Buying Eggs: Don't Get Suckered by Fancy Labels - Save Money, Save Time - Cooking

Buying Eggs: Supermarket Savvy

No Comments | Written on November 7, 2011 at 9:00 am, by Rachel Achmad

courtesy of Rachel Achmad

I’ve always been willing to shell out more to buy eggs with pretty brown shells, especially if they’re labeled “natural” or “cage-free,” under the vague assumption that they were … um … lovingly hand-gathered from cozy nests by a red-cheeked farmer’s wife.

This week, I was the one with the red cheeks as my family and I weathered a seven-day power outage caused by a freak autumn snowstorm. Reduced to cooking outside in freezing temperatures on a single propane burner, I kept cooking eggs because they’re quick and easy. All of this egg consumption made me curious about egg labels and pricing.

I did some research, including diving into What’s Cooking’s information-packed article on egg types. One of the many things I learned was that there is no flavor difference between brown eggs and white ones. And there’s no nutritional difference either, according to FitDay.com. I also learned from Public News Service that there is almost no government monitoring of egg labeling — so many label claims might not even be true.

Even so, you can pay a lot more to buy eggs with fancy labels. How much more? To find out, I headed to my local supermarket, where I did some serious comparison shopping by looking at unit prices (price per 100 eggs). Store-brand brown eggs were $3 more per unit than store-brand white eggs, and brand-name brown eggs cost even more — anywhere from $2.50 to a whopping $8 more per unit. The biggest price jump was for organic eggs, where the price went as high as an additional $31.58 per unit ($6.58 per dozen) for organic eggs laid “by hens in sunlit barns and porches.”

So which of these eggs are worth shelling out more cash for? Well, with all I’ve learned, it seems you can only have confidence in two labels. The “organic” label is government regulated, so those hens are fed organically certified, pesticide-free feed. Eggs labeled “vegetarian-fed” are richer in omega-3 fatty acids because those hens are fed a flax-seed diet.

Thus, unless your eggs are labeled “organic” or “vegetarian-fed,” you might as well save money and buy the cheap store-brand white eggs. If you want assurance that your eggs are from happy barnyard hens, the only guarantee is to buy from a local farm — or to raise your own chickens.