Comment by redcobra762
2 days ago
I genuinely don't understand why the focus is on egg prices. Who out there is paying more than a total of $3-$5/month more in eggs? And no, even to the absolutely poorest among us, that's not a meaningful amount.
Yes, egg prices, as a percentage are going up a lot, but as an absolute value? I can get a dozen eggs from Walmart right now for $5.46. That isn't, by any measurement, a lot of money more than I would have paid a year ago.
People who eat eggs for breakfast are going to go through 2-3 per day. A family could go through an entire dozen in just 1 breakfast. Eggs here went from $3/dozen to $8/dozen.
At least in Los Angeles the prices for a dozen eggs are fluctuating between $3, $12, and an empty shelf.
Some restaurants are up charging for egg dishes although it's not widespread.
It's not the most back braking price fluctuations but it's one of the most obvious. I think the shortages are a lot more apparent than the prices themselves. And the fact it's fluctuating means it's on your mind even more as you wait out another sad, eggless week.
Our eggs last year varied between $1-2 dozen. Before that, they frequently dipped below $1/doz. With the price of literally all other groceries skyrocketing, our family made a conscious choice to switch away from higher proteins like beef to eating a lot of eggs because they were the cheapest source of protein readily available.
Now you can't buy a dozen of eggs in the stores around here for less than $6.
We go through a lot of eggs. That is a very big increase when you add it up throughout the year.
In December, I decided to try an egg diet where I would regularly consume a double digit number of eggs per day. This has has made the price of eggs quite noticeable. I am not eating as many these days as I did when I first had the idea.
Interestingly, when my grandparents were really short on money in the 20th century, they resorted to eating only eggs to get by. It remained a healthy diet option for poor people until recently.
Our family buys a dozen eggs a week. This is costing more like $15-20/month. At hundreds of dollars per year, that's actually money to me.
> Who out there is paying more than a total of $3-$5/month more in eggs?
You don't think a family of 4 can get through a dozen eggs in a single meal?
> I can get a dozen eggs from Walmart right now for $5.46.
This is literally your least expensive option and it's over the arbitrary $3-5 range you yourself defined.
TBH I haven't even noticed a price increase here in Brooklyn. I did notice that a lot of the "oh no eggs are running out" hysteria lined right up with some incoming winter storms, which typically drives up demand for basics like eggs, milk, and bread in the days before. Empty shelves for these items is incredibly common before snow. I don't doubt that there are places gouging, especially in Manhattan, but I just don't understand who is being impacted so much if I'm not seeing the same in one of the most HCOL and urban areas in the country
So weird how people freak out over winter storms in NYC. In the decade I've been here I don't think I've seen a single snowstorm had enough of an impact to close grocery stores.
Probably because no one wants to be on the street with a bunch of drivers that only see snow once a year just to pick up some eggs. More than a quarter of accidents happen in such conditions even though most of the population only sees snow for a short time out of the year so it’s not unwarranted.
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The price increases in Brooklyn have been huge.
And the eggs haven't been selling out before winter storms -- there haven't been any serious storms that anybody has "prepared" for, just regular snow. There's been absolutely no increase in price for milk or bread or anything else.
This is entirely because of bird flu, it's supply and demand, it's not price gouging.
I don't know why you're trying to convince yourself that the empty shelves at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are due to winter storms, or why you haven't noticed that eggs are $9 at your local bodega. Trader Joe's in Brooklyn even has signs explaining that the empty shelves are because of shortages from suppliers.
Again -- it's bird flu, pure and simple.
When I was a growing teenager I would easily eat 6-12 eggs in a day.
That's a crazy diet.
Feeding a teenager going through a growth spurt a healthy diet is no joke, and even harder when they’re athletes. Anything that gets them to eat whole foods instead of junk food to fill that gap is far from crazy. Twelve eggs is on the order of 700-800 calories anyway, it would barely get a third of the way there.
Eggs are a cheap meaty protein. Meat is healthier, but more expensive. (Unfortunately, a side effect of that diet is--if sustained beyond growth spurts--it trashes your cardiovascular system.)
Worked great for me. I was on swim team and did weight lifting and got shredded.
Are you Gaston?
People who work out a lot eat way way more than $5 in eggs per month; maybe $5 per day is more accurate (it's not only the rich who want to work out).
OP was talking about a $3-$5 per month increase, not a $3-$5 monthly total spend. This isn't the first comment in the first thread to miss that though so maybe OP could have worded it more clearly.
I work out every day, sometimes multiple times per day, and never eat eggs.
You must not cook for yourself much and have no children.
You can blow through a dozen eggs in a single day or even in one or two recipes.
>Who out there is paying more than a total of $3-$5/month more in eggs?
Seriously? I pay $12/dozen for organic pasture-raised (cheapest industrial eggs are ~$8) and eat 3-4 dozen a month.
There was a time in my life where our household of 2 was regularly going through 3 dozen eggs a week just for breakfast. Back then that would total $5 a week. Today that same amount of eggs are just under $20.
It’s not just the eggs, all grocery prices have gone up massively post covid. But eggs prices are easier to spot because they are super inflated thanks to bird flu, and are easy to understand as a necessity.
I'd keep an eye on your lipids if you are consuming 3 eggs every day for months on end. If all turns out great, perfect.
There was a medical student who ate 720 eggs in a month and his blood test numbers actually improved. The idea that consumption of large numbers of eggs is unhealthy was never true.
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This hypothesis (eggs causing high triglycerides) was disproven in randomized controlled trials. The main cause is refined carbohydrates and insulin resistance.
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They're easy to spot too on account of them not being subject to shrinkflation like other products can. A dozen will be a fixed unit forever I imagine.
+1. I think eggs prices are easy to spot since:
- they're sold everywhere
- they're bought by everyone
- they happen to be exceptionally high at the moment
It makes them an easy poster-child for inflation.
Egg prices are artificially inflated from the massive culling of chickens by producers due to bird flu. Nevertheless, egg prices are being pushed as a negative economic indicator for political reasons.
I don't think 'artificial' is the right word there... more like 'temporarily' or 'from supply shock', but it isn't an artificial increase
Is that artificial?