Rachael Ray‘s fans got nostalgic after she posted a video that honored her mom, Elsa Scuderi, on Mother’s Day. Ray praised her mom for teaching her “a lot more than how to cook,” and said Scuderi showed her “how to make something outta nothing—and how to do it with love.”
She said it was this that helped inspire her to create her show $40 a Day, which aired from 2002 to 2005 and featured the chef traveling to different cities with a food budget of just $40 per day.
“When I lived in New York as a very, very young woman, I was very poor and I didn’t want to bother my mother,” Ray explained in her new videeo. “I didn’t want her to feel scared for me, so I would never ask for money. And I didn’t have any. Eventually I did a show called $40 a Day and that was my budget for a whole week. I would buy a week’s food and I only had $40. I always felt so grateful that I came from people that taught me how to buy dry beans, a few vegetables, very little protein, and to live on that for a long time.”
She concluded, “I am deeply grateful for it. It has changed the course of my life. It’s made my life what it is. That’s what I try to share in these shows as often as I can.”
The comments section of Ray’s post was filled with fans commenting about how much they miss $40 a Day, which doesn’t even air reruns anymore.
“I used to watch that show! $40/day. You are awesome, inspiring, resilient! You have made your mama and other gals so proud. Keep on sharing!” one person wrote. Someone else commented, “40 dollars a day! Oh Rachel, I’ve watched you from the very beginning! You have always been so inspiring to me and so many others!” and another added, “$40 a day was such a great show. All of your shows in the early Food Network days were wonderful and appreciated.”
While $40 a Day is not around anymore, Ray is still continuing to produce cooking shows. Season 3 of her FYI Network series Meals in Minutes returns later this month.
Meals in Minutes, Season 3, Monday, May 26, 9/8c, FYI