Welcome to The Receipt, a series documenting how Bon Appétit readers eat and what they spend doing it. Each food diary follows one anonymous reader’s week of expenses related to groceries, restaurant meals, coffee runs, and every bite in between. In this time of rising food costs, The Receipt reveals how folks—from different cities, with different incomes, on different schedules—are figuring out their food budgets.
In today’s Receipt, we follow a 36-year-old public relations professional making $100,000 a year in San Gabriel, CA. Keep reading for her receipts.
Skip ahead
The finances
What are your pronouns? She/her
What is your occupation? I work in PR at a large global firm. I was a pandemic hire and work remotely on most days. More time to cook at home!
How old are you? 36
What city and state do you live in? San Gabriel, CA, but I grew up in the Philippines
What is your annual salary? $100,000, not counting my husband’s salary of roughly $65,000; he works in community health for the unhoused population
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? $2,800
How often are you paid? Twice a month
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e., rent, subscriptions, insurance, bills)
- Rent: $2,588 (includes water/trash/HOA)
- Electricity: $150
- House gas: $150
- WiFi and phone: $150
- Car loan: $529
- Car gas: $250
- Subscriptions: $30
- Credit card: $500
- College savings plan: $400
- Kid sports and other extracurriculars: $200
- Gym membership: $159
- Fixed monthly total: $5,006
The diet
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? I definitely eat out way more than I ever did growing up in the Philippines. But I’m a social homebody—I love staying home and hosting friends for brunches and dinners. Also, the cost of eating out adds up, and I’m trying not to spend my entire paycheck in restaurants.
That’s probably why our house is the hangout house. Everyone comes over, whether it’s my kid’s neighborhood friends, my husband’s friends, my girlfriends, or our couple friends. Meals are usually chill, and potluck-style. (Think Monica’s place on Friends.)
This week I’m trying not to eat out a single time. Will I succeed???
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? I don’t follow a specific diet, but I’m trying to lower my BMI/body fat percentage after a steady increase over the past three years. It’s tricky, trying to manage eating healthy while having a kid and husband who love all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ and sushi.
I try to prioritize healthier proteins and whole foods, limiting anything too processed and aiming for an even split of protein, carbs, and fat daily.
I recently started an accountability group with some gym friends who have similar health goals. We basically just send each other pictures of what we’re eating. It gives me meal ideas, sure, but the real appeal is seeing how other people eat and cook. I’m nosy, okay?
What other factors influence how you and your family eat? My Roman empire (and I’m sure many women feel the same) is “what the hell am I cooking today?” It’s my main domestic task, while my husband manages the laundry and cleaning. It never ends.
On Sunday or Monday nights I try to meal prep grilled or baked proteins or a big one-pot Filipino dish. That way, we have food for the first few weekdays and I have fewer cooking decisions to make.
I still struggle with buying the right amount of ingredients—sometimes I feel like I buy too little, and have to bop out to the grocery mid-week, other times I buy too much and things go bad before we can use them.
One thing about me is that I hate throwing food away. I will eat something that’s weeks old as long as it looks and smells normal. Let’s just say my stomach is pretty tough.
Where’d you grocery shop this week?
- 99 Ranch. Our go-to Asian market chain, where we get white rice, specialty proteins like beef neck bones, and Asian veggies.
- Seafood City. This Filipino supermarket chain is great for frozen fish, longanisa (a kind of garlicky Filipino sausage), tangy banana ketchup, and other family staples.
- Costco. For meats, bacon, and other stuff we buy in bulk.
- Trader Joe’s. A classic for a reason. Best for chicken breasts, salad veggies, silken tofu, bread, and dairy.
How often did you dine out while growing up? We’d only dine out once or twice a month, if at all. It just wasn’t the norm in the Philippines. My parents only took us to restaurants if it was a special occasion (birthdays, anniversaries, graduations), and it was always either Japanese food, Chinese food, or American food (like Chili’s, which my dad loves).
Most Sundays were spent at my grandmother’s, where her longtime cook would serve a full day’s worth of meals from lunch to merienda (midday snack, similar to tea) to dinner.
How often in a week did your parents cook at home? My parents worked in the family business, so they were lucky to have flexible schedules and short commutes. They were always around shuttling us to and from activities.
They cooked most meals at home, which as an adult I realize were pretty elaborate: My dad would cook traditional Filipino dishes and steaks and my mom would cook more international cuisine, like lasagna, paella, salads, katsu, etc. When they returned home from travelling without us, my mom would make local versions of whatever food they liked abroad.
She was definitely an adventurous cook. My mom would make us drink things like carrot juice (long before the juicing trend happened), introduced us to caviar with fixings (a truly unfortunate habit I still have, financially speaking), and conjured up fancy cheese fondues made with oozy raclette.
Our lunches were also always served or packed nicely with cloth placemats, napkins, and silverware. The things you take for granted as a kid!
The expenses
- Restaurants and cafés total: $0
- Number of restaurant and café meals: 1
- Groceries total: $407.30
- Most-expensive meal or purchase: $50 for 6 lb. of beef neck and beef shank
- Least-expensive meal or purchase: $3 for a tin of anchovies from Trader Joe’s
- Total number of grocery trips: 5!
- Week’s total: $407.30
Because the previous week saw a lot of fridge emptying, this week’s grocery expenses are higher than usual. It’ll feed us for the next two weeks.
I didn’t realize how often we go on little grocery trips…and how much they add up. Still, it’s cheaper than eating out.
The diary
7:00 a.m. It’s a double-edged sword, but I love that my son is a huge foodie. He’s the kind of kid who eats medium-rare steak, gravitates toward sushi and fish, and adores spicy food. He takes his packed lunches seriously, which is more work for me, but I’m (not so) secretly super proud of him.
I usually prep his lunch first thing in the morning. Today it’s Gyoza-brand pork and leek dumplings (so he gets some veggies) and Chilimansi instant noodles, Filipino instant noodles that mimic a stir fry. He LOVES this combo, but I always feel guilty when I pack it because it’s so processed. I add crackers and a Mandarin orange for snacks.
7:30 a.m. Desk breakfast for myself is cottage cheese and blueberries since I’m trying to be healthy and eat protein and fiber first thing in the AM. I drink black coffee from Nespresso pods that my husband got from WhatNot (it’s like eBay but with videos) for a fraction of the retail price!
12:30 p.m. At first, I think I don’t have anything on hand for lunch, but my willingness to eat whatever’s languishing in the back of the fridge plays to my advantage.
I find some sad chicken breasts from last Thursday. I’m not thrilled with the marinade I’d experimented with, but I can’t stomach throwing food out. They smell passable, so, of course, I eat some. I like to live dangerously. I pair it with two-week-old lettuce from TJ’s (surprisingly still fresh) and whip up BA’s Caesar dressing, my current hyperfixation. (I always keep anchovies in the pantry so I can make it.) I top everything with TJ’s cheddar crisps in place of croutons.
3:00 p.m. Kid gets home from school. I give the semi-fail chicken yet another new life as filling for a snack quesadilla before his basketball practice. He likes it.
4:30 p.m. I go on a pre-gym grocery run to TJ’s and shell out $118.31, nearly three times what I usually spend there. Yeesh. I snag proteins (salmon, cod, ground beef), breakfast staples for my son (chicken sausage patties this week), silken tofu, one potato, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, breads (sourdough, English muffins, tortillas), cheese, fruit, salad greens (including TJ’s chopped sesame salad kit, which I love), eggs, a pack of ravioli (for the kid’s school lunch), almond milk, and a fun snack (hot honey popcorn, IFKYK). Honestly, it’s not a bad haul for the price.
6:30 p.m. I do a post-gym run to 99 Ranch and spend $61.98 because we’re out of rice. Our household can’t function without it! I also grab a few veggies and meat for a big Filipino soup I’ll make later this week, frozen mussels, and ribeye steak that’s on sale for $8.99/lb. Pro tip: Always keep an eye out for discount meats at 99 Ranch.
7:30 p.m. I saute some ground beef bulgogi, an idea from my accountability group. I serve it with boiled bok choy and white rice. I also defrost from the freezer a very rich, buttery sauce left over from a shrimp boil I made last week. This time around, I toss in the pre-cooked frozen mussels from 99 Ranch.
A friend pops over for dinner, huge KFC bucket in hand, which we try and fail to polish off. More (free) food for the next few days!
7:00 a.m. I prepare my kid’s school lunch using last night’s dinner: a bento of bulgogi, rice, bok choi, and a sticky rice cake slice. We are a leftovers-positive household.
I also make him a breakfast sandwich with a TJ’s English muffin, TJ’s chicken sausage patty, Kraft cheese, and a scrambled egg. (Later, the kid reports that he liked his bento but the bulgogi was “overly flavorful.” What does that even mean?? Everyone’s a critic.)
7:15 a.m. I’m in the mood for flavored coffee, so I make myself a dirty matcha latte with plain almond milk, pure maple syrup, and hojicha matcha from Japan that a friend gifted me.
12:30 p.m. I dig into a snack of my homemade nut mix: This one, my current obsession, includes raw unsalted pistachios, pecans, and raisins, all from TJ’s. (I’m a TJ’s nut, pun intended.)
1:00 p.m. Lunch is a bowl of last night’s bulgogi (shocker), silken tofu, a soft boiled egg, and bok choy, all over seven-grain black rice that I bought at HMart months ago. I forgot I had it!
2:30 p.m. The kid comes home hungry despite his hearty packed lunch, so I doctor up some mussels and black rice for Kid Lunch #2 ahead of his sports later today.
7:30 p.m. For dinner, I bake cod from TJ’s using leftover herbs from last week, cook two pieces of the $8.99/lb steak from 99 Ranch, and serve it all with lettuce, bok choy, and black rice.
I also bake a loaf of banana bread using some very overripe bananas following Bon App’s Best Banana Bread recipe, which I’ve been using since the pandemic. I am not a huge baker and this is the only thing I ever bake. I’ve been playing with the recipe; this time I add protein powder, chia seeds, and hemp seeds.
7 a.m. I prepare the kid’s lunch, a bento of the black rice and steak from last night, bok choy, and a slice of banana bread with Nutella.
His brekkie is another breakfast sandwich, but this time I use two chicken sausage patties, per his request. Apparently his classmates have been stealing bites, a surefire sign I’m knocking these out of the park.
7:30 a.m. I tuck into a working breakfast of cottage cheese and blueberries. Look, I can eat the same thing every day. I make no apologies.
12:30 p.m. I finish the last of my not-so-good chicken breasts with more lettuce and Caesar dressing.
2:30 p.m. We pass a fruit vendor on the way home from school and get an assortment of pre-sliced fruit for $12. Back at home, the kid is hungry yet again (are you noticing a theme?) and devours his favorite Shin Ramyun instant ramen. Hey, at least his school lunch today was super-healthy.
6:30 p.m. The husband goes on a Costco run since we’re out of charcoal for the grill and olive oil. He also grabs a pre-marinated pork roast. The final tally comes to $111.71.
7:30 p.m. Husband grills some beef burgers for dinner tonight. We use patties, bread, and veggies from TJ’s.
7:00 a.m. I pack quesadillas and a burger for my kid’s school meal, and portion out my usual cottage cheese, blueberries, and black coffee for breakfast.
12:00 p.m. I'm ravenous, so I put together a nice plate of everything I’ve already cooked this week: black rice, baked cod, a bit of ground beef bulgogi, a soft-boiled egg, and bok choy. Leftovers are the absolute best and you can’t convince me otherwise.
6:30 p.m. Husband fires up the grill for the ribs from Costco and salmon from TJ’s. My kid’s neighborhood buddies swing over, plus some grown-up friends who bring food (my preferred house gift), specifically Korean BBQ chicken and McDonald’s fish fillets. These are my people. I pop a bottle of red wine and the Scotch I always have on hand.
12:30 p.m. It’s a slow Saturday for everyone. For brunch I make a platter of grilled cheese sandwiches (my specialty) and serve it with tomato soup and prosciutto—all ingredients I have on hand. It’s one of the kid’s favorite meals and he clears his plate, which always gives me a little thrill.
6:30 p.m. Some friends invite us for dim sum, but because I’d rather not spend any more money and we have a lot of food in the fridge from last night, we politely decline and eat leftovers at home.
We bop over to their house after, which means we still get to see friends while saving money. Win, win!
9:30 a.m. I make more crispy grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast on-the-go before Sunday sports. I also make myself a latte with a Nespresso pod, plain almond milk, cinnamon, and pure maple syrup. This is my insurance policy to resist temptation a la Starbucks. Will it work?
1:30 p.m. I get a late lunch with my mother-in-law at our go-to ramen and sushi spot. Mercifully, she picks up the check. What a woman! Another personal victory: We did not get Starbucks.
5:30 p.m. Whoops, we’re out of food and need to go on yet another grocery run. This will be a two-part journey: First stop is TJ’s, where I grab strawberries, salad toppings, and chicken breasts. We spend $61.68. The second stop is the Filipino market; I grab some more meat, coconut cream, ube jam, and ube powder—I’m going to make a homemade version of Starbucks’ new ube macchiato, which has an unreasonable chokehold on me at present. Total cost is $41.62.
8:00 p.m. On Sunday nights, I like to set out all the random bits and bobs from the week in an effort to reduce waste. I call it “buffet” dinner, aka a “smorgasbord,” aka leftovers. Never underestimate the power of a cute nickname to change hearts and minds.
6:30 a.m. The kid is on spring break this week and we let him sleep in. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the break from the kid-lunch-and-breakfast routine.
However, I sadly lack the ability to sleep in. I make my usual bowl of fruit and cottage cheese—and my first ube latte! I top it with a violet-hued cream that marries ube jam, dehydrated ube powder, coconut cream, plain almond milk, and a dash of maple syrup. It’s divine. Take that, Starbucks!
12 p.m. I make caprese sandwiches for lunch using ingredients I have on hand—sourdough, mozzarella, beefsteak tomatoes, fresh basil, and olive pesto from TJ’s. I pair it with a pre-mixed TJ’s Mediterranean salad, another of the kid’s favorites.
8 p.m. For dinner, I spoon out bowlfuls of beef nilaga, a hearty soup that will last us for the next few days. I make this in shockingly large portions for this explicit purpose.
I started cooking it three hours ago, boiling six pounds (yes, six!) of beef neck bone and beef shank with onions, black pepper, and fish sauce. I let it simmer, the scent wafting all around the house. (It’s intoxicating.) Afterward, I skim off whatever fat has risen to the top and add sweet corn on the cob and kabocha squash. (For all the Filipino purists out there, yes, this dish is usually made with potatoes or carrots. But my late FIL made it this way and I’m fully converted.) During the last five minutes of cooking, I chuck in bok choy. We eat it over rice, and it’s absolutely, face-smackingly delicious—I could eat this every day of my life.
I’m thrilled with myself that I’ve managed not to spend a single ever-loving cent in restaurants over the past seven days. I’m rarely this successful, and I silently celebrate between spoonfuls of nilaga.
Of the three of us, however, I'm the only one who sucks out the bone marrow, which is deeply rich and fatty. The kid and husband don’t know what they’re missing. More for me!