Both of these egg prices are from Arlington, Virginia and both were seen during the same same week as I made my normal rounds in the County.
A dozen eggs at Traders Joe's cost 99 cents.
Trader Joe's has free and easy parking, an excellent selection of organic and non-organic foods, terrific prices, and very helpful people.
A dozen eggs at the Saturday outdoor farmer's market at Arlington Courthouse cost $5.00.
Parking here is a small hassle, and costs 75 cents for less than a hour's time. The selection of food is somewhat limited (as it is at all farmers markets), and there are a lot of cash transactions rather than one credit card or check transaction.
These eggs were not organic, though they were "pasture-raised" on a farm where I have hunted my dogs in the past.
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4 comments:
Thanks for the great tips on eggs! We are making our Trader Joe's run tomorrow! xoxo Romeo the Cat
Here in Princeton NJ I've the same trend... back home in New Haven, the weekly farmer's market is a nice place to pick up large quantities of produce that may be more difficult to find in the supermarket (big bunches of basil, good tomatoes) at a pretty decent price. Local small-scale farmers have an outlet to sell their produce, and I get to find greengage plums and Chinese vegetables at prices I'm comfortable paying on my hungry-student budget.
In Princeton, the local farmer's markets seem to be more about atmosphere: it's the place to go with your kids on a Sunday morning, where you can pat yourself on the back for "shopping local" and pay exorbitant prices for the privilege. $4.50 for an anemic-looking bunch of kale? No, thank you.
That's just the market, though. People here are willing to pay those kinds of prices for the kind of moral reassurance that comes with doing the trendy-foodie thing. I've got better things to do with my cash, though, so it's Wegman's and (soon!) Trader Joe's for me.
It occured to me at the farmer's market that this was not just food for these people -- it could be a kind of religion. When they pay $5 for eggs they may be tithing or buying absolution for sin. We had a spring chicken for dinner. He was dead at a few weeks -- do we really care about their spiritual condition for a life so brief? Is that an unreasonable question?
P
Did you taste-test the eggs?
I've never heard of $5/dozen, anywhere. And presumably not organic, since they don't advertise that. (Though pastured -- if truly pastured -- is far more important from a nutrition / taste / welfare standpoint.)
Pastured eggs around here go for $2-$3 dozen, depending on where.
Just as I simply don't eat store-bought tomatoes, I can no longer choke down store eggs. I don't order eggs when I'm out. This is purely a taste question. Or at least, the taste issue is sufficient one.
There's a significant taste difference between our home-grown chicken and commercial chicken, too, but it is nowhere near as dramatic.
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