Today is National Egg Day! So what does that mean? Oh, I don't know exactly, except that we seem to have a day for everything in the declaration of some group somewhere! But as I thought over the course of the day about what I could post- a photo of a colorful egg basket, some of our different sizes of eggs, or double yolk-ers, etc, I came across the following meme on Facebook:
Honestly, they have a point.
For some reason, we want the commodities to remain the same, while we are willing to pay more for luxury goods and convenience items, giving less importance to how things are raised or produced.
You often see me say things like "Vote with your dollars." This merely means that by the choices you make in your shopping, you are voting for specific ways of raising animals and growing food.
This applies to gmos, pesticides, hothouse foods, seasonal foods, and the feed used with livestock. It looks at buying local, and noticing how animals are raised and treated, as well as demanding the feed to be in accordance with your values. If you are looking for organic, non gmo veggies, are you looking for non-gmo feed for the livestock?
Or maybe that doesn't matter, but when you look at the cost of eggs over time, and the inflation against the cost of other commodities across time, and consider how many of those commodities have extra things added now to keep the prices artificially low, we must think hard about whether we like those prices more than the original product, and whether the cost of those prices in terms of long term health care costs are worth it.
Also, when choosing to pay more for an item, like pastured eggs, or organic or cage free, understand the meaning of the term. While there are many folks who provide local fresh eggs to the markets, there are a few different price points, and also some are kept in different environments or fed different feeds. Then decide for yourself what is right for you and your family. Not sure what they are? Check out the meanings in this blog post here:
And, for your reference, here is a commodity retail price sheet. Have fun, and I welcome your comments and thoughts!
Retail Prices of Selected Foods in U.S. Cities, 1890–2011
Prices below are in dollars or cents.
| Year | Flour (5 lbs) | Bread (lb) | Round steak (lb) | Bacon (lb) | Butter (lb) | Eggs (doz.) | Milk (1/2 gal.) | Oranges (doz.) | Potatoes (10 lbs) | Coffee (lb) | Sugar (5 lbs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | $2.75 | $1.48 | $4.69 | $4.82 | $3.67 | $1.95 | $1.86 | $6.00 | $7.35 | $5.65 | $3.51 |
| 2010 | $2.36 | $1.41 | $4.41 | $4.77 | $3.63 | $1.47 | $1.66 | $6.00 | $5.79 | $4.16 | $3.11 |
| 1970 | 58.9¢ | 24.3¢ | $1.30 | 94.9¢ | 86.6¢ | 61.4¢ | 65.9¢ | 86.4¢ | 89.7¢ | 91.1¢ | 64.8¢ |
| 1965 | 58.1 | 20.9 | $1.08 | 81.3 | 75.4 | 52.7 | 52.6 | 77.8 | 93.7 | 83.3 | 59.0 |
| 1960 | 55.4 | 20.3 | $1.05 | 65.5 | 74.9 | 57.3 | 52.0 | 74.8 | 71.8 | 75.3 | 58.2 |
| 1955 | 53.8 | 17.7 | 90.3 | 65.9 | 70.9 | 60.6 | 46.2 | 52.8 | 56.4 | 93.0 | 52.1 |
| 1950 | 49.1 | 14.3 | 93.6 | 63.7 | 72.9 | 60.4 | 41.2 | 49.3 | 46.1 | 79.4 | 48.7 |
| 1945 | 32.1 | 8.8 | 40.6 | 41.1 | 50.7 | 58.1 | 31.2 | 48.5 | 49.3 | 30.5 | 33.4 |
| 1940 | 21.5 | 8.0 | 36.4 | 27.3 | 36.0 | 33.1 | 25.6 | 29.1 | 23.9 | 21.2 | 26.0 |
| 1935 | 25.3 | 8.3 | 36.0 | 41.3 | 36.0 | 37.6 | 23.4 | 22.0 | 19.1 | 25.7 | 28.2 |
| 1930 | 23.0 | 8.6 | 42.6 | 42.5 | 46.4 | 44.5 | 28.2 | 57.1 | 36.0 | 39.5 | 30.5 |
| 1925 | 30.5 | 9.3 | 36.2 | 47.1 | 55.2 | 55.4 | 27.8 | 57.1 | 36.0 | 50.4 | 35.0 |
| 1920 | 40.5 | 11.5 | 39.5 | 52.3 | 70.1 | 68.1 | 33.4 | 63.2 | 63.0 | 47.0 | 97.0 |
| 1915 | 21.0 | 7.0 | 23.0 | 26.9 | 35.8 | 34.1 | 17.6 | n.a. | 15.0 | 30.0 | 33.0 |
| 1910 | 18.0 | n.a. | 17.4 | 25.5 | 35.9 | 33.7 | 16.8 | n.a. | 17.0 | n.a. | 30.0 |
| 1905 | 16.0 | n.a. | 14.0 | 18.1 | 29.0 | 27.2 | 14.4 | n.a. | 17.0 | n.a. | 30.0 |
| 1900 | 12.5 | n.a. | 13.2 | 14.3 | 26.1 | 20.7 | 13.6 | n.a. | 14.0 | n.a. | 30.5 |
| 1895 | 12.0 | n.a. | 12.3 | 13.0 | 24.9 | 20.6 | 13.6 | n.a. | 14.0 | n.a. | 26.5 |
| 1890 | 14.5 | n.a. | 12.3 | 12.5 | 25.5 | 20.8 | 13.6 | n.a. | 16.0 | n.a. | 34.5 |
NOTE: n.a. = not available.
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial Edition, Part 2., Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011
Read more: Retail Prices of Selected Foods in U.S. Cities, 1890–2011 | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0873707.html#ixzz33dzDqbxO
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