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Hello, readers!

Below you’ll find our 2015 Reader Census. We’d love if you’d take a few minutes to go through it and answer our questions (it’s easy — you’ll mostly be clicking buttons). This will help us get to know all of you better and cater our content to our loyal community.

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A thrifty and very old-school salad, panzanella transforms slightly stale, too-hard-to-eat bread into a sponge for flavor that even picky kids tend to enjoy. I make this with a spicy dressing, but you can just make it with a classic vinaigrette if you prefer.

If you have room in the budget, try adding some fruit, like peaches or plums, to this salad for a sweet layer of flavor. If you are really swimming in zucchini, try it raw and finely chopped in this salad.

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Whether you have kids who are heading back to school, you’re heading back to school, or you just want to establish some better lunch habits, a new lunch box or bag can go a long way in making you excited to carry your lunch everyday.

And because it’s back-to-school season, there are plenty of cute new options available. Some of them can be stored in your freezer overnight to keep your lunch cool without a fridge at work, and some collapse down so they don’t take up much space on your commute home. Whichever one you choose, you’ll be brown-bagging it in style.

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Coconut water became popular a couple years ago, and as a result, different brands started popping up left and right. Standing in the grocery aisle and looking at the options available can be a little daunting. How do you decide which one is right for you?

We tried eight well-known brands of pulp-free, plain coconut water and ranked them from least to most favorite. Want to see our top pick?

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Like anything in the kitchen, learning to cook meat to the correct “doneness” comes with time and practice. Eventually, after preparing enough pork loins and whole turkeys, testing for internal temperature will feel less scientific and more second-nature. At some point, you might even able to know if a steak is medium-rare with a just press of a finger.

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I grew up just outside Pasadena, California — the birthplace of Trader Joe’s — with a father who was an early fan of the quirky chain of grocery stores, so my childhood was spent eating peanut butter-filled pretzels and wrapping my textbooks in inside-out Trader Joe’s paper bags. In college, I introduced many an out-of-state classmate to the wonders of Two-Buck Chuck, and as an adult, I shopped so consistently at the same Trader Joe’s location, I actually created a shopping list template for it.

So you can imagine my horror last year when, amid the excitement of a move from Los Angeles to New Orleans, I discovered that the closest Trader Joe’s would be in Baton Rouge, about an hour and a half away. So deep was the loss, I literally shook my fist at the sky and said, “NOOOOO!” like I was cursing a vengeful god.

A year later, I can tell you: it doesn’t get any better.

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Being a food editor, people have made a lot of assumptions about the way I eat. Specifically, when I made the transition to working mostly from home, there was the general thought that I must have really upped my lunch game.

I used to laugh at the idea, but really, it depends how you look at it: I’m no longer buying questionable sandwiches from the corner deli, but I’m not cooking myself a fancy meal either. Although what I am having is something that’s truly and utterly delicious, from the first to last bite. The kind of timeless meal that has the power to make you feel good inside and out: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

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