Table of Contents
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 41-year-old food blogger and recipe developer making $105,000 a year in Des Moines, Iowa. Keep reading for her receipts.
Skip ahead
The finances
What are your pronouns? She/her
What is your occupation? As a food blogger and recipe developer, I create, test, and share gluten-free recipes online. I’ve been running my website since 2009 and adore my job. Every single day is different, and it’s extremely rewarding to help people eat gluten-free without feeling like they’re sacrificing flavor or quality. I’m on a mission to prove that cooking gluten-free meals doesn’t need to be hard or require trips to specialty grocery stores. My spouse is currently a stay-at-home dad.
How old are you? 41
What city and state do you live in? Des Moines, Iowa
What is your annual salary, if you have one? $105,000
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? $4,375
How often are you paid? I get paid by my business twice a month.
How much money do you have in savings? $2 million (a mix of cash, 401(k)s, and Roth IRAs). Our lifestyle is pretty modest, and rollovers from retirement accounts at previous jobs have helped, so this amount has grown over time.
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e., rent, subscriptions, insurance, bills)
- Health insurance: $2,300
- Homeowner and vehicle insurance: $500
- Internet and streaming services: $300
- Water and utilities: $400
- Gym membership: $130
- Property taxes: $1,200
- College savings accounts for kids: $2,700
- Cars and mortgage: $0 (paid off)
- Monthly total: $7,530
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? I was diagnosed with celiac disease shortly after I had my first child in 2013, so I need to eat a very strict gluten-free diet. Even a small crumb of gluten can cause an autoimmune reaction.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any? I keep a list of weekly staples for both the regular grocery store and the big-box warehouse store. Between the two, for me personally, they include cucumber, Brazi Bites (I am addicted), rotisserie chicken, local hummus, deli turkey, spring mix or romaine lettuce, Honeycrisp apples, eggs, cottage cheese, wild-caught salmon, pumpkin seeds, kimchi, jasmine rice, and brown rice pasta. Like many elder millennials, I try to focus on getting enough protein at each meal.
