Eggs? (Shortage Dec 2022)

[HomeAgain]

I'm in New England.  I finally got well enough* to make it to the grocery store today.  We ended up hitting up Trader Joe's and BJ's (warehouse store). 

The cheapest eggs at TJ's (cage free, white) were $3.50/dozen.  That's up a little bit from a few weeks ago.  No limits.  BJ's, otoh, had their cheap brand 3 dozen for $15, and the name brand 2 dozen cartons didn't have a price listed.  There were a LOT of signs restricting people to two packs and warning about the egg shortage. 

 

*Get your flu shot.  This year's is really no joke.  I got mine last month and I'm doing better than the two in the house who didn't get theirs at all.  It is an absolutely paralyzing illness that will leave you fatigued and achy for a week or more. 

 

[Elfknitter.#]

5 hours ago, Elfknitter.# said:

Since about a week or two before Christmas, I noticed that a local Trader Joe's was out. I overheard a worker tell another customer that they received a set amount of egg cartons each day "due to the shortage." They stock each morning and once they're out, that's it for the day. I have a feeling the same is happening with Sam's Club as I notice they are out by the time I make it in the evenings. They had a 2 item limit up before the holiday. Aldi has eggs but last I noticed it was like $4.60/ doz. They used to sell them anywhere from $0.99-$1.50/ doz.

 

Correction: eggs at my local Aldi tonight= $5.60/ doz. No cage-free or organic ones available.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I went to the local Walmart today. Eggs are $5.75 a dozen for the cheapest brand. The 60 pack is $25 and some change. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Granny_Weatherwax

[Ting Tang]

My Walmart was nearly empty. I bought 18 cage free eggs. There were a few 60 packs for $20. I saw a few on their phones by the eggs, likely calling their spouses about the dilemma. This is just all too much for so many. Rapid inflation, shortages. I know it could be worse, but it’s hard for so many. 

[saraha]

4 hours ago, Elfknitter.# said:

Correction: eggs at my local Aldi tonight= $5.60/ doz. No cage-free or organic ones available.

The world is so weird. Prepandemic, I could get Aldi eggs for $0.49 a dozen! 

[historically accurate]

Walmart this morning had about 8 containers of egg - cheapest was $4.99 per dozen, most expensive $8.46. They had none of the 5 dozen box that I normally buy, but the tag said it was up over $25.

[kirstenhill]

Haven't seen actual shortages here in my Midwest small city, but prices have been around the $5 range.  That's the price at Aldi and at a gas station that always used to have cheap eggs. A regional chain was about $5.50. I bought for $4 at Target yesterday and was surprised at that "deal". 

[marbel]

Egg prices are high here in SE PA but supply seems mostly normal. Every now and then I'll see empty shelves but will be able to buy at another store. I've reached the point where I'll buy more if I get at or below a dozen. My family is small and not all of us eat eggs regularly but there is something about running out of eggs that makes me get twitchy and nervous. On the other hand, I don't have space for a box of 5 dozen. I buy 18-packs regularly.

[math teacher]

1 minute ago, marbel said:

Egg prices are high here in SE PA but supply seems mostly normal. Every now and then I'll see empty shelves but will be able to buy at another store. I've reached the point where I'll buy more if I get at or below a dozen. My family is small and not all of us eat eggs regularly but there is something about running out of eggs that makes me get twitchy and nervous. On the other hand, I don't have space for a box of 5 dozen. I buy 18-packs regularly.

I like to keep 3 eighteen packs. I used to keep 4, but we don't eat as many now. I could let it get lower, but I start getting nervous. If I decide to make deviled eggs, the older eggs shell better anyway.

[Hilltopmom]

Plenty in stock in upstate NY. We have a huge egg farm in our town. $6.59 a dozen today though for non organic! At the usual grocery store in town

I usually get them from my farming/teacher pal for $2-3 a dozen for organic 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Hilltopmom

[Ting Tang]

The shortages are due to food shortages, rising energy prices, and the bird flu--that is what I read.  I do know that many view the industry as cruel.  I am not sure if some of the gripes happen with small local farms? (such as killing male chicks?)  Anyway.  I think we could all deal with the reasoning being the bird flu, but I think it bothers people more because everything is just so weird and expensive.

[Ali in OR]

I bought 2 more dozen today at our Winco for $3.48 each. Different supplier than usual--name sounds more local. Not very many in the refrigerator case. I may have trouble when school starts back up and I'm shopping at 5pm.

[Lori D.]

Far less variety of eggs here in the SW, and the price has skyrocketed. A dozen eggs at the chain grocery store (store brand, not organic or free-range -- which was ALL that I could find, BTW) was $5.99/dozen. That's just about doubled what it was six months ago.

ETA -- PS
BTW -- the price on the cage free shelf (which was empty) was $7.99/dozen ::insert fainting emoji:: -- I was regularly getting that for $3.49/dozen just 2 months ago. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Lori D.

[Bootsie]

I just paid $6.65 for 18 eggs--organic, cage-free at Tom Thumb.  There were plenty of egg choices; overall prices are higher than they had been, but I haven't noticed if they have increased more than other food prices.

I was at another store that had a dozen for $6.99.  Or the had a large crate of eggs that you could pick and put in a carton for $7.50/dozen.  The manager said the eggs were from the same source; there was a perception of "farm fresh eggs" when people put them in the carton themselves that people were willing to pay a premium for.  

 

[Arcadia]

Costco 5 dozen eggs went from $10.99 last week to $15.99 today. Limit of 2 packs still in place.

[Malory]

Trader Joe's closest to me (SF Bay Area) has been running out of eggs everyday. You have to come very early to get any.

[prairiewindmomma]

Our Costco has had a sign out for the last few weeks stating “We have no eggs at this time.” Other places have signs about avian flu/tight supply/etc. and their eggs sell out soon after they are on the shelves. So far the dusty low traffic store still has some eggs most of the time. 

[Faith-manor]

Mark found a dozen organic eggs for $5.99 at the closest grocery store here since we use quite a few eggs. We have cut way back on meat, so we tend to eat boiled and scrambled eggs regularly. They had signs up that folks could only take one dozen per household (not enforceable so they may as just say one per customer at the checkout and hope people aren't there with teenagers and sending multiple individuals through the line).

Two stores in the county are out. Wal-Mart is limiting egg purchases as well.

[Lucy the Valiant]

4 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Mark found a dozen organic eggs for $5.99 at the closest grocery store here since we use quite a few eggs. We have cut way back on meat, so we tend to eat boiled and scrambled eggs regularly. They had signs up that folks could only take one dozen per household (not enforceable so they may as just say one per customer at the checkout and hope people aren't there with teenagers and sending multiple individuals through the line).

Two stores in the county are out. Wal-Mart is limiting egg purchases as well.

The teenagers are the REASON my household needs so many eggs! 😉

 

Our Aldi had regular eggs $4.79 / dozen. 😞  Yikes. 😞

 

[KungFuPanda]

I bought eggs Friday. Giant’s store brand was 7–something so I ended up buying Eggland’s Best for 6-something. This was for an 18 egg carton

[Carrie12345]

On 12/29/2022 at 10:52 AM, Grace Hopper said:

We have eggs, I usually buy the pricier ones anyway and noticed a small price increase but I just figured it was a holiday upcharge. It didn’t appear to me there was a big scarcity (again, aside from heavy holiday grocery shopping).

IME, baking related items generally have huge discounts through holidays.  Not this time, lol.

[Grace Hopper]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

IME, baking related items generally have huge discounts through holidays.  Not this time, lol.

Butter is my barometer! It seems to go on sale around holiday time. I don’t do a lot of holiday baking, but have other recipes that use butter. I guess I never paid attention to holiday egg prices before. 😂

[Farrar]

After this thread started, I started looking to see if there are shortages around me. I get my eggs and milk delivered from a dairy, so I only occasionally buy eggs in the store these days. But there don't seem to be any shortages around me. The Giant, Safeway, and TJ's all had plenty of eggs. The Giant and TJ's both had some empty space in the last week or so, but still plenty of eggs. And I'm in such a high traffic/sales area that it's super common to see that type of gap in what's on the shelves just because so many people buy. Like, that TJ's is hilarious to shop in during busy times because you go in, navigate through the produce area, and then get in the line. And then you just follow the line all the way through the store, taking things off the shelves as you go and then eventually ending up in the single line checkout.

[Lori D.]

Updating... Costco was completely OUT of eggs this weekend.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Tangentially related . . . has anyone ever water glassed eggs? We are trying it this year for the first time but haven't opened the jars yet.

[Arcadia]

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/egg-prices-rising-chicken-bird-flu/
“Egg prices have more than tripled in some states over the last year. Here's why.

As demand for eggs has risen, production in the U.S. has slumped because of the ongoing bird, or "avian," flu epidemic. Nearly 58 million birds have been infected with avian flu as of January 6, the USDA said, making it the deadliest outbreak in U.S. history. Infected birds must be slaughtered, causing egg supplies to fall and prices to surge.

Families and restaurants alike are now paying elevated prices for eggs as the outbreak impacts 47 states. 

In California, for example, data shows the average price for a dozen eggs reached $7.37 last week, compared with $2.35 a year ago. The national average egg price per dozen wholesale is now $3.30, the USDA said last week. The average price for a dozen eggs by U.S. city grew to a record $3.58 in November, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 

Sharp said prices will likely not fall again until after new chickens are born without the infection and grow to egg-laying age. More than 300 flocks of farm-raised poultry have been hit by the outbreak as of last Friday, according to USDA data. 

In New York, grocery store owner Jose Filipe said that soaring egg costs have caused many customers to change their spending habits.

"I've seen customers gravitate from buying organic eggs now to more conventional eggs, and specifically now, the half dozen. Prices have quadrupled in about six or seven months," he recently told CBS New York's Jenna DeAngelis.”

[Condessa]

We were doing better here than most places, and were still able to get the large 5 dozen packs at about $3 per dozen.  Now those are gone from the store with no place left open for them, and the cheapest eggs to be found are $5.28 per dozen.  We’re still working our way through some eggs I found on a great sale last month, but once those are done we might just not be eating eggs anymore until something changes.

[klmama]

I just bought eggs yestetday. Still none at Costco, but I bought a regional brand of cage-free eggs for $4 per dozen at the grocery. The national brands were more.

[cjzimmer1]

Aldi was $4.42 a dozen today.

 

Costco was $3.19 a dozen.  They had them in 5 dozen boxes or 7.5 dozen boxes, limit of two.  They also had some in 2 dozen container but they may have been organic, I didn't look that closely since the price per dozen was quite a bit higher (but I don't remember exactly just that it was more than I was willing to pay)

[Arcadia]

@mathnerd Trader Joe’s Palo Alto

 

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Arcadia

[Jean in Newcastle]

Still no shortages, price increases or limits here.  

[prairiewindmomma]

Man, @Arcadia, you almost make me wish dh had taken the job in Palo Alto. Everyone I know in Menlo Park/Palo Alto/Mountain View--even in Berkeley on the other side of the bay-- seems to be having no problems with groceries.  Maybe I need to start taking a commuter flight; fresh eggs are allowed in carryon luggage. 😂

[Arcadia]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html
“The egg shortage has enabled record quarterly profits and sales at Cal-Maine Foods (CALM), the largest producer and distributor of eggs in the United States. The company produces brands such as Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land's Best and Land O' Lakes eggs.

Cal-Maine's profit increased 65% to $198 million during the three months ended Nov. 26 from a year ago.

…

And as supply remains tight and its profits surge, Cal-Maine said it expects the outbreak to continue to affect the overall supply of eggs this year.

Cal-Maine on December 28 reported record quarterly sales of $801.7 million, a 110% increase compared with the same quarter last year. 

The company said it was "driven by record average conventional egg selling price" to its retail customers. (Walmart is its largest customer.)

Cal-Maine's net average selling price per dozen conventional eggs for the quarter was $2.88, more than double from a year earlier, the company said. 

The company's selling prices for specialty eggs, which include enhanced, cage-free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised and brown eggs, rose 24.9% during the quarter to $2.37 per dozen.“

[marbel]

A dozen-and-a-half carton of store-brand large white eggs at Giant (regional grocery chain, I'm in Philadelphia suburbs) was $7.04 today. There were plenty of all the different sizes/types/brands of eggs. 

[saraha]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html
“The egg shortage has enabled record quarterly profits and sales at Cal-Maine Foods (CALM), the largest producer and distributor of eggs in the United States. The company produces brands such as Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land's Best and Land O' Lakes eggs.

Cal-Maine's profit increased 65% to $198 million during the three months ended Nov. 26 from a year ago.

…

And as supply remains tight and its profits surge, Cal-Maine said it expects the outbreak to continue to affect the overall supply of eggs this year.

Cal-Maine on December 28 reported record quarterly sales of $801.7 million, a 110% increase compared with the same quarter last year. 

The company said it was "driven by record average conventional egg selling price" to its retail customers. (Walmart is its largest customer.)

Cal-Maine's net average selling price per dozen conventional eggs for the quarter was $2.88, more than double from a year earlier, the company said. 

The company's selling prices for specialty eggs, which include enhanced, cage-free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised and brown eggs, rose 24.9% during the quarter to $2.37 per dozen.“

That is just plain wrong. I know companies need and should make a profit, but come on

[mathnerd]

@Arcadiai was at TJ’s at a location more south than PA and the entire freezer section was empty, clean - much like during the Covid shutdown with only a few pints of ice cream and a few random boxes of frozen food. There is hoarding of frozen food happening due to our serious weather incidents as well.

[Arcadia]

@mathnerd was at Stanford for my annual MRI so went to the town & country’s Trader Joe’s. It looked like they have just restocked the freezer section when we reached at 10am because it usually looks quite bare by the late afternoon. Yesterday many went grocery shopping due to no rain. Today we saw many out grocery shopping on our way home when the rain stopped for about 2 hours.

Costco MV staff were replenishing chicken (all kinds) when I was there at around 11am. Their eggs supplies were the two dozen packs and not that much. The cheaper white eggs were $6.49 while there was no price tag for the brown eggs.

We hoard more dry rations in case of power outages. 

[Arcadia]

If you buy eggs from Costco and Trader Joe’s, are the large eggs from Trader Joe’s larger than the recent 5 dozen eggs from Costco? I think Costco eggs (5 dozen pack) are the smallest compared to Trader Joe’s, Safeway/Vons and Sprouts house brand eggs.

The Costco eggs I have currently are 3mm slimmer and 4 to 5mm shorter than Trader Joe’s. I cook omelettes and fried rice often so I tend to remember volume of eggs in a bowl after cracking 5 large eggs. I buy eggs sporadically from Costco and don’t remember them being obviously smaller except for this recent batch. I thought the 2 dozen packs looked normal size today but that store did not have the 5 dozen for me to compare. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Eggs are graded by size. I am guessing your box is grade medium and you are used to larges or jumbos? I usually buy AA larges but the current eggs I could buy are grade A mediums. I am guessing they are from younger hens.

[Arcadia]

16 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Eggs are graded by size. I am guessing your box is grade medium and you are used to larges or jumbos? I usually buy AA larges but the current eggs I could buy are grade A mediums. I am guessing they are from younger hens.

This was the type I bought. It does say large. I guess I am used to bigger size large eggs.

[Condessa]

I've been noticing for the last several months that the 5 dozen pack medium eggs I normally buy have seemed smaller on average than they used to, too.  I assume they must still fit within the parameters to be considered medium, but maybe the company used to put eggs that were close to the line in the lower size-category, and now they are putting them in the higher if they strictly can?

[Ann.without.an.e]

I've never been more thankful to have chickens y'all. They drive me crazy sometimes and they don't lay as much as they used to lay but their 3-4 eggs a day are sufficient most weeks for us. 

[Arcadia]

@Condessa apparently eggs go by weight and not size

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/S01ShellEggSpecGuideforVolumeBuyers.pdf

[saraha]

Went to our small town save a lot today. Tons of cartons of 1 dozen eggs for $3.99

[alysee]

Here in Ontario a dozen generic large eggs is $3.69. I believe that's up from about $2.50-$2.99. 

[Arcadia]

Costco Sunnyvale:

5 dozen organic $18.99

2 dozen organic $8.99

5 dozen $15.99

2 dozen $6.49

People were majority getting 5 dozen organic brown eggs. No limits.

[Faith-manor]

On 1/14/2023 at 11:54 AM, Arcadia said:

@Condessa apparently eggs go by weight and not size

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/S01ShellEggSpecGuideforVolumeBuyers.pdf

When we had the rocket team and they had to launch eggs as the payload in their competition which also meant for all of their practice and qualification launches, we had both a weight range and diameter/circumference that had to be met. This meant that often out of a dozen grade a medium eggs only one or two would meet the requirement. We would do 3 to 9 launches at a time 21 to 25 launches prior to competition - and eggs were never re-used because even if you pack and launch them correctly so the shells have no damage the first launch, G force weakens the structure, and they will absolutely break the second time which is a D.Q. So that meant we went through several dozen eggs during the season just to have enough eggstranauts. Usually we had to have the team over every couple of weeks and make them eat scrambled eggs or quiche so the rejects were eaten in a timely manner. I'd say it was about as hard to end up in the Rocket Competition Astronaut Corp as it was to make it into the NASA Astronaut Corp if it was a bad year for finding eggs 55-58mm circumference and 57-62 grams. 😂 The golden egg, the Neil Armstrong of eggs, was the rare eggstranaut from a farm fresh dozen. If there was one that met the restrictions, it seemed to have indestructible shells. One of those things survived the most epic crash landing, and came out unscathed. The kids decided to boil him, draw a face on him, and keep him as a good luck mascot for a while.

One season, NAR officials (National Association of Rocketry) estimated they would have to buy 2000 eggs in order to have 300 eggstranauts for the Finals. They begged for recipes to use up the crazy things because since the teams would all be traveling back home the next day, they couldn't just stick eggs in every team's field box which meant 10 dozen or more going home with every NAR volunteer.

Anyway, off topic. But, if you happen to be in the Front Royal/Great Meadows, Haymarket, Manassas area the third week of May and cannot find eggs anywhere, you will know who to blame.  😁 🚀🚀🚀

[Annie G]

On 1/14/2023 at 11:54 AM, Arcadia said:

@Condessa apparently eggs go by weight and not size

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/S01ShellEggSpecGuideforVolumeBuyers.pdf

I currently buy eggs from Costco in the 5 dozen package, size large.  This morning I weighed the egg contents after I cracked each one. Of the 5 eggs, 3 were exactly 50 grams and two were 48. The charts looks like they should be between 50 and 55 grams. On average they meet the standard, but just barely.  


 

[prairiewindmomma]

Costco here still has no eggs. Smart food Warehouse (formerly Cash and Carry, a restaurant supply store) had about three packs of 60 eggs ( for $32.45 each)or you could buy 10 dozen eggs for $63. They had a couple of boxes of free range organic eggs but I forgot to snap a price for those. 
 

The eggs were probably sold out before we left the store, given what others’ carts looked like, but it’s good to know some place that is still getting shipments.

[Lucy the Valiant]

$4.79 / dozen at Aldi here   😞