The Cost Of Eggs

 I am in a lot of different Facebook groups. Egg prices are becoming more and more ridiculously expensive. I was being rather boastful in saying that our egg prices, here in southwest Washington state, were still relatively affordable. While they are, especially when compared to other parts of the country, I have noticed a decided jump in prices.

A few weeks ago, I could buy 5-dozen eggs, at Walmart, for a few cents over $9. That was pretty affordable. Today, that same 5-dozen pack of eggs is over $13. That's a $4 jump in just a few weeks time.



This morning, I went through all of our major stores' websites and gathered screen shots of what they are charging for eggs. I did not get Winco's prices because they do not offer curbside pickup and I don't really shop a lot there as I find the store to be very crowded and I'm not really into crowds. Their prices run very close to Walmart's prices, however.

Here is the cost of eggs at Walmart. One peculiar thing I noticed is that an 18-pack is cheaper than a dozen. I'll definitely go for the 18-packs, if that's the case!

Here is the cost of eggs at Safeway. They are running a bit higher than Walmart is. I watch for sales there and I also watch for markdowns.

Fred Meyer, at this particular time, has the cheapest dozen eggs in our area, at $1.99 per dozen.


As far as getting the best deal for your money, Walmart has this in the bag with their 18-packs of eggs. If you buy 2 18-packs, it will run you just over $5. If you buy 3 dozen from Fred Meyer, it will cost you $5.97.

Now, in a few months, we'll be adding chickens to our little homestead up here. I've been cautioned that chicken feed is expensive. I don't doubt that at all, but, as everyone who knows me can attest to, I will find the best deal on chicken food.

We have our chicken coop. We bought this one off of Facebook Marketplace, last spring, before there was ever an egg shortage, for $100. It has 18 nesting boxes in it. We plan on getting 15-18 chickens. We have those 6 chain-length fence panels. They are 10-feet long x 6-feet high. That will be our chicken run. I will sell extra eggs. I will charge $5 per dozen for my farm eggs. I will get it, too. I am also not above bartering. In fact, I love to barter!

I priced chicken feed this morning. I looked at Wilco Farm Store, but they are super expensive, so I didn't even bother taking a screen shot of their prices.

So, I looked at Tractor Supply Company and Walmart.

Here's the cost of 40-50 lb. bags of food from Tractor Supply Company. I'll go through between 2-3 bags per month with as many chickens as I plan on having.

This is the cost of comparable bags of chicken feed from Walmart. It's much more affordable to get it from Walmart than it is to get it from TSC.

Of course, I'll be supplementing my chickens with garden produce. Remember those huge cabbages that I grew last year? Well, the leaves that we tossed out into the yard to compost down can go to the chickens. Our eggshells can go back to the chickens.

So, in a few months, we'll have laying hens and, hopefully, within the next several months, I'll be selling my eggs to make my chicken venture self-supporting.

Sneaky Supermarket Tactics To Get You To Spend More Money

 Yesterday, Safeway's new sales ad came out. They advertised 5 pounds of russet potatoes for 47 cents as a digital deal with their Just For U program. I knew I wanted to partake of that deal and I wanted to get some other things that would finish up my holiday shopping for Thanksgiving. I can just sit back now and start cooking ahead of next Thursday. No stress. I like that.

I noticed a few things that gave me pause yesterday. The first thing is that Safeway no longer sells their onions by the pound. They sell them by the unit. I used to pay 69 cents per pound for their medium yellow onions. It's now 69 cents each. I haven't bought onions for a while, as I grew a lot of them in my garden and was simply using those. But, I ran out. I knew I would. I know I want to plant a lot more next year, but that's a different blog post.

The tags in the store still look as though onions are 69 cents per pound, if you don't read the fine print. I think it's sort of sneaky on the part of Safeway, too. They could have just been on the up and up and put a sign on their website that they were no longer selling by the pound. They didn't do that. So much for transparency.

So, for a week's worth of onions, it cost me $5.52. I used to pay around $3 for that amount. The cashier said that they implemented this just a few short weeks ago.

Next, I noticed the eggs. I haven't bought eggs for several months because we have awesome friends who gift them to us. Bob does handyman type stuff for 3 or so people who love to send eggs home with him. I'm completely grateful for them, as well. But, with all good things, that has come to an end for this year as chickens do take a break from laying. We are on our last dozen and decided to buy some more to stock up a bit.
Yikes.
That's all I can say about that.
Yikes.

Normally, if I purchase eggs from the supermarket, I buy them by the 18-pack. At Safeway, large eggs are $3.69 per 18-pack. I buy eggs 3 dozen at a time. I don't like to run out of them. Three dozen eggs, if I purchased them by the 18-pack, would have cost me $7.38!
Holy Expensive, Batman!!
I glanced over at the large 12-packs. They were $1.89 each.
Hold up!
If I buy 3 of those vs. buying 2 18-packs, it would be cheaper. It's like almost $2 cheaper. To be exact, it's $1.71 cheaper.

Here is the link to view yellow onions being 69 cents each on Safeway's website.
Here is the link to view the cost of buying an 18-pack of Lucerne eggs.

The moral of this blog post is to make sure you're doing the math. Use a calculator, if you must. There's no shame in it.If you have a smartphone, you have a calculator.  Read the fine print on the tags to make sure that they are selling by the pound or if it is the price each. Supermarkets are going to try to squeeze every cent from you that they can. If we remain vigilant, we can keep those extra bucks in our pockets and not into the coffers of non-transparent supermarkets, especially going into the holidays.
I hope this post helps you out and makes you aware. These supermarkets are, quite literally, banking on the fact that most people are rushed and not going to look that closely at what they are doing. Well, that rat race is going to have to make do with one less rat. I always take my time to get the best prices that I possibly can and, when I find something shady, I'll let you guys all know about it.
Take care!