Open Thread: What Kind of Eggs Do You Buy?
Anyone sick of eggs yet? It seems not, so we’ll keep going.
Eggland’s Best recently hosted me for a breakfast-for-dinner bloggers event in NYC, and they sent us all home with not just a bag of hard-boiled eggs, but also a shitload of information about what makes their pricey eggs so effing special.
Honestly, I never think twice about what kind of eggs to buy. I think once — I look at the prices and that’s it. And while I didn’t quite follow everything the Eggland shills were trying to tell me about Omega-3s, Vitamin E, lutein and all that crap, I have to admit it got me wondering — do I need to be more of an egg snob?
Am I totally missing out by going for the cheapest eggs? Do all you egg fanatics shell out for the eggpensive kinds? Do they taste that much better than the 99-cent eggs? I mean, it all came out of the same side of the chicken, right? So is there really a huge difference?
Discuss.
I’ve heard that Eggland’s is indeed the grand poobah of the egg realm but I buy my local market’s brand of organic large eggs with omega 3. I consider myself and egg snob but hey in this economy.. you do have to do what’s best for the wallet.
I don’t know about omega 3’s, vitamin e, lutein and all that crap either but I do know that the yolks of organic eggs have a more vibrant color and I think they taste better too.
I try to buy from local farmers whenever possible. Living in chicken country, we have a bunch. I eat 2 eggs (either scrambled or fried) daily for breakfast, so I eat a lot of eggs. There’s quite a difference, to me, between any store bought egg and eggs that are produced from a small-scale farmer who treats and feeds the chickens right.
I can tell a difference in cooking- I buy farmer’s market eggs, and they’re a lot richer. The yolks are brighter, and they often bigger. That being said, unless I’m baking, it takes me upwards of 2 months to go through a dozen eggs, so it’s not really a huge expense for me.
I buy local eggs from local producers, but refuse to buy the national brands of fancy natural or organic eggs. They’re all packaged in non-recyclable plastic or styrofoam containers. How does it help the environment to let the chickens run free but fill the landfills with plastic?
i’m all local now too. i just traded someone a jar of sourdough starter for 6 eggs their hens laid and a jar of homemade Armenian style pickles. the liquid is pink!
Yeah, I keep my eggs way past their expiration date (like you) and I just buy what I always do at Trader Joe’s (cuz they’re the cheapest in the city I’ve found). I also somewhat refuse to buy eggs for more than like $2/doz so I usually wind up with large instead of extra large or jumbo… I can definitely taste the freshness of good/fresh eggs but because I keep my eggs for so long, I don’t see the point in spending the extra $$ for fresher eggs when I’m only going to eat, at most – and this is being generous – 4 eggs at their peak freshness, which is what I’d be paying extra for, and the rest are going to be eaten slowly per usual. I eat the fresh eggs at restaurants 😛
Also, I wanted to go to that Eggland thing but I don’t even know where to buy Eggland eggs! and I think I’d be too grossed out by the pre-peeled/hard boiled eggs to want to eat them. Don’t hard boiled eggs go bad faster than raw (I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere)? Do they taste weird? Do they smell weird? ARE they weird??? Just you know, so curious about this.
@ Yvo – another thing they said at the dinner event was that the smaller the egg, the higher the quality. Apparently, chickens provide the same amount of shell nutrients, no matter the size of the egg, so smaller eggs are better protected and thus tastier. Who knew?
Also, the hard boiled eggs were surprisingly not weird tasting, not weird smelling…but I still think they’re weird as hell. Made some tasty egg salad – more on that to come.
Luceren’s “Best of the egg” – it can throw some off due to its milk carton packaging. I believe it’s really just egg whites, dyed yellow to make you feel like you’re eating a yoke.
How does Eggland’s get more Omega-3s and Vitamin E into their eggs? Poor chickens! In CA we like to make sure our foul live with respect and at least 300sq feet of living space.
I have bought the weird pre-peeled hard boiled eggs in a bag before (because I’m a sucker for easy things) and yeah, they totally tasted fine but OMG! THEY GO BAD SO FAST! I had brought them to work to keep in the fridge to have for a snack and after like 2 days, the smell of rotten eggs took over the office and it was so embarrassing because everyone was like WHOSE BAG OF BOILED ROTTEN BOILED EGGS IS THIS!
I just bought a dozen Eggland’s Best eggs at Harris Teeter here in DC for one reason and one reason only: Triple Coupon Week + $0.75 off coupon = $2.25 savings on a dozen eggs.
We love to poach eggs, either over English muffins for breakfast or in chicken broth as a light, satisfying dinner…but we have yet to notice a significant difference between mainstream-grocery-bought, Trader Joe’s-bought, and farmers’ market-bought eggs. So for us, at least, price is still the determining factor.
@JoeHoya, Harris Teeter totally confuses me. I never understand how to get the savings they offer, and I leave the store feeling significantly dumber than I was when I entered. Please to explain the magic of Harris Teeter.
For me, the magic of the Teeter is threefold:
1. Significantly better (and more diverse) produce selection.
2. Double coupons (up to 99 cents face value) at all times, and occasional triple coupon promotions.
3. 6″ subs for as low as $2.99 (specific daily specials) with a loyalty program that accrues free subs on top of that.
Otherwise it’s pretty much your average grocery store, but the quality and the selection surpass Giant and Safeway.
Does that help?
Ahhh…how does one get the HT coupons?
They’re not HT coupons…The Teeter doubles manufacturers’ coupons (up to $0.99), like the ones you get in the Sunday paper.
You know, this is one of those conversations the college me never really imagined the adult me having…
@JHoya: haha….yeah, ditto. well this was really helpful! thanks.