I really love Rachel Ray -- her bubbly and effervescent personality really does inspire one to get in the kitchen and cook away. However, this cookbook is probably not her best effort.

There's a marketing quotation which has been around for many years:

"Fast, quality, cheap -- pick any two of the three and we can probably do business."

Rachel's book focuses on "fast" in particular and the dishes aren't all that pricey as to their ingredients... but I'm compelled to say that the quality of these recipes, generally speaking, could be much better. I think that, herein, we see the result of a lot of "staff brain-storming" to get a new cookbook out on the market but not a lot of these recipes will withstand the test of time.

While I would gauge most of these recipes as "good," you could take half of them and find something similar, but better, at other sources. The other half are conceptually new and I give Rachel an "A" for creative thinking but, again, I feel that there are simply better innovative recipes to be found elsewhere.

Now, to be fair, a good number of these recipes will suffice for really busy career people who find themselves constantly on the run. My niece is just such a person and she doesn't have an abundance of time to spend behind her cooking range. She loves this cookbook and I think, for folks who share her circumstance in regard to time priorities, this work might just serve as a viable and valuable culinary reference. I see that used copies are available for about four bucks plus shipping so one could hardly get hurt at that price.

I will point out that this cookbook is nicely laid out and I found it easy to read as it sits open in my cookbook shield, (mine is on top of the fridge and I'm tall enough to get as close as I wish). So, the cookbook is particularly utilitarian in that regard.

Rachel Ray has a lot of irons in the fire and I'm looking forward to the day that she slows down a bit and endeavors to write a well-thought-out tome of solid recipes. I'm sure that she's quite capable of doing this. But for now I'll have to curtail my recommendation of this cookbook to the limited readership to whom I have already alluded: those folks who are notably on-the-run with little available time for meal preparation.

ok, so i'm not a fan of Rachael Ray however this cookbook really is great. Every recipe i've tried has been excellent. her other cookbooks arent that great. i've maybe found one or two things that i might make in them - not really worth purchasing. but this one is different. right off the bat i found 10 recipies i wanted to try and that was in the first 25 pages! great kid friendly meals, too. Try the Barbecue Sloppy Chicken Pan Pizza....you won't be disappointed!!!!

Immediately upon receiving I went through the entire cookbook and flagged recipes that looked good to me. Of the 366 options, I tagged well over 100 -- which I believe is exceptional. We've used two recipes so far and were very happy with them.

This item was just what I was looking for to create meals after a busy day at work.

I've tried a number of recipes from this collection and none of them have been really great. All of the recipes have been easy to follow, but the results are mediocre at best. I'll probably end up playing around with some of them to see if I can get them to work, but this isn't the greatest collection of recipes in the world. I'm glad I received this book as a gift, otherwise I would have felt like I had wasted my money.

To me this book isn't practical. Many of the ingredients are not in local grocery stores and the recipes aren't that quick and easy.

Rachael Ray makes it look so easy on TV. Since I'm not a very adventurous cook, I wasn't familiar with some of the directions given in the recipes and had to guess. Once I had to toss things out partway through and start over as it became clear I had misunderstood a direction. I also bought a mini food chopper because you can't make some of these meals in 30 minutes if you're chopping by hand. But the food is good, although when it calls for hot sauce and jalapeno peppers, beware, these dishes are VERY spicy. We won't be trying all the recipes as some of them just sound too odd, but there are some really good ones (espcially with a little less hot sauce!)

I need to see what I'm about to make before I actually make it. Some of the recipes call for some interesting ingredients and it really boggles the mind in what the outcome will look like. The book contains only a few photos of what you are about to make. The rest is just text. The cover makes the book look colorful and full of pictures. Don't be fooled.

I have had this book for awhile now and my family & I have really enjoyed the recipes I've made from it. They are relatively simple to make and most ingredients are easy to find. However, I feel like I do need to make a warning. I believe in an effort to keep prep. time under 30 minutes, almost every recipe begins with "heat 2 tablespoons EVOO (olive oil) in skillet on med/hi heat". While the skillet and oil heat you prep your meat with seasonings or salt & pepper. I was doing this for the hundredth time last week and when I went to put our pork chops in, all of the olive oil came sizzling out of the skillet and onto my hand. I receive a very painful 2nd degree burn that is still really not a whole lot better a week later. Please be careful- its worth the extra few minutes to let your meat heat with the oil- then you can hear the sizzling begin and know you need to turn down the heat. I had never been warned about this and probably wouldn't have thought of it had I not been on the receiving end of the burn. I still would recommend the book- its a great concept and everything in it is delish, just be careful!

I like this book, but not so much the lack of pictures. Rachael Ray has great ideas, and is never boring.

Im a big fan of Rachael Ray. I bought this as a gift for my sister who doesnt have much time to cook a big meal that takes FOREVER or just hours to cook. 30 minute meals should be a great way for her to explore new cooking idea's that wont take all day to make. I am buying more of her cookbooks for myself as well. THANKS!!

I have no idea how to cook or anything domestic really, but I bought this book for a friend who is a big fan of Rachael Ray. She loves it. I don't know if that would be the case if she wasn't cuckou for Rachael Ray or not. Best of luck to you out there who know how to cook, you are a rare breed. Cheers.

I purchased this as a gift for a friend who cooks a lot. She liked the variety of recipes and the potential for so many no repeat meals. Unfortunately the recipes contain too many ingredients and often reference ingredients not easily acquired at the local market. Great for inspiration but not as easy to prepare as those Rachael Ray demonstrates on her 30-Minute Meal program.

I was given this Rachel Ray's cookbook as a Christmas gift and I am not imnpressed at all. Rachel Ray is not a chef. I found the recipes in this book, high in fat and without taste. My copy has been donated to Good Will.

Now I love watching the show and I think Rachel Ray is great. But this book has a bunch of meals that arent very practical. I mean the average person doesnt keep all these things just hanging out in their fridge! I think this book should have been called Rachel Ray's cook book for parties or "if you want to impress your in laws"!

This is a really great cookbook. Good variety, there's bound to be something for everyone in there.

This book is ok, but the recipes are too involved and I will probably never make any of them because of the exotic ingredients.

A good friend of mine told me to give as a Christmas present the thing that you most enjoyed during the year. Well, 3 of my friends got this book for Christmas. I have never seen the author's show (we don't watch much TV). So figuring out what "EVOO twice round the pan" was at first had me calling a friend who has watched the show. I love to bake but have not liked cooking. I had a few old cookbooks on the shelf which required me to "make a rue" or other cooking terms which would have me studying to get through the meal. Not with this book. Although many of the meals do include making a rue, it's written in plain language that I can understand. I've been so happy to go to the store and buy ingredients which are entirely new to me (Kale for one last week.) and to consistantly be delighted with the results. My husband and sons are enjoying the meals and now I'm having great feedback from the 3 friends with the meals they have tried.

I bought this for myself, but wound up giving it as a gift, b/c I don't eat a lot of the stuff she had in her book, so I wanted someone to get a good use out of it!

I'm getting ready to go to culinary school and be a chef. I can handle just about any recipe I try. I can adjust them to meet my needs or what ingredients I have on hand. I create recipes of my own too. But I get into a rut at times where ideas can be scarce as I'm busy with other things. I have lots of great cookbooks but none that have all quick recipes. This has been a wonderful addition to my collection. I know this is my go-to book for those nights that I need to make something quick and don't know what I want. Last night I had a pork tenderloin all thawed but I forgot to marinate it - what to do? She had a delightful recipe for rosemary lemon-pepper pork tenderloin with a nice almost Caesar-like salad, my family loved it. I had everything to make it and it took 30 min. This is saving my family money because this would have been a take-out night. This is not Joy of Cooking, my all-time favorite cookbook. It could be better organized, all her cookbooks are not organized the way I like them but this is the one I'll buy.

This is fast becoming my "go to" cookbook. It's by far her best work; organized and very creative.

I am enjoying cooking much more now that I have this new "helper" in the kitchen. Rachael Ray is making lots of converts to cooking I'll bet! She makes it look so easy that you want to try her recipes. Everyone is not going to become a Julia Childs in the kitchen, but at least I can feed my family well and have fun doing it.

If you're a visualizer you may be disappointed. No repeats but several creative manipulations of main ingredients. No gourmet dishes. Simple doable meals. Other than the lack of pictures, it's a fantastic book, and I would recommend this to anyone with kids or a busy schedule. Good Healthy Meals in 30 minutes. People who have bought this book and tried it out gave it an average 4.6 out of 5 stars:
http://www.buzzillions.com/prd-333103-precision-series-365-30-minute-meals-no-repeats-reviews/

The recipes are great! I love that there are so many different options for each recipe.

I love this cookbook. It has really made it easy for me to learn to create my own recipes, also.

I have been cooking for years...........the long way. This creative volume of never ending "palate pleasures" has revolutionized my cooking habits. I cook more in less time with ingredients that I would never have tried and have had endless complements from friends and family who have tasted and enjoyed meals they never imagined I would have cooked before. I highly recommend Rachel Ray's cook books for the seasoned "chef" as well as the one who only knows how to boil water.

The bottom line is that the meals often take more than 30 minutes, but they are delicious, creative recipes! I've tried a bunch of them now and have never been let down. They are always incredibly flavorful. The first time I made one (one of the chicken burger recipes) it was so delicious that I couldn't believe I had made it.

I wanted to learn the basics of creating various types of dishes, as I like to use my own creativity to make food to my personal taste. Now that's not to say that Rachael has poor taste, but this is basically a recipe book, not a cookbook if that makes any sense. I purchase this because it seemed to be loaded with tons of recipes and had good reviews, but personally, I like to learn the basics of things, like creating sauces, how to best prepare certain meats, how to properly bake certain items.. and then create my own. "Cooking" by James Peterson does this very well, go buy that if your brain works like mine.

I should have known better, but I bought this and ended up selling it on eBay to avoid paying return shipping.

This book is full of plagiarized and poorly reproduced recipes from Betty Croker, and let me tell you this chick is no Betty. Betty was hot...

The book is great...already familiar with her stuff...Half the battle is having the necessary ingredients on hand...her recipes are pretty basic...I look forward to trying some new stuff.

Excellent! I've also found "Cucina Essenziale" by Stefano Cavallini a great compliment to Rachel's title.

This book is great for quick meals and they taste good also. Simple but good is my way of cooking.

I've been using this book for about a year, and so far, I've really liked it. I'm a fan of Rachael's show, so I have a general idea of how her cooking works. That makes it easier to enjoy the book.

It's almost become my go-to book when I'm looking for something new to make. My husband is something of a picky eater, and there are some ingredients he's turned his nose up at, but overall, we've liked the recipes, and the book makes it easy to substitute if there's something you don't like.

The only thing I'm not fond of with this book is the way the alternate recipes are handled. You have to go back through the ingredient list and instructions to make sure you're not leaving anything out because the alternate recipes are only an add/drop list, along with which instructions should be changed. It would be easier if the entire recipe was printed again, but I think they didn't do it that way because it would take up too much space.

I must say, I am gald to stick with ole' tried and true. I had purchased a book I found recommended all over Amazon, and I thought my nightmare would never end. Sticking with a proven winner is really the best choice. I am not the greatest cook but with this book I have actually surprised alot of people. The recipes are easy with attainable ingredients and the book explains procedures and measurements for the non-cook and the experienced cook as well. I don't have to study the recipes. They are easy to follow. The book contains recipes for any "food mood" you are in.
I look forward to cooking now, and dieting(which I have ignored in the past and will stay out of Rachel's dessert section *wink,wink*. This is a fabulous book and is no wonder it has spawned numerous knock-off's. I highly recommend this book.

Other recommended titles: The RealAge Makeover: Take Years Off Your Looks and Add Them to Your Life

Thin for Life: 10 Keys to Success from People Who Have Lost Weight and Kept It Off

Dr. Bob Arnot's Guide to Turning Back the Clock

I wanted to learn some simple cooking but did not know where to go... I bought this book afer seeing Rachel on TV. This kind of cook book fits me as the recipes are simple and do not require much time preparing. I especially like the chicken receipes. I cannot compare it with other cooking books as I never had any, so I think 4 star is fair rating

I was VERY disappointed in this book. Not only were the meals bland but the cooking instructions were not well written.... I can't even begin to say how disappointed I was and still am.

Another Rach book with some good recipes; however I found her books lately are lacking her personality, which I think makes her show and what I was expecting to find in her current books. One book that I found that has good recipies for a family, plus the girlfriend personality is THE FRANTIC WOMAN'S GUIDE TO FEEDING FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

I have only cooked out of this Rachel Ray cookbook, but I must say, from my experience, her recipes are very much hit or miss. You could have an excellent meal one night and an awful one the next. I do use her cookbook alot, though, because I like to try cooking new things -- and her recipes are very creative. I have gotten some great "staple" dinner recipes from this book. Cooking from this book can be expensive, though, because most of her recipes require a lot of spices and herbs, etc. Overall, I think it's a pretty good book worth having on your shelf.

I bought this book with great anticipation; however, after making several recipes, I am very dissapointed. Many dishes I've tried have absolutely NO FLAVOR at all. If you like dinners from the 1950's, you may like this; but for experienced cooks with sophisticated palates, this is not worth buying. The fact that there are 170 of these used books for sale should tell you something.

I liked the listing of recipes so it was easy to choose what to make without flipping through the entire cookbook. Lots of easy recipes for chicken. When you have normal ingredients, you can still make something taste spetacular.

I didn't like this book. It wasn't very clear. My family would NEVER eat any of the recipes. I was looking for a well-rounded list of recipes, (like joy of cooking) but found this was too "kid friendly" and unhealthy. I returned the book.

I was somewhat disappointed. There is a lot more time to get the meal together than I expected.Otherwise it is well written and organized.

I did make some kind of turkey burgers with butter and tobasco sauce...I think they were buffalo turkey burgers...don't have the book in front of me...and they were quite good. It had a blue cheese sauce, YUM-O! (To quote Ms. Ray). She finished off the patties in the sauce...

I made a variation...I take the buns and soak them for a few seconds in the butter/tobasco sauce and grill them...it's the only way my picky son wants his burgers now! So, the girl is inventive...it's just not my first pick for a cookbook at supper time. Know what I mean?

I didn't buy this cookbook for me but for my daughter as a stocking stuffer. She likes it but said that it really is a bit much and that sometimes, as much as she enjoys Rachel Ray, she gets tired of the same old, same old. I have two other Rachel Ray cookbooks so figure I have enough...

I bought into the whole Rachel Ray craze and bought this book thinking the recipes would be easy and tastey and wonderful. Not so much. The vast majority of the recipes that I made my husband suffer through were fairly intricate and involved lots of ingredients. When you're both students, your part-time salaries aren't really equipped for this. Every time I tried a new recipe, dinner ended up taking at least 45 minutes longer than expected, and to be honest, it didn't taste all that great. I never thought I'd say this, but there are way too many flavors involved! I'm all about a savory dinner experience, but I'd rather savor one or two flavors well-combined than 5 or 6 that battle for your attention on your tongue. I can't wait to get rid of this book. I can definitely say I am NOT a fan.

Easy to follow recipes... especially a good book for those who are rolling up their sleeves in the kitchen for the first time (i.e. college students/post-college students). I've recommended this book to all my friends who are cooking for themselves for the first time.

Honestly I can't understand what all the fuss is about Rachel Ray. Her recipes are not unique - i've found similar ones just doing a search on the internet, her writing lacks luster, and her cookbooks just don't make me want to come back again to try something else. If I were to buy another cookbook I would go with one by Nigella Lawson. Her recipes are genius but not too difficult, her writing alone is worth buying the book for, and everything I've tried in her books has worked beautifully. She's a much better bet for a good cookbook.

I can't stand everything about Rachael Ray. She's obnoxious, loud and fake. She pretends to eat food on television and acts like it's the most delicious thing she's ever tasted. I think you need to eat more than a bean to determine the level of deliciousness, Rachael. And I don't think you can determine deliciousness when someone else has removed the food for you. On one episode my mom was watching, she went to take a bite of her muffin, but the camera angle showed that the bite had been taken out for her! She's not a real chef, and she's a mediocre cook.

If I have to hear the word 'yummo' or 'delish' one more time... I might scream myself to death.

I like this book and it does give a lot of ideas and once you start getting the hang of it you can come up with your own recipes and style. I don't like how it's not indexed but food makes finding things a little difficult and many recipes have things one wouldn't normally have in the kitchen but once you do you are good to go. So I like this very much but wouldn't say I love it.

I have never seen Rachael Ray's TV show, but found that the recipes are pretty easy and we have been able to modify to taste. They general take 30 minutes PLUS prep time though - so they generally take 45 min to an hour for me to prepare.