I recently made a tasty quiche pie complete with bacon, cheese and broccoli. I even added a little bit of chopped asparagus.
I savored every bite but later, to my horror, I realized I had used a half-dozen eggs to create it. What was I thinking? I suppose I let my culinary desires get the best of me. I must make better decisions in the midst of a nationwide egg shortage.
Already retail giants such as Trader Joe’s, Walmart and Aldi have set limits on how many dozens of eggs a customer can buy. In some cases it’s one dozen or two dozen eggs per visit.
And the price of eggs has skyrocketed. Currently, the average price nationwide for a dozen large grade A eggs is $4.95, up from $2.52 the year before, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Good luck if you can find a dozen at that price, as the cost has continued to escalate to well over $5 per dozen for several grades of eggs. A recent visit to a few grocery stores revealed a dozen eggs from some companies selling for $7.99 and up.
All of this is directly related to the deadly avian flu, a virus that is continuing to infect and decimate the hen population across the United States, almost half of whom have been wiped out since in an outbreak that has persisted since 2022. Approximately 160 million commercial and wild birds have been affected and of that number 27 million died in just the past two months, according to the American Egg Board. Yes, that is a real trade group. It is estimated that it may take close to a year before affected farms can recover from the losses.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture can’t predict when the number of infected birds and the price of eggs will begin to steady, because there isn’t a “flu shot” for poultry. The age-old practice of slowing down the virus has been culling infected flocks. The federal agency did give “conditional approval” to a bird-flu vaccine developed by a New Jersey animal health company, but the USDA made clear that the vaccine must undergo a “research and development” phase to monitor its effectiveness. In short, widespread vaccination of poultry, including ducks, turkeys and chickens for consumption, is quite a way off—if ever.
The shortage has also hit hard at bakeries and restaurants. Businesses have seen the price double for cases of eggs in just the past few months. As margins shrink, bakeries and especially diners that cater to a breakfast crowd, have had no choice but to judiciously raise their prices without losing their customer base.
With all this going on, I suppose there’s little for me to complain about. I can’t imagine how it must be for families trying to put bacon and eggs on the table. And with Easter around the corner, what can children expect? No hard-boiled eggs to color? No colored eggs in their Easter baskets? No Easter egg hunts? Heresy, I say.
With egg supplies expected to dwindle further, prices to increase and purchasing limits to continue, I’ve had to revisit and revise my household menu. Chocolate mousse, my favorite dessert to whip up, is out. That really hurts.
Quiche is no longer an option and a vegetable frittata, which requires EIGHT eggs, is in my rearview mirror. I’ve now resigned myself to eating cold cereal for breakfast. My go-to right now is shredded wheat with raisins. Not a bad option, but certainly not top tier. The problem is I just don’t know how long I’m going to make it on fruit salad for dessert.
Dave Dunleavy was a longtime reporter and columnist for The News-Times in Danbury. He lives in Kent.
