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 28-year-old English teacher in Providence who drinks a lot of kefir considers ruining her intestines to eat gluten and is very opinionated about Caesar salad. Keep reading for her receipts.
The finances
What are your pronouns? She/her
What is your occupation? I am a high school English Language Arts (ELA) teacher. During the fall I work as an Assistant Scorer for NCAA volleyball games, and in the spring I coach a high school volleyball team.
How old are you? I am 28 years old.
What city and state do you live in? Providence, Rhode Island
What is your annual salary, if you have one? $50,253 as a level 2 teacher with a master’s. Level 2 is my salary step and year in teaching, so it means that I am a second-year teacher. I have a master’s of education in urban teaching from Providence College, where I worked as a graduate assistant for the Black studies program.
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? $1,293.45
How often are you paid? (e.g. weekly) Biweekly
How much money do you have in savings? I have almost $1,000 in savings.
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e. rent, subscriptions, bills)
- Rent and utilities: Close to $1,000
- Gym membership: $60
- Canva subscription: $12
- Apple Music: $5
- Credit card bill: About $200
- Total: $1,277
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions?
I am Muslim, so I don’t eat pork. I drink alcohol very rarely. Food allergies are the bane of my existence; I can’t eat gluten, garlic, almonds, hazelnuts, jicama, jackfruit, cherries, or kiwi.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any?
I’m always buying kefir, yogurt, granola, coffee, half-and-half, arugula, mushrooms, bananas, rice cakes, dates, eggs, deli meat, rice, and lentils.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home?
I typically eat out one to three times a week.
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up?
My family would have “junk food Mondays,” when my parents would go to a fast food restaurant and pick up dinner. Once in a while, my grandpa would take us out to dinner, or we would go somewhere as a family for special occasions. Kabob and Curry, Andrea’s, and East Side Pockets are three places in Providence where we would get take out from once in a while. My family has been eating at those restaurants for more than 20 years. Being a regular is nice because they know we like a lot of extra sauce.
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