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 a 29-year-old public radio reporter makes quick Trader Joe’s lunches between story interviews and snacks on dried mango and almonds at long city council meetings. Keep reading for her receipts.
Jump ahead:
The finances
What are your pronouns? She/her
What is your occupation? Reporter for a public radio station
How old are you? 29
What city and state do you live in? Asheville, North Carolina
What is your annual salary, if you have one? $56,000
How much is one paycheck after taxes? $1,433.69
How often are you paid? Biweekly
How much money do you have in savings? $4,300
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e., rent, subscriptions, bills)
- Rent: $875
- Student loans: $50
- Subscriptions: $77.57
- Max: $17.11
- Netflix: $16.57
- Strava: $11.99
- Fitbod: $13.90
- Substack newsletters (Hung Up and The Food Section): $10
- New York magazine: $8
- Internet: $55
- Total: $1057.57
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? Nope, I basically eat everything besides raw jalapeños and steak tartare (or really any mushy raw meat). I do prefer to eat home-cooked meals using fresh produce.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any? Sweet potatoes, Greek yogurt, salmon, sourdough bread, salad greens, cheese, rice, chili crisp, baked tofu, marinated tempeh, chicken thighs, olive oil, eggs, flaky salt.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? I usually dine out a few days a week, ideally for a cheaper meal like lunch. I try to cook dinner at home as often as possible, even if that means having leftovers several nights in a row.
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up? Maybe once every couple of weeks. My parents loved ordering takeout; that would happen on a weekly basis.
How often in a week did your parents or guardians cook at home? I remember my parents cooking dinner most school nights. Meals in the regular rotation were beef stew, spaghetti with meat sauce, this foil-packet steak and gnocchi recipe with mustard sauce, and spinach salads with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. If I didn’t finish the salad, my parents would grumble. For takeout my family usually went with pizza or Chinese food.
The expenses
- Week’s total: $184.70
- Restaurants and cafés total: $166.70
- Groceries total: $0
- Most-expensive meal or purchase: Pastries from OWL Bakery, $41.31
- Least-expensive meal or purchase: Iced sweet potato oat milk latte from Rowan Coffee, $7.72
- Number of restaurant and café meals: 8
- Number of grocery trips: 0
The diary
8:30 a.m. I wake up feeling very sleepy. Before my partner heads out the door for work, he brings me a cup of PennyCup pour-over coffee to bed, where I stay for the next 30 minutes reading in a hazy stupor. I take my coffee black so I can taste the fun little notes of chocolate and berry in the brew. It’s a nice way to start the day before my news meeting at 9:30, when everything really kicks into gear. We meet remotely so once I finish my coffee, my commute means simply walking into the home office 30 feet from my bed.
10:30 a.m. I have a kickboxing class at 12 but haven’t eaten yet so I throw together a quick smoothie with apple butter, frozen banana, pear, a few walnuts, and a smidge of oat milk. It tastes creamy, warmly spiced, and reminds me of banana bread. The cinnamon from the apple butter and the pear make a great duo. I’m pleased with myself for finding a way to finish out the last dregs of homemade apple butter that have been hanging out in my fridge for a little too long. Plus, it’s good fuel for a workout.
1 p.m. I just finished kickboxing class and I have to interview a mayoral candidate on the phone in 30 minutes, so I need solid food stat. It’s the perfect time for my go-to weekday meal. I throw a small pat of butter in a pan, and once it’s nice and bubbly, I put on a block of Trader Joe’s marinated teriyaki tofu ($3.99, previously purchased) to crisp up. Then I mix together a Trader Joe’s miso crunch salad ($3.99, previously purchased) and top it with the now crispy and cubed bits of tofu. I’ll be honest, it’s nothing life-changing, and the salad is so crunchy that my jaw is a little tired by the time I finish eating it, but it’s one of the more lively ways to bring together a salad in less than five minutes and I’m proud of myself for getting some nutrients.
4 p.m. The day has been a blur, as expected for a Monday. For a quick snack, I fish a hard-boiled egg out of the fridge, peel it, and drizzle it in some dark soy sauce and chili crisp. The egg is sticky, saucy, and a little sweet, and I eat it with a tiny spoon for a bit of whimsy. I love this snack; if you’re eating your hard-boiled eggs plain, you are doing it wrong.
8 p.m. I made kimchi short ribs on Saturday and I have a plastic container of the crazy-flavorful braising liquid left over in my fridge that I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of…so tonight my partner and I design a whole meal based around this liquid gold. We riff on Eric Kim’s gochujang buttered noodles recipe, adding pan-fried shrimp and the short rib broth to a sauce of butter, gochujang, honey, and rice vinegar. I toss the pasta in all of that with a little pasta water until it gets nice and glossy. I top the dish with sesame seeds and gochugaru and the result is LUSCIOUS. The sauce clings to the pasta and packs a mean punch of spicy, funky, sweet, salty flavor. We eat the pasta with a butter lettuce salad that we top with a seaweed vinaigrette (another Eric Kim specialty).
9:30 a.m. I’ve overslept and I take my first sip of coffee at the same time my morning editorial meeting begins. Bummer, but we’ve all been there, right? The day gets ahead of me early, so I’ve got no time to cook breakfast, either. I end up microwaving the remains of last night’s pasta and scarfing it down before I interview another mayoral candidate—election week is coming up fast, and I’m trying to get all the audio interviews ready for broadcast. The pasta is nowhere near its original glory, but the flavor is still there and I’d be lying if I said pasta for breakfast wasn’t a little bit thrilling.
12 p.m. I need a little treat after this morning, so on the way to the radio station, I stop by Rowan Coffee for a silly latte. I order an iced sweet potato oat milk latte topped with sprinkles of cinnamon and a vegan marshmallow ($7.72 including $1 tip). The marshmallow is a ridiculous addition, especially when I place a lid on top of it, but it does improve my mood and the beverage experience is autumnal as hell, perfectly matching the crispy orange and yellow leaves drifting to the ground outside the coffee shop.
2 p.m. As a thank you for previously helping them move furniture, my coworker treats me and another reporter at the station for lunch at the nearby sandwich shop Loretta’s. Everyone at the radio station is obsessed with this lunch spot, so it’s not surprising that we end up here. I order an “Italian Stallion” sandwich—mostly for the ridiculous name—and it’s served hot and toasty, thick with mortadella, salami, ham, banana peppers, lettuce, and tomato. I’m picky about my Italian-themed subs, but this one is not bad. I eat half of it and end up giving the other half to a man on the street who says he’s hungry.
4:45 p.m. After a quick workout, I’m rushing to cover this evening’s city council meeting and realize that I’m going to be very hungry if the meeting ends up going until 9 p.m., which it does about half the time. My partner hears me whining about this and does the sweetest thing possible: He packs me a plastic container of snacks. The meeting does in fact go until 9 p.m. and I quietly savor the slices of dried mango, Trader Joe’s almond butter-covered almonds, and slices of Spanish cheese and crackers in between agenda items, all bits and bobs leftover from a charcuterie plate I made for a few friends last weekend.
10 p.m. You wouldn’t believe how long people can debate over a single bike lane; it’s straight out of a Parks and Rec episode. I’m exhausted from covering the meeting and still need to prepare notes to send over to the morning radio host, so my partner makes us both dinner. It’s a simple, cozy pot of curried rice and chicken with sweet potatoes and lots of garlic and ginger. He says it needs a crunch, so we top it with Trader Joe’s crunchy chili onion peanuts ($2.99, previously purchased), along with chives from our garden and a scoop of yogurt. I am grateful for this comforting, warmly spiced meal that I would not have had the energy to make tonight.
8:40 p.m. I savor my coffee in bed for as long as possible, but the article I need to write on the city council meeting looms large in my head. Once I finish writing the story’s text, I rush over to the radio station to record an audio version of it. Breakfast sadly slips my mind.
12:37 p.m. I’m finished with this week’s coverage and turn my attention to brunch. There is a ton of curried chicken and rice left over, so I heat that up in the microwave and spruce it up with a gently fried egg and a few hearty dashes of Sun Is Shining hot sauce ($10.99, previously purchased). The hot sauce is made by a local Caribbean-themed restaurant, Nine Mile, and it’s got notes of mango, curry, and ginger, which plays nicely with the slightly faded curry flavors.
8:53 p.m. By the time dinner rolls around, I’m too tired to cook and I can’t stomach two consecutive meals of curried chicken and rice so I order a kale Caesar salad with fried chicken from HomeGrown, the spot down the road. I also grab my partner dinner—he orders the “Redneck Cuban” sandwich, which he says is solid but a little dry—for a total of $34.24 plus a $5 cash tip. To me, this salad is a master class in balance; the curly leafy greens are a great counterpoint to the crispy buttermilk chicken. It is punctuated with soft cloves of roasted garlic and hefty croutons. I also, on a whim, order a side of mashed potatoes with gravy, which I know is chaotic behavior but I just want an extra bite of something homey. I devour every bite of the salad, chicken, potatoes, and gravy. It’s been a long day.
8:50 a.m. I really need to wake up in time to make breakfast. Instead I drink several cups of coffee and head to the station around 10:50 for an all-staff meeting. By the time the meeting ends I’m anxious and lightheaded.
12 p.m. A few of my coworkers are also hungry so we head down the block to a cute little noodle and sushi shop called Heiwa Shokudo to cash in on its lunch special. For $14.98 plus a $5 tip, I get a massive bowl of spicy miso ramen soup with corn, boiled egg, sprouts, shiitake mushroom, and Katsu chicken. I didn’t realize the chicken was going to be fried initially but I’m pleasantly surprised by how the breading holds up in the broth. I slurp up every bit of the soup, down to the pebbles of corn left at the bottom of the bowl—like I said, I’m hungry. One of my coworkers orders a round of dango for the table and we are all amazed by the chewy, sesame-coated fried bite of mochiko, which is not fully savory or sweet.
5 p.m. I spent the rest of the day working on a story and now I’m hungry again. However, I have grand plans to make Kendra Vaculin’s Spicy Salmon Roll Bowl for dinner, so I try to stave off the hunger with a few snacks: another hard-boiled egg drizzled in chili crisp, a few chunks of Camembert cheese with brioche crackers…maybe I eat a little too much cheese but it’s so creamy and funky that it’s hard to call quits.
8:20 p.m. After a few hours of relaxing at home, I’m ready to cook! I have a super-ripe avocado and fresh salmon filet I bought for $10.99 at Trader Joe’s over the weekend that’s teetering on the edge of death, so I basically have to make this rice bowl tonight—plus I haven’t cooked anything real in a few days and could use the morale boost. I start with the rice. After soaking and washing it, I pop it in the rice cooker with a spoonful of coconut oil and a pinch of salt. I make the spicy mayo, slice an avocado, and broil cubes of mayo-marinated salmon. I also roast broccoli (another fridge ingredient very close to death) with a dash of sesame oil, salt, and gochugaru. I scoop rice into a bowl and arrange the salmon, avocado, and broccoli on top. I also add kimchi, scallions, and a healthy sprinkle of furikake. I love how this meal comes together; each bite is like its own sliver of sushi casserole. The kimchi and spicy mayo give the dish pep, while the avocado, salmon, and rice taste nourishing and homey.
10 p.m. I finish out the night by watching a scary movie and scarfing down a few pieces of Halloween candy for dessert. My favorite Halloween candies of the season are the Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins. They’re softer than the classic Reese’s and pack more of the creamy peanut butter flavor. Apologies to the Almond Joys and Hershey’s with almonds that I’ve ignored from the candy variety pack.
8:50 a.m. I, again, don’t wake up in time to make breakfast but my partner comes to the rescue. He reheats for both of us the final remains of the curried chicken and rice, plus a few scrambled eggs. I eat it with slices of avocado and more of the Nine Mile hot sauce. I’m getting pretty sick of this meal at this point but it’s still tasty and I’m glad the leftovers are not going to waste.
2:42 p.m. I have leftover salmon and white rice in the fridge. I have several ripe avocados, along with leftover spicy mayo from last night’s dinner. (There was a massive sale on avocados at Ingles last week, and now they’re all ripe at once.) The time has come for me to make the viral Emily Mariko salmon bowl. All of the conditions are right.
I have never made this meal before, but the video of her heating the salmon and rice under the parchment paper with the ice cube has been imprinted in my brain for years at this point. I microwave shredded bits of salmon under a pile of leftover white rice. I drizzle last night’s spicy mayo and soy sauce and fluff it all together with a fork. I slice avocado in thin, delicate slivers. I top it with kimchi and leftover roasted kale. I look around, half expecting my cluttered kitchen to be bare and clean and organized, but alas, an aspirational Instagram meal only gets you so far. Anyway, the bowl is satisfying and lively and balanced. Maybe I’ll make extra salmon more often.
7:08 p.m. My partner and I celebrate the start of the weekend by going to Outsider Brewing with a few pals, and I see an unnamed El Salvadoran food truck out back. I’m too full from my late lunch to order anything myself but I nibble off some of my friend’s $5 pupusas, which are cheesy and porky and thick and taste exceptional when dipped in a zingy red hot sauce. I order a house IPA from the brewery and snag my friend a beer, too, for a total of $15.41 including a $2.57 tip. Another pal orders the next round of beers and I drink another House IPA. It tastes refreshing and hoppy and predictable.
10:01 p.m. I head back to my house and drink an Owl’s Brew boozy tea to finish up the night ($13.19 for four, previously purchased). Then, I am in fact ready for a snack, so I eat a bowl of my favorite trash food as of late: sour cream and onion corn puffs from Trader Joe's ($2.29, previously purchased). It’s true that these puffs taste very much like Styrofoam, but that doesn’t change how much I love munching on them. The sour cream and onion flavor may be faint, but it’s there.
10:03 a.m. I wake up tired and with a cough. Bummer, so after coffee I channel my inner Gwyneth Paltrow and heat up a few cups of chicken bone broth. I throw in frozen cubes of ginger and garlic for extra healing powers. I bring it on a lake walk with my dog Iroh and we both enjoy the sunshine and the crunchy leaves. Iroh unsuccessfully tries to sneak a taste of the broth out of my thermos approximately thrice.
1:11 p.m. On the way home from the walk, I stop by my favorite bakery, OWL Bakery, for a loaf of bread. I only mean to buy that, but OWL has other plans. The pastry window is stacked with a ton of extremely cute Halloween-themed pastries, so I cave and end up shelling out $41.31 for a loaf of country sourdough, two skeleton cookies, a spiderweb-shaped pumpkin turnover, a ham and cheese croissant, and a “ghostie tart”—made with chocolate mousse, peanut praline, and topped with a ghost-shaped marshmallow. When I get home I realize I’m starving and devour the croissant and a few bites of skeleton cookie, which is charcoal black and tastes sort of like Oreo pie crust. The croissant is rich and buttery and shatters into crispy bits when I take a bite. The cheese and ham is tucked in the center—a small savory surprise. I eat the croissant while standing and let the flaky scraps flutter to the ground for Iroh to eat up like a vacuum. He loves it.
7:05 p.m. I meet a friend for a drink and snack at her partner’s place of work, a forest lodge-themed brewery and restaurant named Forestry Camp. I order a herby vermouth gin cocktail, which comes garnished with a blowtorched bit of rosemary. For a snack, I order a plate of deeply caramelized root vegetables. The dish is a blend of sunchokes, Japanese sweet potatoes, and carrots, topped with a sorghum caramel soy sauce and Aleppo pepper. I can’t believe brewery food has gotten this good; I’m taking notes on the dish and wondering how I can replicate this blend of rich roasty flavors and spice on veggies at home. We also order a plate of smoked red snapper fish dip, which comes with Ritz crackers and is pretty good, except my friend and I decide it’d be better if we could actually spot chunks of fish rather than a fully puréed situation. The meal ends up being essentially free—thanks to my friend having the hook up—so I leave a $10 tip.
10:09 p.m. It’s the Saturday before Halloween, which means tonight is the time to party. The rest of the night is a blur of dancing and Halloween candy and alcoholic beverages. We have friends over for a pregame and enjoy glasses of natural wine and homemade hot toddies while photographing each other’s costumes. I’m dressed up as a Celestial Sleepytime Tea bear, so I go heavy on the hot toddies as a form of method acting. Then we all go out to the bar Imperíal for dancing and I drink a few palomas, which are $12 each. I only remember buying one paloma; I think the other ones were given to me. The palomas are balanced nicely, with a slight bitter tinge from the grapefruit juice. Though I’m dressed as a sleepy tea bear, I end up closing out Imperíal and then another bar down the road (where I did not buy anything). What a life.
10 a.m. Naturally, I am hungover after Halloween shenanigans, so I wake up slowly with a trifecta of water, hot coffee, and coconut water. I also take two Advil pills. I’m too out of it to really absorb how anything tastes, but in general, the combined beverages have a refreshing and cleansing effect.
1:12 p.m. Everyone in the group chat has rallied and now we’re all hungry. We agree to meet up at Five Points, which is one of my absolute favorite places to eat in town. It’s a fifty-year-old, Greek-owned diner and one of the only places in town where nearly everyone can afford a meal. We pile into one of the booths and I admire the line cooks from over the counter, who act like Hibachi breakfast chefs with their spatulas, flipping pancakes, frying bacon, and scrambling omelets at the speed of light. I order the same thing I order every time: a coffee, water, and Greek Land omelet. The omelet is generously stuffed with gyro meat, tomatoes, and feta, and it’s served with a pile of greasy and crispy home fries and a big, fluffy biscuit. I devour it all, spare a few bits of potato. It’s the type of meal that immediately gives one what southerners like to call “the itis,” so I’m already dreaming of my couch by the time I finish the meal. My meal costs $11.95, plus $2.45 for coffee. I also pay for my partner’s breakfast as I’m pretty sure he bought me several drinks last night, totalling the bill to $29.04, plus a $10 cash tip.
8 p.m. I recover from my diner-itis and I’ve got nutrients on my mind. A dish that will cleanse me of all of the alcohol and candy from this weekend. I’ve been playing around with the idea of trying out farro and had bought a box of 10-minute farro from Trader Joe’s ($1.79, previously purchased) a few weeks back, and decide that today is the day.
I start off by peeling, slicing, and roasting a golden beet and acorn squash that has been lying around my kitchen for a hot minute. I drizzle them both in olive oil and shake on a ton of Trader Joe’s Green Goddess seasoning ($2.99, previously purchased), plus a little salt. I roast it in the oven for about 30 minutes until soft and caramelized. I boil the farro in leftover chicken broth, as instructed. I start worrying that the meal is going to be dry and decide to throw together a sauce of lemon juice, garlic, tahini, parsley, salt, pepper, and olive oil, all whirred together in a blender.
Then, I thinly slice up a few pieces of halloumi ($5.99, previously purchased) and fry that on a cast iron skillet in olive oil until it’s crispy and melty. I assemble all of these ingredients into a bowl and top with a few chopped pistachios and drizzle the sauce all over. The dish tastes vaguely Mediterranean and I’m very grateful for the sauce as the farro would’ve tasted dry and bland without it. The cheese is, at least in the beginning, gooey and melds in a lovely way with the root vegetables. I’m satisfied.