{"id":85183,"date":"2026-04-27T18:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/how-a-family-of-3-in-la-spends-400-on-groceries-in-one-week\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T18:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:23:01","slug":"how-a-family-of-3-in-la-spends-400-on-groceries-in-one-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/how-a-family-of-3-in-la-spends-400-on-groceries-in-one-week\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Family of 3 in LA Spends $400 on Groceries in One Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Welcome to The Receipt, a series documenting how Bon App\u00e9tit readers eat and what they spend doing it. Each food diary follows one anonymous reader\u2019s 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\u2014from different cities, with different incomes, on different schedules\u2014are figuring out their food budgets.<\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s Receipt, we follow a 36-year-old public relations professional making $100,000 a year in San Gabriel, CA. Keep reading for her receipts.<\/p>\n<h2>Skip ahead<\/h2>\n<p><h2>The finances<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your pronouns?<\/strong> She\/her<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your occupation?<\/strong> 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!<\/p>\n<p><strong>How old are you?<\/strong> 36<\/p>\n<p><strong>What city and state do you live in?<\/strong> San Gabriel, CA, but I grew up in the Philippines<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your annual salary?<\/strong> $100,000, not counting my husband\u2019s salary of roughly $65,000; he works in community health for the unhoused population<\/p>\n<p><strong>How much is one paycheck, after taxes?<\/strong> $2,800<\/p>\n<p><strong>How often are you paid?<\/strong> Twice a month<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food?<\/strong> <strong>(i.e., rent, subscriptions, insurance, bills)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rent:<\/strong> $2,588 (includes water\/trash\/HOA)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Electricity:<\/strong> $150<\/li>\n<li><strong>House gas:<\/strong> $150<\/li>\n<li><strong>WiFi and phone:<\/strong> $150<\/li>\n<li><strong>Car loan:<\/strong> $529<\/li>\n<li><strong>Car gas:<\/strong> $250<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subscriptions:<\/strong> $30<\/li>\n<li><strong>Credit card:<\/strong> $500<\/li>\n<li><strong>College savings plan:<\/strong> $400<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kid sports and other extracurriculars:<\/strong> $200<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gym membership:<\/strong> $159<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fixed monthly total:<\/strong> $5,006<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr\/>\n<p><h2>The diet<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home?<\/strong> I definitely eat out way more than I ever did growing up in the Philippines. But I\u2019m a social homebody\u2014I love staying home and hosting friends for brunches and dinners. Also, the cost of eating out adds up, and I\u2019m trying not to spend my entire paycheck in restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s probably why our house is the hangout house. Everyone comes over, whether it\u2019s my kid\u2019s neighborhood friends, my husband\u2019s friends, my girlfriends, or our couple friends. Meals are usually chill, and potluck-style. (Think Monica\u2019s place on <em>Friends<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<p>This week I\u2019m trying not to eat out a single time. Will I succeed???<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions?<\/strong> I don\u2019t follow a specific diet, but I\u2019m trying to lower my BMI\/body fat percentage after a steady increase over the past three years. It\u2019s tricky, trying to manage eating healthy while having a kid and husband who love all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ and sushi.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019re eating. It gives me meal ideas, sure, but the real appeal is seeing how other people eat and cook. I\u2019m nosy, okay?<\/p>\n<p><strong>What other factors influence how you and your family eat?<\/strong> My Roman empire (and I\u2019m sure many women feel the same) is \u201cwhat the hell am I cooking today?\u201d It\u2019s my main domestic task, while my husband manages the laundry and cleaning. It never ends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to The Receipt, a series documenting how Bon App\u00e9tit readers eat and what they spend doing it. Each food diary follows one anonymous reader\u2019s 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\u2014from different cities, with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260422_Digi_TheReceipt.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}