Having recently moved away from my lovely little rural area and into the 'burbs, I have lost my source of "real" fresh eggs and now must endure the ignominy of purchasing the little flavorless, colorless, factory farmed things the supermarket calls "eggs", and being a bit abnormal psychologically, I find myself in a quandary. Which eggs are the best value for the money? A Dozen costs: Medium - 99 cents Large - 1.49 Jumbo - 1.59 I don't have a precision scale or I would find out what the average weight of the eggs contents are and figure out the cost per ounce. Anybody got the answer? And yes, with all the problems in the world today, I still find time to obsess about such an insignificant little thing....... I can't help it.
Mediums are the best deal. USDA even says so in most reports I read! USDA classification of egg sizes Net weight in ounces Jumbo 30 (per doz) 2.5 (per egg) Extra large 27 (per doz) 2.2 (per egg) Large 24 (per doz) 2.0 (per egg) Medium 21 (per doz) 1.7 (per egg) Medium: $0.0825 @ egg Large: $0.124 @ egg Jumbo: $0.132 @ egg
No problem. I figured the price per ounce as well (only posted the price per egg above) - mediums still came out as the winner.
What is the net weight after throwing away the shell? Seems to me that would be more revealing. Did I have to guess, the weight of shell vs. the weight of egg increases as the egg is smaller.
SC.... Ghrit..... I had thought about that as well, and I think you're right, the percentage of the total weight that is shell increases as the size of the egg decreases, so that would skew the results a little back in favor of the larger eggs..... but..... I think the shell being relatively light compared to the liquid contents, that it wouldn't be nearly enough to overcome the price difference.
A postal scale oughta be close enough -- Blackjack, I can tell you right off, I have no clue. Sea might let us in on the results of his upcoming experiment. I can tell you, I buy large, just because the right size omelet results --
*sigh* I really don't want to start figuring that precisely ..... Trust me, the medium sized eggs are the better deal, always have been if you're buying from the grocery store. It's this stupid American mentality that bigger must be better that has everyone thinking differently.
Just got back from Wal-Mart. New price structure. Med - 1.18 - 5.6 cents per ounce Lg - 1.28 - 5.2 Xlg - 1.38 - 5.1 Jumbo - 1.47 - 4.9 So at Super Wal-Mart the Jumbo's are the best value, but Mediums at 99 cents from Buhler's Buy Low comes in at 4.7 cents per ounce giving the best overall value.
I pay $1.80/doz locally for (very) large eggs. That's a bit more than I'd prefer BUT I know the owners of these hens and what goes into making the eggs (i.e. the diet) so I'm much more comfortable with paying a bit more. (And for some reason, it doesn't take as many to feel as if you've eaten!) Now if we could just convince these idiots we call local politicians to allow us our own birds.........
