Here's another quickie. Even with our chickens, ducks, and turkeys, the darkness and extreme cold of our winters reduces their production. The ducks and turkeys really only lay for a couple/few months a year, anyway. We used to put a lamp in with the birds to increase their production, but it shortens their egg laying years, and we just didn't want to deal with either the extra electricity or mess with them too much. So, we have more birds, and save eggs a bit more in the winter (that is another benefit of a fast right before the Nativity, we can save up the eggs laid each day so we can make our baked goods and breakfast treats during Christmas).

I give you all this background just so you know where we are with eggs. We are definitely grateful for our birds, and we are still getting eggs, but not as much as we will in a few weeks, when there is more light and heat. Eggs are selling for between $6.00 and $9.00 a dozen here, unless you find a special, and are often limited. Also, when we do buy eggs, we try to get pastured eggs which allow the chickens to eat grass and bugs outdoors, which are always a little more expensive, anyway. As an aside, we have found the the prices of items like this, pastured eggs, raw or grass fed dairy, naturally cured meats, are holding better. They were already priced where they needed to be, rather than a lower price because of subsidies or bulk purchase deals, so they have really only risen in price minimally, if at all.

Anyway, when I was at the grocery store a couple weeks ago and saw four quart cartons of pasteurized liquid egg marked down to $1.50 each, I took a second look. I will be honest, they are pretty vile if you try to eat them as scrambled eggs on their own (better if you are adding vegetables to them). The liquid egg is made of egg white, spices and seasoning. So, I bought them, but rather than use them alone, I have been using them as about 60% off my egg mixtures for breakfast casseroles, and in savory baked goods. (The seasonings are definitely on the savory side, so I wouldn't recommend this for cookies or cake). Doing it this way has made the difference in taste nearly undetectable, and has kept our costs down. It also saves our good eggs for cookies and cakes and pancakes and things like that. Each of those cartons of egg white was the equivalent of 15 eggs, and even before this egg shortage, we didn't see over a dozen eggs for $1.50.

As a disclaimer, I have to admit that we also have friends who raise chickens and either give us for free or sell us for cheap eggs when we need extras, too. So far, none of them has raised prices. I am looking forward to the end of February and beginning of March when we will start to see eight to 12 eggs a day again.

Previous Posts:
Make it at Home
Grocery Shopping
Waste Not, Want Not
Soup
The Celery Stalks at Midnight
Use What You Have
Combining Trips
Storing Bulk Purchases
Turn It Off
Grow Your Own
Buying in Bulk
Gleaning
Entertainment on the Down Low
Finding Fun Locally
Holiday Shopping
Reconsidering Convenience
More Bang for Your Grocery Buck
Preserving the Harvest
Revisiting Kitchen Strategies
Extreme Frugality
Bargain Getaways
Cultivating or Curating Abundance
Making Your Own Snacks and Treats
How Weird Is Too Weird? Things We Don't Think of Eating
Fuel Costs

Labels: Family, Frugality, Homemaking, Tales from the Kitchen