Oh, I lurrve that stuff. Where do you get it?
It would be a snap(heh) decision, I admit.
I wouldn’t carry a placard or scream on a soap box.
I would just think it.
I might kinda hope they have a weird disease that they need caviar for.
You know why? Because I’m a human being with failings and prejudices.
And even off the wall hopes its not what it looks like.
Yep, human.
Like we all are.
When I do a shift on a checkout I see 300-400 people in that shift. While some people don’t blink at the cost of eggs some very, very much do. My statements weren’t based on speculation, it was based on people directly venting their anger at me, occasionally peppered with political statements and/or profanity.
But, certainly, go ahead and gaslight a retail worker.
Same place I get anything other than “normal” stuff, my pal Amazon.
I hadn’t noticed who i was replying to, and I’ll bow to your superior knowledge. But I’m really shocked. Because as a purchaser of expensive pastured eggs, the price of my eggs has barely changed over the last few years. Unless the prices are very different where you live (certainly possible, eggs are somewhat regional), there just hasn’t been a price increase in the expensive eggs, and anyone bitching is doing so for reasons other than looking at the price of their eggs.
Looking at the website of our local grocery chain
Brand name organic, free range eggs $7.19/dozen
Same brand name non organic, cage free eggs $5.49/dozen
Store brand organic, free range eggs $6.59/dozen
Store brand non organic, cage free eggs $4.99/dozen
There are “super-premium” brands like Pete & Gerry’s and Vital Farms that are even more expensive than the brand name organic, but I didn’t find the same brand non organic.
And speaking of someone who can look at the wholesale and retail on all types of eggs going back years, not just at my company but for many competitors, premium brands and varieties absolutely have gone up a lot in the last five years. Not the same PERCENTAGE increase as the lowest grades of eggs, but way above total CPI and even CPI food.
So now you can buy organic eggs for 30% more than conventional. It used to be 50% more. But the difference in dollars is $1.60 per dozen and it used to be $1.50.
I used to get eggs from backyard chicken keepers for $3/dozen in summer pre-pandemic. Thus last summer it was $5/dozen.
I can still get a dozen eggs for a loaf of challah. Same price as 2008! Of course that loaf would be $8.99 in a bakery.
It’s a two fold issue.
First, the price of “battery hen”, non-fancy non-organic eggs HAS gone up, so people register “eggs are more expensive” without doing a more detailed analysis.
Second, when “regular” eggs are unavailable (due to culling flocks, perhaps, or other problems) then all that’s left is the fancy-pants brands, which yes, are more expensive in absolute terms. So that confirms the “eggs are more expensive” notion in those peoples’ heads.
If you really sit down, compare similar types of eggs, and analyze the situation it’s not as bad as it might have seemed at first. But of course no one sells newspapers (or gets eyes on video) that says “price of eggs mildly elevated”. And there are a number of people who have much to gain by making people angry and/or frightened.
An egg is an egg is an egg.
Ok. You’re making fancy schmancy crepes for visiting dignitaries, buy the best(I assume your budget isn’t dependent on food stamps).
If you’re making a cake mix cake for the potluck, any good egg will do.
I don’t believe the free range, organic, cage free crap is actually really true.
Like average people believe.
You realize chicken shit is organic, right?
Free range is a muddy lot.
Cage free means no safety for the hens. Big losses.
That’s why the eggs cost more.
They all come from a chicken butt. (I know its called a vent)
IMO.
For most purposes yes, an egg is an egg is an egg.
Free-range (true free range, sometimes called pasture-raised) eggs tend to have a brighter/more yellow yolk and a slightly different nutrient profile, but not enough to make a significant difference to the person eating them. There can also be a flavor difference but it’s subtle. There’s a greater difference between corn-finished and grass-finished beef.
I’m not talking about making crepes, which still involves the eggs being mixed in with something else. I’m talking about the eggs themselves, on their own, being a feature of the meal. That’s where the difference would be noted by the person eating. Some, maybe most, of this is down to what the chickens are eating. I laugh when I see a company advertising “vegetarian fed hens”. Chickens are not vegetarians. They’re omnivores. The chickens running around outside are eating bugs, sometimes the occasional mouse. Commercial egg producers with caged hens could duplicate a lot of that by feeding them bugs and the occasional mouse - except that would be more expensive than all vegetarian feed.
Baking stuff - cakes, cookies, enriched bread, crepes, whatever - no, you’re not going to notice the difference.
But let’s talk for a moment about those fancy-pants eggs. Let’s say a dozen Vital Farms for $7.50. That’s 63¢ an egg. A $1.26 for the protein component of an egg based meal for me. As opposed to, say, a 4 ounce burger (checks local prices) at $5.63/pound for ground meat. That’s $1.40 for the meat in the burger. Eggs are still cheaper, even “expensive” eggs compared to generic WTF is in it ground beef.
Eggs may cost more than they used to, but I wouldn’t say they were out of proportion to other animal-based foods.
And you’re correct - there are a lot of safety issues around letting your chickens run free in the yard.
Darker yolks are due to carotenoids(probably msp)in their diet.
They are no more nutritious. And it’s not because the hens are happy.
Martha Stewart says she feeds her hens shredded carrots when they are laying their best.
A color you can’t see before you crack the egg does nothing to make me wanna pay 1 penny more.
I have aged retirement hens. When they were prolific layers I fed them bagged laying pellets and scraps from the garden and kitchen. Even their own egg shells.
They tasted no different than grocery store eggs.
I can’t say I have a refined palate, at all.
But I know my way around an egg.
My advice, buy the biggest size egg you can afford, food stamps or cash. That should be your only decision at the egg counter.
At the moment we’re buying EB eggs (egglands best) because they are about 15 cents cheaper per dozen.
I don’t know why. Not gonna ask. But it’s a good deal.
We buy a bunch of eggs every week.
I can’t tell the difference between different kinds of cooked eggs and I don’t believe anyone can tell the difference if they’re used in baking. I get the least expensive eggs that they have on the day that I buy them.
Every time I’ve ever considered buying powdered eggs to see if it would be worth it to keep some stored away for a contingency, the per-egg equivalent price has always given me sticker shock.
I will pay more to buy eggs from humanely maintained chickens.
I didn’t make either claim that they were more nutritious (just that they have a slightly different profile due to dietary differences) and made no claims about the emotional state of the chickens. Please don’t conflate what I say with the industry hype.
I even pointed out that battery hen eggs could probably be produced in a similar manner by adjusting their diets. It’s just that backyard bugs are free and the feed made for battery hens is not.
Then don’t. Make your own decisions.
I can’t tell the difference between a lot of things other people wax lyrical about (like wine). On the other hand, I am capable of detecting the tiniest fragment of cilantro in a meal when to other people it’s so dilute they can’t taste it at all (lucky them - to me cilantro tastes like Pinesol smells)
If you tell me you can’t taste a difference I’m not going to argue with you, it’s not worth it given that there are definite variations in how people taste things.
Actually, when I can get 'em I like 'em from local layers and I don’t care about the size. Had a co-worker who adopted chickens and when I asked about eggs she said they were just started laying and were mostly small. Said I didn’t care, happy to take 'em. Just cook more of them at one time. When baking figure out the weight of egg innards the recipe calls for then crack enough tiny/small eggs to get that amount by weight.
Why? Because I support local foods, backyard critters, and friends.
A dozen eggs last me longer than a week, usually 3-4 weeks. After all, it’s just me and I’m not a big egg eater.
Also this:
All other things being equal I’d rather the chickens be happy than miserable.
Ditto. I’ve got my own backyard ladies, and they’re happy, even if they don’t always keep up with demand.
Do stores sell “bad” eggs? What is the brand name?
Eggland’s Worst.
You just never know what’s “bad” !
Are you talking cracking the egg into a small cup to make sure it isn’t bad first? If so, I can’t remember the last time I got a bad egg. I just drop them in straight because it is so rare.
If that isn’t what you are talking about, what are you talking about?
I have used food stamps (ebt) for a long time and no one has ever monitored or commented on my purchases.
An 8$ wrap was bought the other day, but all my purchases are usually 5$ or less.