Wondering what exactly a food blogger does all day? Take a look behind the scenes to see what a typical day in the life of a food blogger looks like!
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A day in the life of a food blogger
Have you ever wondered what a food blogger does all day? You may think it’s all about cooking, but in fact food blogging is an incredibly varied job…
On any given day I might be recipe testing, writing blog posts, planning new recipes, editing, writing emails, answering reader questions… and of course, like any job, there is also a certain amount of dull-but-necessary admin!
The reality is that really there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ day – every day is different. But here’s an ‘example’ day of what my food blogging days typically look like…
8.45am: Comments and Analytics
I like to start my working day doing two things. Reading/replying to blog comments and checking my blog analytics to see what happened the previous day on the blog.
While I am a big believer in doing the most important work FIRST in a day, I think it’s always nice to spend the first few minutes of the day on a couple of ‘easy’ tasks. It gives the day momentum – there’s something rather motivating about checking off a couple of easy tasks in the first 15 minutes! But I have deliberately chosen tasks that I know won’t take more than 5 minutes or distract me and send me down some long rabbit hole!
9.00am: Planning Future Recipe Testing
The next task is to take a look at my blog content calendar. This is a big spreadsheet – a little like an editorial calendar for a magazine – where I have details of all my blog posts past, present and future. This allows me to have an overview of all the content on my blog and to know exactly where I am with each new blog post. I can see at a glance whether a blog post is in the recipe testing stage, the photography stage, ready to be written, in the writing/editing stage or fully published. I can also make notes on this spreadsheet about any updates that need to be done.
The first thing I do with my content calendar is decide which recipes need to be tested next. I also make sure I add these to my meal plan for the following week, so that when I come to do my weekly shop, I’ll have all the ingredients I need.
Given that most of my recipes are Easy Midweek Meals, I usually do recipe testing during normal family mealtimes (see below for more on this). Not only is this an efficient use of my time. (I am ALL about productivity!) but it also it allows me to ‘battle test’ my recipes under the kind of conditions I anticipate they will be made in real life… in other words, is it a recipe that can be made at the end of a busy day for a typical family meal time? If a recipe is too time-consuming and complicated, it is much more obvious under these conditions. Needless to say, any overly complicated recipes do not make the final cut for what goes on this blog!
I also use this time to update my content calendar, if necessary, and do any other blog-related planning that is needed.
10.00am: Typing Up Final Recipes
Next I turn my attention to typing up recipes that have been tested sufficiently and are ready to be written up in their final form. When testing my recipes, I use a simple notebook and a pen. I write an initial recipe, test it, make notes about adjustments, test it again… and keep doing this until I am happy with the recipe. But until that point, they are still in my notebook, so I use this time to type up recipes that are ready to be published into a basic Word document.
At this stage I just type up the recipe itself, and not the accompanying blurb. The reason is because these days I outsource the majority of my food photography. These typed-up recipes are what I send to my brilliant photography team, Zerrin and Yusuf at Give Recipe. They then take my recipes and turn them into the amazing, beautiful photos you see on my most recent blog posts.
To help with this process, I also add photography / styling notes and requests, and then send this all over to my wonderful photography duo to work their magic.
(Before I outsourced it, I used to do all my food photography at the weekend.)
12.00pm: Lunch and Social Media
It’s at roughly this point of the day that I take a lunch break. Typically this is a proper break. (I am a huge believer in the importance of proper breaks – one of the most important, but often underrated productivity tools!)
Once I’ve had my lunch, I use the last 15 minutes of my lunch break to check Twitter and Instagram and reply to any comments. I am very strict with myself though, I am only allowed 15 minutes total… and I’m not allowed to scroll. Strictly checking notifications and replying to comments!
1.00pm: Writing Blog Posts
The next part of my day is all about writing blog posts. I like to batch tasks to maximize my productivity. So at this point in the day, I’ll typically write the copy for my next two blog posts. I write my blog posts initially in Word, rather than WordPress, so I can write distraction free and focus solely on writing.
When I say ‘writing the blog post’, what I mean is writing the bit that comes above the actual recipe. As I only write blog posts for recipes that have already been photographed, the recipe itself will already have been written. The ‘before the recipe’ bit is where I typically share tips on what to serve with the recipe, how to adapt the recipe, what to do with leftovers, how to reheat the recipe, how to freeze the recipe and how to get the best results. I sometimes use this ‘blurb’ to write about the reason for including the recipe on my blog, if there is an interesting story to it. But I try to keep this very brief as I know that no one wants to read a great long history / personal story. The most important part is the recipe, right?
I also use this time to give my post(s) a quick edit / proof read.
2.00pm: Formatting, Editing and Scheduling Blog Posts
Once I’ve written my posts in Word, it’s time to copy and paste them into WordPress (the software this blog runs on) and format them – so they have nice headings, look good and are easy to read and use. I also upload the recipe photos and give the blog post a second, more thorough, proof read before I hit ‘schedule’.
The blog posts are now ready to be published, but I don’t usually publish them right away as I prefer to publish my recipes on a consistent schedule. I usually schedule my blog posts for 9am (UK time) every Tuesday morning.
4.00pm: Email Newsletters
Once the two blog posts are written, formatted, proof read and scheduled, the next job is to write the email newsletter that will announce the publication of each blog post to all my subscribers. I write and schedule these, so they are ready to go out shortly after each blog post is published.
4.30pm: Social Media
Next it’s time to write and schedule the social media to go with each blog. Typically I schedule social media posts for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, using my favourite social media scheduling app, CoSchedule*.
5.00pm: Emails and Facebook
Only once I’ve done all my most important work do I allow myself to check my emails and Facebook. These are the two things I know are most likely throw off my day – if I let them – which is why I only check them once a day and only after I have done everything else. As I always say, it’s amazing how much LESS time these things take up when you are NOT using them to procrastinate!
I check and reply to my emails first and then I check my Facebook notifications and reply to anything that I need to. Then I close them both… and I don’t usually check in again until 5pm the next day!
5.45pm: Planning for tomorrow
The final job of the day at my computer is to plan the next day. I am a strong believer in DAILY to do lists. I always write a detailed plan of what I will do the next day and then I close down my computer.
The final thing I like to do at this time – ever since I read Dr Benjamin Hardy’s brilliant book The Gap and The Gain* – is to write down 3 things I have accomplished / 3 wins from the day.
6.00pm: Dinner and Recipe Testing
This is the time I usually make dinner for my family – but it also doubles up as my recipe testing time. As I mentioned above, this is a great way to use my time productively (we have to eat… so why not cook a recipe I’m currently testing and kill two birds with one stone?), but it’s also a great opportunity to properly battle-test how quick, easy and low effort a recipe REALLY is… under the kind of conditions I anticipate my recipes will be made in real life.
I think this is the reason why so many celebrity chef recipes don’t work well in real life… because those chefs are recipe testing when they have plenty of time, a fancy test kitchen and staff to assist them… and especially, staff to do the washing up!
My recipes are tested in ‘real-life’ conditions! That’s also why so many of my recipes are 30 minute meals (because that’s all the time I have!), traybakes and quick prep/slow cook meals (I start these slightly earlier and adjust my schedule accordingly!).
6.30pm: Family Time / Time Off
Once dinner is cooked, that’s pretty much the end of my working day. As a family we try to have a proper meal round the table together every day possible… but, of course, I always ask my family their opinions of the food I’ve cooked for them. I love that they will always give me totally honest feedback (brutally honest sometimes!). What’s really helpful is that we all have slightly different tastes, so this gives me really useful feedback that I can take away and use to adjust and improve my recipes. But also I know that, if we all give the recipe a thumbs up, I’m onto a winner!
After dinner, it’s ‘family’ time and ‘me’ time. I try very hard not to work in the evenings or on Sundays. When I was a new blogger I used to think I needed to be ‘on’ 24/7, but time has gone by, I’ve learned that ‘time off’ is so important… for me, for my family… but also it makes me a more productive, more creative… and ultimately better blogger!
(So if you ever comment on a recipe or send me an email in the evening, now you know why you won’t get a reply until the next day!)
Not my only blog…
As you may know, Easy Peasy Foodie is not my only blog. I also have a blogging / online business / productivity blog called Productive Blogging. And these days, I spend more time on Productive Blogging than Easy Peasy Foodie… so my ‘typical’ day for Easy Peasy Foodie is a little more condensed than for other food bloggers who have all week to do these activities on their blogs. The ‘typical day’ I outline above, in reality, is pretty much what I do every other Monday. The rest of my time is devoted to Productive Blogging.
But it also goes to show that, it’s totally possible to run a successful blog on only about 8 to 10 hours a fortnight – making it a great side hustle option for people who already have a 9-5 job!
If after reading this post you’re interested in starting your own food blog, I recommend reading my posts on 10 top tips for wannabe food bloggers and How to start a food blog.
Productivity Tips
You’ll notice I am ALL about productivity. If you are interested in working more productively, you should definitely check out my productivity tips posts over on Productive Blogging!
And if you are a blogger who wants to learn how to blog more productively, you should definitely grab yourself a copy of my ebook – you can snag yourself a FREE COPY here >>> Blog Smarter Not Harder
Over to you
I’d love to hear what you think of this ‘typical day’ post!
If you are a blogger, I’d love to know if this is similar to your days or totally different!
If you are not a blogger, I wonder if that was what you expected? Did anything surprise you?
Let me know in the comments below!
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Disclosure
*This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
clare says
Hi Eb – Oh I wish my days were as organised as your’s – well done you!
I work full time and travel Europe too – so my days are similar but a lot less organised and I spend almost every evening glued to my Mac or my oven and I have to take my photos in the evening 🙁 – I try and switch my Mac off at 9.30 but usually it’s more like 11.30 – I’m not sure this is that good! Then I go to bed and wonder why I cannot sleep!!! I try and schedule a few posts in the day and do a little at lunch time too. BUT I LOVE blogging!
Congrats on your year of blogging!
Cx
Eb Gargano says
Haha – well, this is how the good days go. The bad days go 9am: Check Facebook 3pm: Oooh how did that happen?!! I am hugely fortunate that I am able to blog full-time. You manage to achieve loads considering how much you have to work!! Oh yeah – that happens to me too – I often get carried away and end up working till late then wonder why I can’t sleep! Duh!! Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Jacqui says
“The bad days go 9am: Check Facebook 3pm: Oooh how did that happen?!! ” Ha Ha thank goodness you are human after all 🙂
Eb Gargano says
Oh – most definitely human!! 🙂
Jacqui says
“Somehow I find that so often typos only show up AFTER the post is published – it’s like they hide until then – gah! ” Oh how I know that feeling!!!! your right they do hide:)
You seem to be so much more organized with your social media than me, i quite fancy trying your strategy.
Interesting to know your post times. any particular reason why you choose those days and times? I wonder what other bloggers do. I post Monday and Friday at 7 am. Must admit the Monday post is annoying as i often have to do a bit of last minute editing at the weekend and I do try not to work on the blog at weekends, so maybe changing to a Tuesday would be better.
I have enjoyed reading your week of posts so much. Best of luck for the next 12 months, I am sure your blog will go from strength to strength and look forward to hearing all about the miles stones you have past be tween now and then, next year. xxx
Eb Gargano says
Oh they do hide! They do! I proofread several times before posts go live and read aloud at least once and they still hide! Pesky things!!
I like 9am because it means the post is live by the time I get back from the school run, but has only been live for a few minutes – so I can get to those pesky typos before many people have had a chance to see them!
I don’t post on Mondays because, like you say, it might mean working on Sundays which I don’t like doing much. I like having Mondays to get myself organised for the week, without having a post going live, Tuesdays also coincides nicely with Tasty Tuesdays and Cook Blog Share going live. And Thursdays because it spreads the posts out a bit over the week and because then I can take the occasional Friday off!! It also coincides with Brilliant Blog Posts going live, which I like to do too! I do sometimes post on Fridays too – usually I do recipes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and reviews on Fridays…but I sometimes mix it about a bit if I need to! Thank you for all your kind comments! And best of luck with your blog too!! Eb x
Jessica Cantoni says
Oh yes, my days do look a bit like yours! Although you are definitely more organised than me! I tend to do things as and when I think of them… Not good! I don’t have any children yet, but I can see how you would need to structure things and factor in time with them too 🙂 I will definitely be looking at this post and taking some tips from it! Especially the social media side as I do try, but I tend to do it all at once: edit photos, post, social media, linkies etc! So thank you 🙂 I do feel slightly better though knowing my day is similar to someone else’s, and it’s not all miracles! X
Eb Gargano says
Haha – good to know I’m not the only one! I am pretty organised, but I have to be – otherwise I just wouldn’t fit it all in. I generally write a fairly detailed to do list in the morning, but occasionally I don’t write one and they are always my worst days!! Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Martin @ The Why Chef says
Cor! Organised to the note!
My blogging *week* goes:
Thursday – cook, forget to weigh and photo what I’ve cooked
Friday – cook, forget to weigh and photo
Saturday – cook something that takes a long time, enjoy it so make rough notes for later, forget to weigh and photo
Sunday – cook for extended family/friends, photo just to show off, forget to weigh
Monday – start writing a blog post instead of working as I hate Monday mornings, schedule in a lunch/dinner, cook, forget to weigh and photo
Tuesday – rewrite blog post as hated the first draft, cook blog recipe and take photos, guess at weights by this point
Wednesday – PANIC IT’S PUBLISH DAY TOMORROW, rewrite yet again, cook again with proper weights, hate last nights photos so photo all again, cry, have about 30 things going on, get to sleep at 12am
Thursday – SUPER PANIC edit photos instead of working before blog goes live at 12pm, edit lots after publishing, finish other blog housekeeping, relax, share, then later – cook, forget to weigh and photo
Eb Gargano says
Haha – hilarious, Martin! I don’t usually have whole weeks that go like that – but I’m certainly familiar with the ‘make a fabulous meal and forget to write it down’ thing. And the ‘hate all the photos and have to reshoot’ problem. I usually get round the former by writing a rough recipe first (in one of my many notebooks) and then editing as I cook. The second is a product of my increasing fussiness about photos and will probably get worse!! Thanks for making me laugh 🙂 Eb
Martin @ The Why Chef says
I have Evernote for my notes (I tried a proper pad and it got covered in food by day 1!) but I find it difficult to write as I go, and then I forget within 2 minutes! I’ve started employing Emma to take notes for me, so I may be slowly winning this war! 🙂
Eb Gargano says
Oooh no I could never use anything electronic to write notes on – it would get covered in food and break. Yes my (paper) notepad gets food splattered on it occasionally, but at least that doesn’t stop it working! I think there’s a running theme among bloggers and their OHs: Charlotte has Jon submitting her posts to food photosharing sites, Angela has Mr E proofreading and now you have Emma taking notes…I think I need to get Mr G more involved – his main involvement at the moment is taste-testing, which he does very well to be fair! He and the kids are the only ones who are 100% honest in their feedback – everyone else is too polite! 🙂
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
You are super organised Eb, and I love how you’re disciplined with yourself on social media at certain times of the day. It’s soooo easy to get sucked in isn’t it, social media must have some sort of timewarp built in – as Jacqui says before you know it the day has simply flown by…..either that or I’m getting old – mum always says time goes faster when you get older!
I too only find those random typos when the post has gone live…I read and read and read again in draft form. Mr E even reads it for me too bless him. But then as soon as that publish button is hit and I visit it a few hours later I spot one of the little blighters!! My biggest nightmare is having a typo in a recipe (especially a quantity or time measurement!) For some reason I often find my typos when I re-read the live post on my phone…I think it’s because the lay out is a wee bit different and the lines of text shorter.
You’ve certainly had a busy birthday week Eb. I imagine you need to have a good old rest tomorrow – once yoi’ve posted and shared your recipe 🙂
Angela x
Eb Gargano says
Haha – on good days I am yes! On bad days it all goes a little off piste – usually social media related – I’m sure you are right about the time warp!! Oh, I’m glad it’s not me which has trouble with pesky hidden typos!! At least we have the luxury of changing them when we spot them – imagine how frustrating it would be if it was in print and unchangeable – or at least not without a cost attached! I once worked for a wine merchant where a whole batch of envelopes had to be pulped because the word ‘Bordeaux’ was spelt wrong!! Eeeek!
Sadly there is no rest for me tomorrow – I have to promote my recipe on social media etc and then crack on with next week’s content. I need to get ahead of myself because I have another half term coming up in a week’s time – plus two an a half days out next week due to school trips and my parents visiting – all nice stuff, but this is why I need to be super organised!!
Thanks for all your lovely comments, this week! It’s been lovely having all these virtual chats – and congrats again on that Foodgawker acceptance 🙂 Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
I’m jealous of how productive you are during the day. I’ve still got Josh at home every day so everything I do is arranged around him (with regular interruption for various very important 3-year-old things!). Come September he’ll be at nursery (that just autocorrected to misery – I hope it’s wrong!) every morning so I’ll need to squeeze as much as possible into two hours. I’m hoping I’ll get a lot more done. I think one area I’m missing out at the moment is having the time to spend commenting on and sharing other blog posts, I’d also like more time to work on the appearance on my blog and developing my skills in various things.
Eb Gargano says
I am seriously impressed, Charlotte, with how much you get done, considering you still have a little one at home with you all day – I have no idea how you do it – an all those extras you get done, which go in your monthly reports. How do you manage it?
There is always so much you COULD be doing on a blog isn’t there? I would really like to be able to pause time, just get everything done that’s on my to do list / wish list, and then restart time again! I always feel like I’m not doing enough commenting and sharing…I would love to spend more time on that – it kind of gets squeezed into an hour on a Tuesday and another on a Thursday…I feel especially guilty this week – I’ve hardly done any commenting, I’ve been so busy with my crazy mad birthday week (who’s bonkers idea was that???).
Well, I hope Josh enjoys nursery and it’s not misery! It’s not usually I don’t think – both mine thoroughly loved it and regularly tell me they wish they could go back there instead of school (they don’t hate school, they just really loved nursery!) And I hope you manage to use the time to full effect – something tells me you will 😉
Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
He already goes a couple of afternoons a week and loves it so I know he’ll be fine. I volunteer in the school so don’t get that time for blog work though. The nursery is at the school and they share some of the staff so it’s a nice transition for them, although I think Daniel misses how much playing he was able to do back then!
Eb Gargano says
Oh I’m glad he likes it – what a nice set up having nursery and school on the same site! Our nursery was in a completely different village, sadly. It was lovely and they run a brilliant after school club, but they don’t run a minibus shuttle from our school, unfortunately 🙁 What year is Daniel in? My son is in Year 1 and it was a big shock for him moving from nursery/reception’s free-flow type setup to Year 1 which is much more proper work. He moaned a lot about it during the autumn – bit better now, or maybe he’s just resigned to it!
Charlotte Oates says
Daniel’s in year 1 too. He seems have to adapted to it just fine, although I think the setup is a little different in Wales to England so I don’t think there’s quite as much of a jump. They also have things like forest schools and golden time on a Friday which keeps things fun and not too formal all of the time.
Eb Gargano says
Interesting – felt like a very big jump for my little boy – far less outside time and a lot more sitting still!! Hard work considering he is still not 6, yet (his birthday is in July). I don’t envy Year 1 teachers trying to get all those bouncy boys to sit still!! We have golden time, but no forest school – that would be awesome! Eb x
Zerrin and Yusuf says
Wow! You are amazing Eb! This could be the dream day for all bloggers in terms of organization and productivity. So inspiring to us!
And thank you soooo much for your lovely words about our photography! It is a real pleasure for us to shoot pictures of your recipes. And eat what we cook afterwards 🙂 We are so happy to be a part of Easy Peasy Foodie!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thank you so much! I am so happy you found my day inspiring 🙂
And thank you for all you do for me! I meant every word. I am so happy that I can focus on the parts of blogging I enjoy best, and pass on all my photography to you. I get much better photos and I no longer have to do a task I never really enjoyed. So it’s a total win win for me. I am so happy I found you both!