What a 41-Year-Old Single Parent of Three Eats on $145K in Upstate New York
Illustration by Maggie Cowles
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 single parent of three making $145,000 in Lake George, New York. Keep reading for their receipts.
The finances
What is your occupation? I am a senior manager in business-to-business strategy and operations. I am divorced and my three children, ages 18, 14, and 12, live with me most weeks.
How old are you? 41
What city and state do you live in? Lake George, New York
What is your annual salary, if you have one? $120,000 plus an annual bonus, so $145,000 total.
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? $2,937
How often are you paid? (e.g., weekly) Every other week
How much money do you have in savings? $46,031
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e. rent, subscriptions, bills)
Mortgage: $2,000
Public water/sewer: $100
Trash removal: $40
Gas/electric: $300
Insurances: $250
Car: $800
Student loans: $500
Internet: $100
Mobile: $175
Streaming services: $200
Shopping and entertainment: $500
Home maintenance: $300
Total: $5,265
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? Child #1 and #3 have food allergies including peanut, soy, and dairy. Child #2 does not eat red meat and generally prefers a vegetarian diet rich in nuts and soy, in contrast to #3’s allergies. I also have a couple allergies of my own so it is not abnormal to have a few different variations at the table to accommodate everyone’s needs when the kids are with me. In the summertime we do a lot of grazing separately throughout the day, and typically only eat one meal together because of everyone’s massively different schedules.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any? From a pantry standpoint we always stock tinned fish, beans, tomatoes, coconut milk, chicken stock, various types of noodles, rices, oats, nuts, seeds, fruits, chocolate chips, sugars, flours, spices, oils and vinegars. The freezer is stocked with frozen fruits for smoothies, frozen veggies for soups, some miscellaneous air fryer-ready snacks, a few pints of sorbetto and ice cream, and some raw proteins.
Regular weekly staples include eggs, cow and oat milk, juices, kombucha, several cheeses, whole milk yogurt, fruits (fresh or frozen depending on season) and seasonal veggies and herbs. Protein choices are very fluid from day to day. One of the kids loves tofu and tempeh while another is allergic to soy, peanut, legumes, and many fruits, vegetables, and pollens.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? Our schedules vary a lot from one week to the next. One week we might make everything homemade because the kids are on summer break from school and I am working from home. Another week we might eat out three to four days in a week if we have school, sports, and activities to juggle outside of the house.
On the weeks that the kids are with their other parent, I travel and eat out for nearly all of my meals.
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up? Very infrequently—only on family vacations or for celebratory gatherings. We lived in a small town in New England and we had pizza delivery and Chinese takeout in a regular monthly rotation.
How often in a week did your parents or guardians cook at home? My parents cooked a lot when I was young. I started cooking for myself and my family when I was relatively young as well. We always had a pantry and freezer stocked with reliable staples and lots of trusty cookbooks on the bookshelves. Everyone in my family really loves food and cooking.
The expenses
Week’s total: $610.88
Restaurants and cafés total: $266.47
Groceries total: $344.41
Most-expensive meal or purchase: Takeout dinner from Kinjo Japanese Steakhouse, $99.74
Least-expensive meal or purchase: Lemon, $0.68
Number of restaurant and café meals: 5
Number of grocery trips: 4
The diary
Monday
6:02 a.m. I make a cup of coffee. I brew a strong Sumatra pour over and then give it a four-ounce bypass of cold water to make it the right strength and drinking temperature for me. I have a couple of errands to run before work so I’m skipping breakfast. I don’t usually eat until later in the morning on weekdays and am more of a brunch person.
6:18 a.m. I preheat the oven to bake off some sourdough focaccia that I had proofing overnight. Closer to 7, I throw the focaccia in the oven and bake it for about 40 minutes. I give it just a tiny kiss of oil and salt and leave it plain and multi-purpose.
10:49 a.m. After skipping breakfast and working at my standing desk for a couple hours, I am ravenous. I opt to chow down on some of the focaccia I baked earlier. I make a salad with some arugula and sweet cherry tomatoes from my garden to go with the bread. I cut the tomatoes in half using the “two takeout lids” method. I toss the arugula and tomatoes with olive oil, lemon zest, kosher salt, and a bit of Vermont Creamery’s tangy herbed goat cheese.
1:55 p.m. I have a handful of Mary’s Gone Crackers seaweed and seed crackers with a not-so-little cheese plate foraged from my refrigerator. There’s a bit of wildflower honey ham, Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound cheddar, Jasper Hill Bayley Hazen Blue, and Vermont farmstead brie. I drizzle the cheddar with a bit of manuka honey and enjoy some blackberry jam from the farmer’s market with the brie and blue. After a few bites, a giant seed from the crackers pokes me in the gums, so I grab some Simple Mills almond flour crackers and good ol’ Ritz crackers to enjoy with the rest of the cheese.
6:10 p.m. I eat three cookies with a big mug of Harney & Sons hot cinnamon sunset tea. I am addicted to these brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies that I have been baking on repeat the last few weeks. I think sourdough levain-based recipes tend to be so much healthier than commercial yeast bakes, so I leaven nearly everything with my levain, which typically means at least an extra day or two of proofing in the fridge over something that would be made with other forms of leavening. But this is subjectively both healthier and tastier.
8:44 p.m. I am having a white cheddar cheeseburger with sliced pickles, minced white onion, julienned jalapeños, a little ketchup and a few aggressive splatters of Cholula hot sauce.
9:01 p.m. I am chasing the burger with two more of those chocolate chip cookies and a mug of Sleepytime extra tea.
Monday total: $0
Tuesday
6:07 a.m. One of my kids makes me a cup of coffee.
7:40 a.m. I take the kids to the dentist before work. I grab one of my homemade chocolate chip cookies on the way out the door with a second cup of coffee.
8:53 a.m. After a successful dental checkup the kids are ready for breakfast. They vote for Dunkin Donuts and the irony is not lost on me that they are about to bathe their teeth in sugar in celebration that they do not have any cavities. I spend $34.95 on their breakfast: an iced double dirty oat milk chai and bacon egg and cheese on an everything bagel for #1, a whole milk iced matcha and hash browns for #2, and a whole milk vanilla swirl iced latte and strawberry frosted donut for #3.
11:12 a.m. I have been walking at my standing desk for the last two hours. I take a break to eat a banana and the last two chocolate chip cookies from the kitchen and make another cup of coffee before I head back to my computer.
12:29 p.m. It’s time for lunch before my next virtual gathering. I am having some romaine from my garden rolled up with some low sodium maple honey turkey, sliced red bell peppers, and horseradish mustard from my refrigerator. The kids are all proficient in the kitchen and help themselves to sandwiches, apples, yogurt, and mocktails while I work. I make a cup of Vital Proteins strawberry lemonade collagen drink before I walk back to my desk.
12:54 p.m. I spend $56.42 on an Instacart delivery from our local Hannaford supermarket: two pounds of free-range organic chicken breast that they substitute with conventional boneless chicken breast ($14.12), 32 ounces of Kettle & Fire chicken bone broth ($11.99), two bunches of scallions ($2.98), one bunch of cilantro ($2.19) and six limes ($2.58). These will go with a few ingredients from my pantry for dinner after work.
I also order Woodstock organic Dijon mustard ($4.49) to make some salad dressing for the abundance of romaine in my garden and a pound of Cabot unsalted butter ($5.49) because I can’t stop thinking about making another batch of the chocolate chip cookies I have been gluttonously enjoying. There’s a $2.49 service fee and I tip $10 to the service worker.
3:54 p.m. I bring my laptop to the kitchen to start cooking dinner while I finish up work. We are using the groceries from earlier with some pantry staples for a make-your-own noodle bar. We like using lots of Asian-inspired noodle dishes as a vehicle to enjoy all the fresh garden goodies in the summer. Based on everyone’s allergies and dietary preferences, it is very rare that everyone eats the same thing, even when we are cooking and eating together, so this DIY noodle bowl is a flexible way for everyone to get what they like.
For the first plate we sauté some marinated chicken, julienned scallion, minced garlic, and ginger until the chicken is cooked through. Then we add shredded carrots and cabbage. Once the veggies are tender we toss in the sauce (made from crunchy peanut butter, gochujang, chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and lime juice) and add fresh basil and cilantro along with some cooked brown rice noodles.
Based on my children's allergies we make two more variations: We cook some chicken in an Instant Pot with spices and mix the seasoned cooked chicken with konjac angel hair noodles, chicken bone broth, and soy-free teriyaki sauce for a Japanese-inspired noodle soup. Lastly we mix brown rice noodles with sesame oil, soy sauce, veggies, herbs, and alliums for a meatless lo mein-style bowl.
Everyone sits down to eat around 4:45 p.m. Then the kids clean up the kitchen while I finish up some work.
Tuesday total: $91.37
Wednesday
8:05 a.m. I am just making my first cup of coffee now after starting my day with a bit of indoor cycling just after sunrise. The sun is out now but it feels unseasonably cool from the rain yesterday. I’m aiming to grill tonight if the weather holds, so I harvest a few heads of romaine from the garden. I wash it and cut it in half lengthwise. I will lightly grill the lettuce later for a salad with a little homemade Caesar dressing. I mix up the dressing now to allow the flavors of anchovy, mustard, garlic, egg yolk, and Parmigiano Reggiano to meld together, then head back to my desk.
11:25 a.m. I take a break for two hard-boiled eggs with maple Sriracha and a piece of sourdough toast topped with arugula, olive oil, and smoked salt. The eggs came from the weekend farmer’s market and the sourdough was homemade. (I buy several different kinds of flour in 50-pound bags a couple times a year and it all lasts six to eight months depending on how much baking we are doing.) The kids were up late and are all sleeping in now. I will likely be back on Zoom meetings by the time they are up and they will grab oatmeal, cereal, or a breakfast bar respectively for their midday “breakfasts.”
12:56 p.m. I snack on some green tea over ice and a fresh juicy peach and then grab a handful of chocolate chips between Zoom meetings.
4:02 p.m. I head outside to make a few follow-up phone calls from the patio before I make dinner. I look over the garden as I water it to see if there is anything else I might want to add to dinner.
5:15 p.m. I fire up the grill to cook burgers, corn on the cob, romaine, and a few brioche buns. I assemble the burgers on the buns with Cabot cheddar, romaine, and peri peri aioli for my oldest and me. We have a grilled romaine Caesar salad on the side. #2 enjoys corn on the cob, salad, and a savory yogurt dish, and #3 has a sore loose tooth so she leans for a smoothie with grapes, strawberries, spinach, and lactose-free whole milk.
7:01 p.m. I mix up a batch of everyone’s favorite sourdough brown butter chocolate chip cookies. It's a recipe I made inspired by a combination of two recipes from King Arthur, Joy’s Brown Butter Cookies and Sourdough Choc Chip Cookies. I put the cookie dough in the fridge for the kids to scoop and bake as desired through the week.
Wednesday total: $0
Thursday
6:03 a.m. I start my day with my usual cup of black coffee. I am surprised that #2 and #3 are already awake. They are talking about taking a road trip for some takeout cookies from Crumbl because it has some soy- and peanut-free options this week. I suggest we grab treats on Saturday instead and we all agree to make smoothies for today’s breakfast. I make them with frozen fruits, fresh spinach, and orange juice (all previously purchased). I grab my laptop and hop into work.
8:26 a.m. I get up to stretch and put on my sneakers before my first Zoom meeting at 9 a.m. I refill my water bottle and make another cup of coffee before hopping on my treadmill to walk through my calls. I have about four hours of Zoom meetings in addition to a bit of quiet solo work and haven’t made a plan for dinner.
12:00 p.m. I grab some frozen acai, raspberries, mango, peach, and dark sweet cherry from the freezer. I toss them in the blender with oat milk, hemp hearts, and steeped ginger for a smoothie between work calls.
6:37 p.m. I am working late and still haven’t put any thought into dinner. I spend $77.70 on a DoorDash delivery from a local deli for the kids to grab sandwiches and snacks. My youngest had a loose tooth and can’t eat more than a few bites.
9:17 p.m. With #3’s tooth still bothering her, she decides a soft fluffy pizza might be something she can chew. I order her a pizza, garlic knots, and tater tots from Domino;s for $43.24 in hopes of filling her belly. She eats half a pizza. Success.
Thursday total: $120.94
Friday
8:15 a.m. The bad weather is rolling in but I make myself a cup of coffee and take the dogs for a walk.
9:00 a.m. I get back from walking the dogs. I fill their water and give them each a small piece of cheddar cheese from the fridge. I expect the kids will sleep in a bit today so I have breakfast alone. I have some coconut milk chia pudding topped with raspberries and another cup of coffee before getting into my work day.
11:30 a.m. I have a salad of romaine, arugula, scallions, basil, and dill with some grilled chicken and a quick lemon and olive oil dressing. The chicken, lemon, and olive oil were previously purchased and the veggies were foraged from my garden.
3 p.m. I make a quick protein shake with ProJym vanilla protein powder, Vital Proteins collagen protein, some fresh spinach, cinnamon, and water.
7 p.m. I UberEats a dinner from Kinjo Japanese Steakhouse for $99.74. We grab a couple orders of pork soup dumplings, beef negimaki, ginger duck rolls, chicken tempura, black rice, white rice, and clear soup that everyone shares, and a boba for one of the girls. One of the kids also ordered a Japanese soda that was not delivered with the order.
Friday total: $99.74
Saturday
7:17 a.m. Coffee time—I brew a cup of coffee then grab my phone to make a list of to dos for my weekend.
8:33 a.m. I brew another cup of coffee for the road and place a pickup order for Crumbl cookies, then hop in the car with my kids to drive about 40 minutes to pick them up. It’s a great, sunshine-y day for a road trip and some errands to pick up toiletries and other essentials.
9:30 a.m. We arrive a bit late for our Crumbl order. We have six mini cookies (a mix of mint chocolate chip, strawberry ice cream bar, chocolate chunk, and blueberry crumb cake). We also grab a single large “monster” cookie for one of my kids and have it packaged separately because it has ingredients one of the others is allergic to. The total is $20.84—I spend $10.84 and use $10 in loyalty points from a past purchase. We run a few more errands then head home to enjoy our backyard.
12:40 p.m. I have some rigatoni from the pantry for lunch. We make a quick pan sauce with fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, and oregano from the garden deglazed with some fresh-squeezed lemon juice from the fridge and a pinch of kosher salt.
5:10 p.m. I grill some salmon and chicken thighs seasoned with a mix of dried cumin, coriander, thyme, turmeric, ginger, onion, black pepper, paprika, and lemon zest. I harvest some arugula from the garden while everything’s grilling. We eat the protein with jasmine rice and arugula dressed with olive oil and salt.
6:00 p.m. I bake off a batch of cookies from dough I had in the fridge. Chewy in the middle, crispy outside, they're definitely addictive. The kids devour them with some Fairlife lactose-free milk. I will be traveling for the upcoming work week and we learn that my ex-spouse has Covid. so instead of having a week with their other parent, they will stay at my house while I travel. I add grocery shopping to my Sunday agenda.
Saturday total: $10.84
Sunday
6:00 a.m. My alarm goes off for me to cycle before the kids wake up. I fill up a water bottle and drop in two tablets of Nuun strawberry lemonade electrolytes before I head to my bike trainer.
7:41 a.m. After cycling and stretching I make a quick post-workout smoothie by shaking vanilla ProJym with water and cinnamon. I guzzle my smoothie before the shower then grab my phone to check in with friends and place a few grocery delivery orders before I pack for my work week.
1:18 p.m. I place a Walmart+ delivery order in the Walmart app for $171.46, restocking some of the pantry staples and snacks that the kids and I ate during the week, such as fresh chicken, lemons, onions, apples, noodles, apple sauce, baking extracts, sugar, frozen fruit, chips, salsa, and heavy cream, also grabbing some quick frozen burritos and pizza to simplify the family’s meals while I am away.
1:28 p.m. I place a to-go order in the Hannaford app for $98.57, rounding out grocery replenishments before I leave town. I grab some Evolution Fresh juices, cara cara oranges, mandarins, chips, Lara bars, and hard-boiled eggs for snacking; I also replenish raw eggs for cooking and baking, more chocolate chips, and a pint of blueberry cheesecake ice cream.
1:32 p.m. The kids let me know they need a few miscellaneous toiletries, plus they’d like some cranberry juice ($7.98 for two 64-ounce bottles) and Solely mango fruit snacks ($9.98 for two five-pack boxes). It is too late to edit the prior orders, so I place another delivery order from Target. ($17.96 total)
Sunday total: $287.99
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
