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, a 41-year-old elementary school teacher gets a weekly box of fresh veggies from her local CSA and bakes buttery, crunchy apple shortbread bars for her fellow teachers. Keep reading for her receipts.
Jump ahead:
The finances
What are your pronouns? She/her
What is your occupation? Elementary school teacher
How old are you? 41
What city and state do you live in? Eugene, Oregon
What is your annual salary, if you have one? My income is $77,337. My husband teaches at the local university, and together our household income is $171,000.
What’s your household size? 2
How much is one paycheck, after taxes? $4,400
How often are you paid? (e.g. weekly) Monthly
How much money do you have in savings? $5,000 not including retirement accounts, etc. $55,000 in retirement.
What are your approximate fixed monthly expenses beyond food? (i.e. rent, subscriptions, bills)
- Mortgage: $2,106
- Gas bill: $25 to $120
- Cellphone: $120
- Netflix: $10
- Internet: $120
- Yoga membership: $30
The diet
Do you follow a certain diet or have dietary restrictions? Nope! We really eat everything. We are blessed to get a CSA produce box from Groundwork Organics each week on “trade,” which means I help with recipes and things on the farm when they need it, so it’s not hard to find wonderful things to make at home.
What are the grocery staples you always buy, if any? Eggs, fruit, milk, half and half, cheeses and meat. We get tons of seasonal veggies—lately, loads of salad greens, corn, grapes, tomatoes, summer squash, potatoes, and peppers—in our CSA box each week, so I don’t have to shop for that.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? I usually dine out two to three times a week. If I’m not cooking, I really love to adventure out for a leisurely brunch or walk somewhere in my neighborhood. Cooking is my favorite form of therapy, so I try to get in as many reps as possible during the work week. I justify most dining-out urges for dinner too—we frequently try to support the lovely restaurants here in Eugene.
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up? At least once a week, sometimes more. It was usually for a nice meal; my mom was intent on not paying for meals she thought she could make better at home. My mom was the primary cook in the family; my parents' love of salmon, goat cheese, and mesclun greens was wasted on me as a child. When my mom was out of town, my dad would let my brother and me get takeout from our favorite local Mexican restaurant (I grew up in California) or throw together a homemade pizza for us. It felt like Christmas on those rare occasions. When I became a teenager, I would eat out with friends almost daily. I would formally like to blame Noah’s Bagels, Taco Bell, and Straw Hat Pizza for my terrible teenage eating habits at the time.
How often in a week did your parents or guardians cook at home? Four to five times a week. \
The expenses
- Week’s total: $179.56
- Restaurants and cafés total: $113
- Groceries total: $66.56
- Most-expensive meal or purchase: Brunch at Lion & Owl, $64
- Least-expensive meal or purchase: Bananas, $1.84
- Number of restaurant and café meals: 5
- Number of grocery trips: 1
The diary
Monday
6:40 a.m. I roll out of bed and start making coffee. I grind some Stumptown Huye Mountain beans a friend brought from Portland when she came to stay a few weeks ago, and mix those with my Café Mam French Roast ($15/pound) roasted here in Eugene. We drink pour-overs every morning. This time I make mine way too strong; I pour almost half out to add hot water and a few glugs of Organic Valley Half & Half ($7.69/quart).
I enjoy my coffee at my kitchen island as I stare at ungraded papers I didn’t get to this weekend. Sometimes I go to bed thinking of the coffee I will have in the morning. I am not proud that I can’t live without it…but alas, here we are.
8:02 a.m. At work, after 30 minutes of prepping for the day, I pull out some of the breakfast I meal-prepped last night. I made some wheat crepes and then wrapped an egg frittata with kale from Sundance Natural Foods and bell peppers from my CSA produce box. Since it’s early in the school year, I feel like I haven’t completely failed at bringing reasonable, healthy bites to work ahead of time. I rush to heat up one of the wraps before kiddos arrive. I am not a breakfast person and I don’t actually feel hungry, but I know the opportunity to eat won’t present again for hours, so I have a few bites. It’s fine. I wish it was a croissant instead.
8:15 a.m. I make myself a cup of Trader Joe’s decaffeinated green tea (previously purchased) because I realize I forgot my water bottle at home. I walk the million miles to the water filtration system down the hall and fill my electric kettle for the day.
10:15 a.m. I reluctantly finish my egg crepe thing (still wish it were a croissant) and open a lemon LaCroix sparkling water ($5.49 a case, previously purchased) while my kids are at recess and I carve away at emails for a minute.
11:40 a.m. Lunch time outside my classroom. I sit at a picnic table where I’m joined by a bunch of coworkers. It is the most glorious weather and we all take advantage of embracing the mild fall temps and staring at the lovely trees while we can. I have leftovers from last night’s dinner: Pad kra pao with ground chicken, green beans from the CSA, and a mixture of fish sauce, soy sauce, and some homemade chile oil that I concocted a few weeks ago. I find a reason to put chile oil on most things. I also eat a handful of Jupiter grapes from the CSA and then head inside and spend the rest of my lunch continuing on those emails and papers that need grading.
3:11 p.m. I eat a few cut-up pieces of CSA cucumber and carrots dipped in a yogurt dip I made last night and a few slices of landjaeger salami ($6.00 for a pack). I’m anticipating a challenging parent meeting after school. Hoping to fuel up enough to be able to get home to take my dogs on a hike in the neighborhood before dinner out with my family later.
5:15 p.m. After my hike, I prep my lunch for tomorrow: chopped little gem lettuce from the CSA, diced heirloom tomato from the CSA, half an avocado ($1.29 at Trader Joe’s, previously purchased), and a handful of pepitas from Trader Joe’s (also previously purchased). I add an organic Persian cucumber (also Trader Joe’s) to the mix. I can’t resist these little cucumbers every time I go. I really try to not buy produce from TJ’s because seriously, who needs green beans imported from the Philippines on their carbon footprint, but these cucumbers are my weakness. I throw together a salad dressing with yogurt, Nancy’s sour cream ($3.89), lime, and some Green Goddess Seasoning from Trader Joe’s ($2.99). The Green Goddess seasoning is literally amazing on everything.
6:14 p.m. My husband has been in Europe for a month for work and just returned this weekend. My folks invited us to dinner at Cornucopia to catch up. The restaurant has a Monday night “burger and brew” special that my dad loves. Which is comical because he has been a vegetarian his whole life. (The restaurant makes its own veggie burger patty.) It is not my favorite place, but it’s nice to be taken out and to catch up with my family. The wine pours here remind me of something you might find at Medieval Times with the size of the goblet glass, and I am never mad about cajun tots, so for now, I am not complaining (kind of). I get a buffalo chicken sandwich, those cajun tots, and a huge glass of Pinot Gris ($91.71 before tip, paid by parents).
8:10 p.m. I break off a hunk of Le chocolat des Français Extra Dark Chocolate and Cocoa Nib bar (€6.50) my husband brought back from his Europe trip for me. It’s really nice. I also make a note that tomorrow I’ve gotta do something with the bundle of apples sitting on my counter that my sweet neighbor gave me.
Monday total: $0 ($91.71, paid by parents)
Tuesday
6:35 a.m. Thanks to my husband’s jet lag, he made coffee this morning and it’s ready when I get up. French roast with more half and half. I sit at our kitchen counter playing a game of New York Times Connections and staring at my dogs that want to be walked. Some days I feel like a genius when I play this game and other days I wonder how I could have a college degree. The tater tots in my stomach this morning also don’t feel awesome.
7:14 a.m. I put some Trader Joe’s rolled oats in a mason jar with some chia seeds and a spoonful of honey given to me by a former student, and then I add hot water. I top it with a little Trader Joe’s Grass Fed Whole Milk ($4.99) and some local blueberries ($7/pint) and throw it in my lunch bag as I leave the house. Hopefully this doesn’t just sit in my bag for most of the day—which is usually what happens.
7:40 a.m. When I get to work I chew on a Vitamin C tablet (previously purchased) after reading parent emails about how sick some of my students are…
10:18 a.m. I take a few bites of my oatmeal while my kiddos are at recess. Also wishing this were a croissant.
12:05 p.m. I eat my packed salad at my desk while I plan for lessons later this week. I have an epiphany on my class-seating chart and focus on executing that in between bites of my salad.
3:30 p.m. I have a quick snack of yesterday’s cut-up veg, yogurt dip, and some smoked salmon dip I made last weekend that I discovered in my work fridge. The smoked Coho salmon from Schoolhouse Fish Company in Petersburg, Alaska, is ridiculously good. We get a shipment of it every year to stock up and give as gifts ($13/8 oz. pack).
4:45 p.m. I prep tonight’s dinner before yoga class. I marinate chicken thighs ($7.73) in Trader Joe’s Soyaki and mix together some coconut rice using Aroy-D coconut milk ($4.99) and jasmine rice (all previously purchased). I chop some more of the TJ’s cucumbers and mix with shallot ($0.42), rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, and more homemade chile oil and pop it in the fridge.
6:54 p.m. I throw dinner in the oven and pour myself a glass of Analemma Blanco wine ($40). I joined the winery’s wine club last year when my cousin started working for it. It is the dreamiest winery with creative, biodynamic wines on a gorgeous property in the Mosier Hills. It’s a splurge, but a nice indulgence when the shipment comes—and I like to support my cousin’s side hustle. She’s a teacher too! Also, pay teachers more so side hustles aren’t needed. I add some TJ’s scallion pancakes ($4.29) into the oven with the chicken.
7:30 p.m. My husband and I sit down for dinner. This is an easy, go-to meal we are used to. Nothing mind-blowing, but simple and delish and makes for good leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.
8:03 p.m. I remember I have some cut-up slices of banana in the freezer and melt down the rest of the cocoa nib chocolate bar from yesterday to dunk the banana chunks in. I share a few with my husband and put the rest in the freezer for another time. The chocolate is super silky and the cocoa nibs are a perfect crunch with the frozen banana. I rarely love eating chocolate by itself—so this is perfect. I look at the apples still on my counter that I promised myself I’d put to use. Too tired tonight; I will use them later this week in some capacity to bring treats for the school staff.
Tuesday total: $0
Wednesday
6:40 a.m. My husband makes the pour-overs again this morning. I woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck and I am not sure there is enough coffee in the world to get me through today. I drink my coffee with cream, fail at NYT Connections again, and head to work with a traveler of coffee.
8:14 a.m. I heat up a crepe egg wrap from earlier in the week as well as a neck wrap in the microwave for my pain and try to power through my morning.
11:40 a.m. I sit outside for lunch and some fresh air. A kiddo threw up in class earlier, so needless to say my lunch isn’t looking too appetizing. I sneak a few bites of my leftovers while visiting with colleagues. I remembered that I packed myself a Topo Chico ($15.95/case) with my lunch today and that brightens my spirits! I love this sparkling water and would go to the ends of the earth for it—it is so bubbly!
3:40 p.m. I finish off the cut-up veg and yogurt dip. I discover some cut-up Cotswold double Gloucester cheese in the work fridge that I brought last week. I head home to get my weekly CSA box and prep that veg for the week before I have to come back for our school open house tonight.
4:30 p.m. I have a little time and don’t feel up to hiking, so I make a quick batch of grape syrup using Jupiter grapes from last week’s CSA box. I mix some sugar, lemon juice, and grapes in a pan and cook down. I Vitamix the syrup, strain, and save it to make cocktails this weekend for a dinner party we’re having. I also decide to do something with those APPLES! I decide on apple shortbread bars for my coworkers tomorrow. I start to brown some Kirkland grassfed salted butter in a sauce pan. I’ll combine that with flour, sugar, salt, and Singing Dog vanilla ($8.95) to make a shortbread crust. I top the crust with chopped apples (from my neighbor’s tree), Cassia cinnamon (Mountain Rose Herbs, $4.75), and more sugar. I top it with an oatmeal streusel top and a quick salted caramel sauce using Maldon sea salt. I didn’t go to the store for anything today…and I have way too many baking supplies…so I combined a few recipes I know by heart and this is a quick way to use the apples.
7:40 p.m. After my school open house night, my husband and I meet our farmer friends at Party Downtown. I used to work with the restaurant’s owners back in my pastry chef days. I am always impressed with their creative dishes and reliance on local produce. We order a bunch of small plates: kale Caesar salad, raw oysters, fried chicken sliders, cornbread, and pimento grilled cheese. Everything they do has a creative, funky-fresh spin with local ingredients. I am especially pleased tonight with the grilled cheese. Housemade focaccia, housemade pimento cheese spread, and a few other gooey cheeses. I have some bites of everything as well as a vesper martini. Everyone else orders negronis but I am not a fan. The farmers have trade here so dinner is on them; I feel so very lucky. ($136.50 before tip, paid by friends).
Wednesday total: $0 ($136.50 paid by friends)
Thursday
6:40 a.m. Yay for my husband making coffee again. I sit and enjoy while I get half of the NYT Connections game this time. Better than nothing. I have a little extra time this morning, so I decide to get another coffee at Hideaway Bakery and maybe that croissant I’ve been after.
7:40 a.m. My plan is foiled. There is a line out the door at the bakery and I don’t have enough time to wait. I have a staff meeting after school and then a late meeting downtown for the non-profit I sit on the board of…need more caffeine just thinking about it, but for now I’ll power through. At work, I carve off a bite of the apple bars I made for my coworkers before kids arrive. Super buttery, crunchy, sugary apple explosion. Pretty good.
12:00 p.m. Lunch is my leftover salad from yesterday and a few pieces of the landjaeger salami. I go to the staff room to collect any remains of the apple pie bars I set out, but they are toast.
7:14 p.m. Back home after many a meeting today. I pour myself a glass of the Analemma blanco and then roll some veggie and smoked salmon sushi rolls for dinner. I cook some Nishiki sushi rice ($11.25/bag) and then mix with some rice wine vinegar and sugar. I use the rest of my School House Fish smoked salmon, add some cucumber and avocado, and roll ’em up. I remember I bought some shredded green papaya at Sunrise Asian Food Market last weekend ($4.99), so I mix up a green papaya salad with fish sauce, sugar, more chile oil, garlic, shallot, and some shredded carrot. Even though I’m exhausted, it’s usually a double whammy if I don’t cook dinner because I won’t have anything for lunch the next day. I love this meal and my husband does all the dishes so win-win.
8:00 p.m. I mix up some cinnamon roll dough and no-knead bread for tomorrow. I am tasked with bringing cinnamon rolls to an Oregon Ducks Football tailgate on Saturday and these are my go-to. I will bake them tomorrow night, so I let the dough proof in the fridge for now. The whole batch takes me about 10 minutes to put together with the ingredients I already have on hand. I mix the no-knead bread in about five minutes by combining yeast, water, salt, and flour and letting it hang out on the counter until tomorrow. Gone are my baking days that I would use a legit starter to make yeasted bread. This is too easy and quick.
Thursday total: $0
Friday
6:35 a.m.: Yay! It’s Friday. I make the pour-overs this a.m. and add a lil extra half and half in my coffee because it brings me joy. I make some more oatmeal with the rest of the blueberries and gifted honey to bring to work.
10:15 a.m. I shovel in a few bites of oatmeal and attend to my emails. The lovely local blueberries from Sundance Natural Foods make this breakfast mostly edible.
12:15 p.m. I spent my lunch prepping materials for school next week, so I take a few bites of leftover smoked salmon sushi while my class is at PE. Almost as delish as it was last night, but the rice is now a little dry.
4:30 p.m. I meet a colleague after work for a glass of wine at Provisions Market Hall. My coworker is a badass first-year teacher, and I know from experience they need all the love they can get. We share a bottle of Domitia Picpoul de Pinet ($20). The bottle is on me, for sure.
6:44 p.m. I get home and throw the no-knead bread in the oven, let the cinnamon rolls I prepped yesterday proof on the counter, and get dinner going. I make roasted andouille sausages from Carlton Farms (previously purchased), green leaf salad from the CSA, and serve them on the baked bread out of the oven. I blend up a salad dressing with Rogue Creamery smoked blue cheese ($5.18), sour cream, herbs from my garden, and lemon. I top the salad with some farm tomatoes from the CSA and pop open a Topo Chico for myself. I remember I have some Mama Lil’s goathorn peppers in the fridge and add those to the mix. Dinner is served. These sausages are legit delicious every time and the salad dressing is creamy and herbaceous.
9:20 p.m. I bake off the cinnamon rolls and head to bed. I know it’s only 9:20 but this week has been busier than usual and I am beat. Tomorrow I will finish my tailgating food duties. For now I will dream of an Oregon Ducks win and mid-morning mimosa with friends.
Friday total: $20
Saturday
8:00 a.m. I sleep in! I get all the NYT Connections and my husband makes our normal coffee situation. I heat up the cinnamon rolls, make a quick cream-cheese frosting with more Singing Dog vanilla, and get ready for tailgating with neighbors.
9:30 a.m. We head next door to our neighbors for some shakshuka eggs, biscuits, and arugula and buffalo mozzarella salad they made. My kind of tailgate. I have a few bites of my cinnamon rolls and they are fluffy and not too sweet, which is what I was going for. Everyone is drinking beer-mosas; not my favorite, so I run home to get some bubbles. The only thing I have in the fridge is my Analemma Blanc de Noirs gifted to me by my cousin. I mean, I really didn’t think I would use this bottle today, but hell, why not. All the food is incredible; the saffron in the shakshuka is perfect.
12:30 p.m. My neighbor and I hang out while everyone else heads to the football game. We head to Lion & Owl for drinks and another bite before walking downtown to watch the game on the big screen. I love the women that own this place, and I think the brunch they do is one of the best in the world—I see you, Portland brunchers. I am fully aware it is barely 12 p.m. but I get a new Mai Tai-esque drink on the menu. It is a bizarre weakness: I can never turn down a Mai Tai when offered?! We aren’t super hungry but opt for an order of chocolate zucchini bread with cinnamon butter and a side of bacon. My friend gets an espresso martini-ish drink and then some bubbles. It feels like a splurge to head here after such a good bite this morning, but the atmosphere, the drinks, and eats are literally perfect. I pick up the tab because she made us such a nice meal earlier ($64).
4:10 p.m. Feeling hunger again after watching the Ducks victory and decide to head down the block to Marché for a few bites. My first job as a pastry chef when I was 19 was here, and it’s still one of my favorite places in town. We get pomme frites, Netarts raw oysters with mignonette, and a baguette with whipped butter. I get a French 75 to drink and my friend gets a glass of Rimbert orange wine. The frites are perfectly salted and crisp, and the oysters are the best I have had in recent memory. We split the bill ($29 each).
6:35 p.m. No Ubers are available so we decide to walk instead. It’s less than two miles to our houses and I LOVE walking. We stroll by my good friend’s restaurant Santo Torta on the way home and surprisingly she is still there. We pop in to chat and she pours us a mini tequila and we share a sip of a frozen mango margarita. I know I have been imbibing all day, but we’re walking home and who cares. The mango in the margarita is super fresh and the tequila is top shelf. I wish I was hungry because her food is so delicious. The restaurant is blocks from my house and my friend doesn’t charge us for anything; we have a great catch up and we’re happy.
Saturday total: $93
Sunday
8:10 a.m. I try and sleep in a bit this morning, but it doesn’t work. My little 13-year-old rescue pup isn’t doing well and was up most of the night. My husband makes the coffee. Same routine, different day.
9:57 a.m. I head to Market of Choice and pick up some last-minute supplies for tonight’s dinner party and the rest of the week. I grab eggs, chicken thighs, spicy sausage for later this week, more Café Mam coffee, and some bananas. ($66.56 total)
10:35 a.m. After running errands to get supplies for tonight’s dinner party, I toast a piece of the French bread I made earlier this week and slather on some grassfed butter. I want more coffee but I make some Mountain Rose Herbs mint tea instead.
11:00 a.m. I decide I am going to cook Indian food tonight from the Dishoom cookbook my mother-in-law got me. We visit London each summer to see family and Dishoom is one of our favorite spots. I combine some ideas from another favorite place in London, The Tamil Prince, and decide that I am making a version of Dishoom’s chicken ruby: chicken thighs, gunpowder potatoes from CSA, spices from Mountain Rose Herbs, kale paneer using kale from CSA, TJ’s Greek yogurt ($2.99), Aroy-D coconut milk, homemade garlic naan, and rum cake (Kōloa Rum, $35).
11:35 a.m. I taste some of the potatoes that I will finish roasting later and they are waaaay too spicy. I decide to do a batch of coconut rice for those who don’t want to burn their face off later. The chicken ruby cooks away on the stove. I will chuck it in the fridge later, add cream, and heat again before folks come over. I realize I don’t have paneer, so I will use some halloumi for the kale instead.
12:15 p.m. I gather all the components for my Nonnie's rum cake. It’s a super laborious recipe that I have tweaked over the years, but it reminds me of my eccentric, fashion-designer grandma and her love of rum cake, as well as her disregard for an appropriate drinking age when we would make this together when I was a teenager. She poured snifters of rum for us to taste while we cooked.
1:10 p.m. I blend the kale-halloumi whatever you call it, make a rum syrup for the cake coming out of the oven, decide to fry up a few cumin papadam (Sunrise Asian Food Market, $2.99), and roll out the naan. I dish up some zhoug (serrano, parsley, cilantro dip I previously made) because I decide it will be delish with the naan, even if it is not very typical for the meal. I tear a hunk of naan off and dip in the zhoug; it’s bombastic and the naan is soft and buttery.
5:10 p.m. I pour myself a glass of Crew Work white pinot noir ($21) and finish food prep. I love this light, mineral-y wine. My cousin gifted me a case of this in exchange for taking her 16-year-old daughter to London with us this summer. I add TJ’s organic heavy cream to the chicken ruby ($4.49/pint). If I could pick a favorite pastime, it would be hosting dinner parties. So excited to see friends, catch up and feed them in my home.
6:20 p.m. We sit down to eat and the kale-halloumi situation (that’s what I am calling it now) is especially delicious, the chicken ruby is super aromatic and tender, the potatoes are buttery and crispy—but I curse myself that I let the naan reheat in the oven too long and they are now like hockey pucks. At least I snuck a taste when they were tender and perfect before I abandoned them in the oven. I complain to everyone about it, but no one seems to care. That’s why I love these people.
7:30 p.m. My honorary nieces show up to join us for dessert. It feels pretty awesome when teenagers want to come hang with you for a bit still, even if they are just here for the food and to raid my closet. They enjoy some rum cake with us. I heat up a plum compote that I threw together with plums from my tree, add a chunk of brown sugar, and then top it all with some more TJ’s organic whipped cream ($4.49/pint).
9:50 p.m. Dishes done, leftovers for tomorrow prepped. I pour myself a mug of Mountain Rose Herbs mint tea and head to bed. As my Nonnie would say at the end of every meal, arrivederci.
Sunday total: $66.56