as a button, and funny as all hell. She tells a story on how on her trial at the Food Network they put her in Emeril's kitchen to audition or whatever, and she almost burned the set down.

$40 a day is fun to watch, but I like 30 minute meals better, get more out of that one.

I agree with cordelli -- 30-Minute Meals is much more helpful. I think $40 A Day is more contrived. It's nice to see some of the places they go on the show, but overall is boils down to the same formula each time: go to nice places at lunch, and you'll save; try the specials; ask the locals. No new info there.

I will confess to being something of a 30-Minute Meals junkie. I make sure TiVo gets it every day. Sometimes she's got some really good ideas, and I appreciate that she maintains the spirit of the show quite well -- she's not relying on tons of pre-prepped stuff to make a fancier meal in 30 minutes than she should really be able to. I think it's pretty legit, doing mostly her own chopping right there and such.

I enjoy both of her shows as well...but c'mon..."don't be afraid to use coupons"...whatever. She actually skipped breakfast in Miami, saying that's what the locals did. Forty dollars wouldn't cover my wine.

She had a great 30 minute meal on tapas the other day.

I would be overjoyed if my employer upped my meal allowance to $40 a day! Let's see the Food Network do something along the lines of $25 a day.

Episodes would be something like this: Breakfast at the Hampton Inn/Fairfield Inn buffet. Lunch at some fast food takeout. For dinner, let's scan the coupons in the back of the hotel phonebook - oh good, I'll get a pizza delivered...

Geez, that's a heck of a low per diem. I used to work at a place where they had a $75 per day meal allowance (and another $50 per day for ground transportation)! Where I work now isn't quite so generous, but it's much better than $25 a day. That seems kind of ridiculous.

Rachael featured in FHM ;) I never would've guessed she was 35 years old.

On the other subject, my per deim was $34/day, which I actually had a difficult time fully using.

One of the previous companies I worked for had a $40.00 a day per diem, and coffee is usually breakfast so it was doable. The company I work for now doesn't have a per diem...just "reasonable expenses". It's a beautiful thing...I think my expenses are very reasonable. :D

Wow...there's a Rachel I've never seen before! I am curious as to how old those pictures are...she's been looking like she has more than one camera pointed at her in the recent 30 Minute Meal episodes...she still looks fabulous on $40 a Day though. Thanks for the link pseudoswede, my husband will love it!!

(I know...it was a mean thing to say...had to be said.)

NICEthank you, I want to be a strawberry

I like 30-minute-meals and am thinking about buying one of the books, but the $40/day show annoys the heck out of me. She's cute and all but sometimes she just gushes way too much and the $40/day show moves slowly enough that they keep it all. And her dining choices are a bit stupid - who's going to go eat wedding cake in Las Vegas at 2am?

But for just watching an attractive woman cook, for me she still doesn't hold a candle to Jacques Pepin's daughter Claudine. Unfortunately, Claudine recently got married. :(

Claudine, while easy on the eyes, was a mess in the kitchen. More then once she almost cut off a finger or something. He tried and tried, she never got it.

Now if you want a vixen who can cook, it's hard to beat Nigella http://www.nigella.com/ . Her clementine cake is totally amazing.