Egg prices got you down?
The high cost of eggs has been widely lamented and even was a factor in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Donald Trump said he’d reduce the price of eggs – and groceries – on Day One. However, it didn’t happen. In fact, he walked-back his commitment to cut grocery prices saying that it’s “hard to bring things down.”
Although the price of eggs has come down, they’re about to spike again.
What to do? Here are some suggestions.
Use egg substitutes in baking. Eggs add moisture, leavening, and binding in baking. Applesauce or mashed bananas can be used in baking to replace eggs. Use a quarter of a cup to replace one egg. You also can try chia or flaxseed, silken tofu, baking soda and vinegar, buttermilk, Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree, soda water, mashed potatoes, or aquafaba, the liquid that comes in a can of chickpeas. Look up how much of these substitutes to use and how they will effect your baked item as each alternative may yield slightly different results.
Try commercial egg substitutes in baking. I’ve used them when making pancakes and baking corn bread. They worked well.
Serve other breakfast options. Try granola with yogurt and berries, fruit smoothies, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts, and tacos. Cinnamon rolls and biscuits, available in tubes, and can be baked quickly for breakfast. Just Egg, a mung bean-based liquid, can be used in omelets or scrambled. It also comes in a patty, called Just Egg Folded.
Replace egg-heavy meals. Try instead making vegan meatballs and meatloaf, a tofu scramble, or a vegan quiche.
Make eggs go further in cooking. You can add vegetables to your scrambled eggs so fewer of them are used. Add cooked vegetables, such as leftover vegetables, or try spinach.
Skip egg washes on pies and biscuits. Use cream instead.
Look for recipes that don’t have eggs. The depression cake, for example, doesn’t contain eggs, milk, or butter. Other possibilities are shortbread cookies and apple crisp.
As for backyard chickens, use caution. They’re a lot of work and health officials warn that the cases salmonella are increasing due to the improper handling of eggs produced at home.
I hope some of these tips will help ease your egg anxiety. We may need to deal with it for some time.
Trump the 2nd time around is just a more exaggerated & vindictive version of Trump 1: a few news sources used to track how often Trump reversed himself, I eventually lost count of how often he did. His determine to use his office to punish those who criticize him or publicly comment on his reversals has greatly increased.
Canada’s not having the egg shortages (yet) that the US is experiencing: it’s thought to be because; (1) CN agricultural policy provides support to smaller farms, so chicken farms there have far fewer chickens then the huge egg-laying factory farms of the US; (2) on average, winters are colder for longer. I doubt if it’s lack of exposure–I think there are migratory pathways, and plenty of migrating birds there too.
People in the US are (again & again) pay the price (literally as well as metaphorically) for fed & state gov’t policies favoring corporate profits over safety/public health,. Some of the nations in the EU are seeing their egg prices rise too. Only nation that’s agreed to export a lot more eggs to the US is Turkey: an extra 15,000 tons–but it’s a only a temporary agreement. My guess is those eggs will be expensive as they’ll probably need to be shipped by air. or they’ll have a very short use by date. https://www.dw.com/en/us-egg-shortage-does-europe-have-any-to-spare/a-71968918
The way chickens are raised for meat and egg laying in the United States is terrible. And you’re right — our capitalistic system favors corporations over small farmers, every time.