Eggs are in short supply these days. Some markets run out at their regular prices. Others resort to gouging their customers. What are some of the more eye popping prices you have seen?
Grocery Outlet: $12 a dozen
99 Ranch: $14 a dozen
(Info passed along to me by family)
Meanwhile Target doesn’t even have quantity restrictions. Trader Joe’s limits a dozen per trip.
2 Likes
I’ve been getting mine for many many years by subscription to a CSA. I think this is where they get them, currently listed at $9.99. I haven’t been following the price over the last few years, but i wouldn’t call it eye popping.
I think these
and these
are $8.99
And I think these are $10.99
From
Quoting under $5.00 in December.
Whaaaaat
(Meanwhile, india has joined the US in the egg shortage situation)
The last $5 egg guy at the Union Square Greenmarket is now charging $6. Sigh.
$4.75 for local eggs here. But I live in the boonies.
1 Like
Two months ago Great Value 18 count XL eggs were $3.76. Yesterday $8.77. No shortage, no limits and by the looks of the well stocked shelves, not a lot of buyers.
3 Likes
I think laying hens were more impacted by the influenza that meat chicken - at least, that’s what I read somewhere as an explanation for egg price inflating much more quickly than chicken meat itself.
[EDIT - I see @shrinkrap already covered this.]
I buy extra-large eggs and as of last purchase about 10 days ago paid $9/18 egg pack (I got 3 packs), so $6/dozen. They’ve been at or near this pricing for several months. But 18 months ago I believe I was getting the 18 pack XL for $3.29…
I just looked online at local Kroger pricing for large eggs (which is probably what most folks get) and they’re listed at $5/dozen.
2 Likes
I buy chicken eggs as locally as I can source them here in Massachusetts. In the warmer months that means I buy from the small farmer down the road. At the end of the season in November, her price was $6.00 per dozen which she explained was due to the high cost of grain. She only sells direct from her roadside farm stand, so other factors like demand and avian flu (so far) that large producers face aren’t part of the mix.
In the cold months, I buy direct from a larger family farm that’s able to keep their hens laying through the winter. Retail price for 1 dozen free-range eggs is currently at $7.00. Again, there’s no distribution markup so the price I pay is production-driven.
These farmers I buy from are admirably trying to hold their prices down. Yet the old saying “that’s chicken feed”—meaning something is cheap—apparently no longer applies these days.
1 Like
I live in a part of Canada where there are egg producers 20 minutes from my house.
The cheapest conventional eggs at my independent store run around $3.99 -$4.99 CAD (around $3 -$4 USD) / dozen, and the fancier free range eggs might cost $6.99 - $8.99 CAD/dozen at the same store.
A national chain grocery store that offers a cheaper level of store in its portfolio ( No Frills , Food Basics, Price Chopper) probably has some cheaper conventional eggs for $3.99/ dozen or less.
I am usually paying between $4.99 CAD and $6.99/ dozen for the cheaper to midrange eggs. Butter costs $7.99 CAD -$ $8.99 CAD / lb, and milk costs $5.49/ 2 litres ( close to 2 quarts).
The price of butter bothers me more than the price of eggs! The price of cauliflower ($5.99 CAD) also bothers me more than the price of eggs!
Cauliflower is $2.49 on special this week at Metro in my area. I get upset with specials,wish the prices would be more consistent and skip the specials. Any bets cauliflower will be 6.99 or more to make up for the specials. Eggs have been on special but they are always medium. Most baking recipes use large.
1 Like
I think it’s a loss leader for the store when the price is $2.49 or $2.99. Farm Boy in Ldn has cauliflower at $2.99 Cad this week. It has been between $5 and $7 at my independent store and Loblaws.
I just won’t buy some vegetables when they are priced higher than I would like. I grow my own green beans and zucchini, which means I don’t buy them from July to Oct, so seeing green beans at $5.99/lb, when I considered anything over $2.99/lb too expensive last winter, means I’m not buying too many green beans.
The quick sale produce shelf at Farm Boy and my local independent market offers the best quality produce for low prices. Some people show up right when the independent store opens to have their pick of the quick sale produce and meats.
I take a quick look at what’s available for quick sale whenever I happen to be there (usually mid afternoon), and there’s usually quite a lot of product, some a little ripe. I would think supply and demand for the quick sale produce varies a lot from location to location.
In the interest of saving gas, I don’t travel out of my way for specific groceries, unless I’m going to be saving more than $10-$20, in which case, I make that shopping trip my bigger shopping trip of the week.
I currently visit Loblaws, Sobey’s or Metro around once a month when I need canned goods, paper products, cereal or cleaning products.
I’ve really changed my shopping and cooking habits over the past 3 years.
1 Like
$3.09 for jumbo regular eggs.
$5.50 or so for free range.
Celery is what I can’t justify right now.
$4.99 a lb.!
3 Likes
A week ago they were $2.38. Just looked and the same eggs are now $4.89.
1 Like
Part of the reason for egg prices in CA being so high is that effective as of January 1, 2022, CA banned the production and sale of meat and eggs from animals raised in cages, which meant only eggs from cage-free hens could be sold in CA.
With cage-free eggs making up about 30% of the egg market and over 5 million of those hens lost during the bird flu, there simply aren’t enough eggs to supply the California market, hence the astronomical prices. At least in CA.
2 Likes
I know the avian flu has swept through egg farms, chicken farms and turkey farms across Canada. Turkeys might be a lot more expensive next fall, at least in Western Canada, according to one of my farmer cousins.
Loblaws in Toronto was getting flack last week for charging around $12 CAD/ lb for antibiotic free boneless skinless chicken breasts. I usually pay around $3.49-$4.99 CAD/lb (around $3-$4/lb USD/lb) for whole chicken, quarters or thighs, maybe around $6 CAD/lb ($4.50 -$ 5 USD)for boneless skinless thighs.
1 Like
Thanks - I remember reading something about that but all I recalled was it concerned pork and that pork prices were projected to jump in CA.
Did the egg prices start going up pretty much as soon as the new law took affect, last January?
It sure seems that way, but it appears to be a confluence of factors, from pandemic (what else?) to Proposition 12 in CA to shifting consumer demand for “organic” and “cage free” hens, egg prices have not been cheap in CA.
I bought Kroger extra large white for $4.09. Oregon coast, they were out of the cage free brown eggs I usually buy. There was a sign mentioning the shortage.
