A Day in the Life of a Food Blogger

Wondering what goes into being a food blogger? I’m sharing the behind the scenes of a Day in the Life of a Food Blogger and what goes into building a successful food blog. This post is sponsored by FAGE yogurt + Everywhere Society.

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Alright, guys. We’re about a month into this who self employment/entrepreneurship thing… can you believe it?! I can’t! It’s weird. I feel like I’ve been doing this forever, while at the same time, I also feel like every day is completely different + I don’t know what to expect.

In case you missed it, I wrote this post on How I Quit My Full Time Job + Became a Food Blogger which has all the details on what steps I took to get here.

So many of you were interested in that post + about my career in food blogging, so I figured I’d give you a behind the scenes look at what a day in the life of a food blogger looks like! (I bet it’s not what you think!)

Most of my days start out on the computer. I’m naturally an early riser and most creative when my mind is fresh in the morning – so usually I start writing first thing in the morning around 7AM. 

I’ll either write some of the blog posts for the week or send follow up/pitch emails to brands I want to work with. I typically send around 50 emails a day, so between the writing + follow ups – this takes a couple of hours.

By the time I’ve gotten what I need to do on the computer done – it’s usually time for my late breakfast/snack. When I worked in corporate America I always packed/ate my breakfast early in the morning.

Being at home, I no longer need to pack my food, so I got out of my routine. I found out pretty quickly that I can’t get by without eating something in the morning… otherwise, I wind up eating half a loaf of Clean Eating Banana Bread or whatever things I’m making and just get hungry later in the day because it isn’t filling enough.

Eating something that’s high in protein is key for keeping me full throughout the day. Lately, I’ve been loving FAGE’s Total 2% Split Cups for breakfast. They’re creamy enough that they make you feel like you enjoyed something decadent, but they’re packed with protein and great ingredients so that you actually feel full when you eat them! 

I spend so much time in the kitchen as is, I don’t always want to cook myself a fancy breakfast too. Having these cups in the fridge saves me a ton of time, and keeps me full until it’s time to have lunch.

I love that they have more protein than sugar and that you can control how sweet you’d like them to be because the fruit is separate.

I prefer to do my work in ‘batches’, so I like to shoot 3-4 recipes at once. That way, I only have to arrange my photography set up once, and I can batch edit/write the posts once they are done.

So many people think that it’s easy to cook and shoot photos of recipes, but it actually takes a lot of time. When I know I have to take photos of my food, I take extra care to make sure I pick out beautiful produce, watch not to over cook anything, etc.

When I’m cooking, I often have all the recipes going at once, so I can just take the photos one after the other once they are finished cooking.

Once everything is cooked, it’s time to take the photos. Taking photos is the hardest thing for me. It definitely doesn’t come naturally to me, and I really have to think about how I style the food, change the settings on my camera, and what angle I want to shoot at.

I have this camera, which is awesome if you’re just getting started!

After I take all my photos – it’s time to take a break + have a late lunch. Sometimes I get so in the zone that I forget to eat! I often eat whatever I made for the blog, or I’ll wrap it up + save it for dinner so I don’t have to cook another meal! (Believe me, I love to cook, but there’s only so much time I want to spend in my kitchen!)

By now it’s usually around 2, and I have to get back on the computer to check in on emails. Once I get back to Inbox Zero – it’s time to edit the photos!

I use Lightroom to edit all of my photos, and it can take anywhere from 20 seconds to 5 minutes to edit a photo. It all depends on the lighting from the day.

If it’s too dark or grey, it can make it more challenging, and the same goes for if it’s too bright! I usually will edit photos and organize them until it’s around 5PM which is the end of the technical ‘work day’.

Usually, I work right through until Tyler comes home and we’re ready to have dinner because I always have a million other things to do!

In between allll of these things, I’m making sure I post on Instagram, schedule my Facebook + Pinterest, plan my content for the weeks/months ahead, take notes on any ideas I have for new recipes, send recaps about sponsored posts, go grocery shopping, do all the accounting and non-fun things like taxes…etc.

Some days I don’t cook anything and I spend 6-8 hours on the computer doing all these things (those days definitely aren’t as fun!) So many people think food blogging is a simple profession – but there is a lot to it!

Even though I’m working more hours than I would be at a ‘regular’ job, I don’t mind because I enjoy it. Every day feels different + fun, and I truly love what I do. I’m sure my days will change as my business changes – but I’m excited to see where it takes me!

Looking for more food blogging resources? Check out this post about How I Quit My Job + Became a Full Time Food Blogger or this post about reflecting on a year as an entrepreneur.

P.S. If you have a food blogger in your life and want to give them an awesome gift – check out this Food Blogger Gift Guide!