Food Diary: How a 41-Year-Old Elementary School Teacher Eats on $76K in Eugene, OR

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.

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The financesThe dietThe expensesThe diary

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: $2,106Gas bill: $25 to $120Cellphone: $120Netflix: $10Internet: $120Yoga 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.

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