Figuring Out The True Price of Eggs- Are They Really So Cheap?

Image credit- Simon Howden

I think the standard frugal kitchen maven knows, de-facto, that eggs are the cheapest protein you can serve your family, other than legumes (cooked from dried beans, not canned).

But I don't like taking such knowledge for granted- I mean, is it really true? Is it perhaps even wrong, like the common knowledge that chicken breast is the cheapest type of meat, because there's no bone in it, and that wings and necks are a waste of money because they're mostly bone, which I actually proved wrong, when I did my calculations to figure out which type of meat is actually cheapest, and discovered that, contrary to popular belief, necks and wings are cheaper than breast, even once you factor in the bones and skin.
And maybe eggs are the cheapest animal protein sometimes, like if you can shop at Aldi's- but where I live eggs are much more expensive than Aldi's- so maybe here they are not the cheapest option?

I'll admit, eggs have been my go-to protein to cook for my family when they don't want legumes, because I assumed they were cheapest- but are they really?

Add to that the fact that there are three different sizes of eggs sold locally regularly- medium, large, and extra large, all with different pricing, and I really had no idea which was the best buy.

So that made me realize- it was time do to another crazy calculation- to figure out how much I'm really paying for my eggs, figure out type of egg is most worthwhile to buy, and if eggs are actually the cheapest type of animal protein out there.


To do this, I went to a super cheap sale and bought 3 trays of 30 eggs each (they're generally sold by 30 in my country, not by the dozen) in three different sizes and went to work.
The medium eggs cost $6.86 for the tray, or 22.8 cents an egg, or $2.74 a dozen.
Large eggs cost $7.43 for the tray, or 24.8 cents an egg, or $2.97 a dozen.
Extra large eggs cost $8.57 for the tray, or 28.6 cents an egg, or $3.42 a dozen.
(This is not the standard price of eggs locally, but pretty much the best deal I can get. Typical pricing for eggs at non cheapo places is $7.43 for 30 medium, $9.14 for large, and $10 for extra large.)

I then weighed and measured it a few different ways.
Each time I weighed it, I did it with 4 eggs of the same size, because I assume there is some variation in sizes of eggs, so by taking 4 and then using the average of them, I'm getting a more accurate picture of the size of the standard medium, large, and extra large is than if I just measured one of each.

I measured them whole and raw, then peeled after being hard boiled, taking care not to leave any on the shell. I also measured them raw shelled, after getting every last drop out of the shell that is possible, and then after frying it in a teaspoon of oil (which I didn't subtract in the final tally since it was such a small amount- weighed less than 5 grams.
I weighed everything in metric units, after which I converted it to pounds (since it is so much easier to work with metric when it comes to these types of calculations) and then made them into this chart.

Egg Size	4 eggs (kg)	1 egg (kg)	1 egg (lb)	4 raw, shelled (kg)	1 raw shelled (kg)	1 raw shelled (lb)	4 boiled (kg)	1 boiled (kg)	1 boiled (lb)	4 fried (kg)	1 fried (kg)	1 fried (lb)	protein/ egg
Medium	0.232	0.058	0.1276	200	0.05	0.11	0.205	0.05125	0.1128	0.17	0.0425	0.0935	6
Large	0.26	0.065	0.143	230	0.0575	0.127	0.225	0.05625	0.1238	0.205	0.05125	0.11275	6
Extra Large	0.282	0.0705	0.1551	260	0.065	0.143	0.258	0.0645	0.1419	0.227	0.05675	0.12485	7

You always think of a shell as insignificant in terms of weight- at least I do, anyhow, but I see now that with the medium eggs, 14.5% of its weight was actually in its shell, vs with the extra large egg, only 8% of its weight was shell.

If you notice, you get much less quantity of egg when you fry the egg vs hard boiling it. With the extra large egg you get 20% less than the original weight when fried vs 7.5% less when hard boiled. With the medium you get 26.5% when fried vs 11.5% less when boiled, and with the large eggs 21% less when fried vs 13.5% when boiled.
I know that the second I say this I'll have people already thinking I'm wrong- because its still the same amount of nutrition when boiled vs fried, that its still going to be 6 grams of protein in a medium or large egg and 7 in an extra large egg, no matter whether boiled or fried, but hear me out for a second.

We don't just eat for nutrition. We eat for satiation, and satiation is based on so many factors. I'm assuming that when an egg is boiled, it keeps its moisture inside it, as part of the egg, and when fried most of the moisture evaporates, and it kind of shrivels up, hence weighing a lot less when fried vs boiled, and now that I think of it, it looks a lot less as well. When we eat, our brain is getting all sorts of messages to signal satiation, and how many times we take a bite of something, how much we see visually, how it tastes, all plays a part in how satisfied we feel after eating it. When something looses its moisture and is smaller, size-wise, even if the nutrition stays the same, we feel less satisfied and end up wanting more of that food before we feel content.
That explains why my kids are generally happy with 1-2 hard boiled eggs, and generally 1-1.5 hard boiled eggs if mixed with mayonnaise and/or some other veggies like celery and onion, vs wanting 2-3 (or even more) if its scrambled eggs or an omelet. Though I asked my husband while I was writing this post, and he said its equal to him, he'd be satiated with the same amount of eggs hard boiled vs scrambled, I have seen from when I've made him eggs, he eats more when its scrambled vs hard boiled.

Ok, so is it cheaper to buy medium, large, or extra large eggs?

Well, I plugged in the numbers and calculated this chart to figure out how much I was paying per pound for eggs, and per gram of protein.

Egg Size	Cost for 30	Cost per egg	$/lb whole	$/lb raw shelled	$/lb boiled	$/lb fried	$/gr protein
Medium	$6.86	$0.23	$1.79/lb	$2.08/lb	$2.03/lb	$2.44/lb	$0.037/gr
Large	$7.43	$0.25	$1.73/lb	$1.96/lb	$2.00/lb	$2.20/lb	$0.041/gr
Extra Large	$8.57	$0.29	$1.84/lb	$2.00/lb	$2.01/lb	$2.29/lb	$0.041/gr

The difference was really negligible when it came to the difference in price per pound for hard boiled eggs, but more significant with price per pound for fried eggs, with large eggs working out to be cheapest per pound, followed by extra large, and medium being the most expensive. However, medium worked out to be cheapest per gram of protein.

But since these aren't the standard egg prices here, only when I'm able to make it to a certain weekly sale, I plugged in the standard egg prices to the chart. 

Egg Size	Cost for 30	Cost per egg	$/lb whole	$/lb raw shelled	$/lb boiled	$/lb fried	$/gr protein
Medium	$7.43	$0.25	$2.09/lb	$2.42/lb	$2.37/lb	$2.85/lb	$0.044/gr
Large	$9.14	$0.30	$2.13/lb	$2.41/lb	$2.46/lb	$2.70/lb	$0.051/gr
Extra Large	$10.00	$0.33	$2.15/lb	$2.33/lb	$2.35/lb	$2.67/lb	$0.048/gr

For standard egg prices, extra large works out to be cheapest per pound, followed by large then medium. However, again medium worked out to be cheapest per gram of protein.

Now the question is...

Are eggs cheap?

For you, it depends on the price locally. 

I put together this handy dandy chart with numbers to plug in. Where it says price, plug in the price per dozen where you live, and then multiply it by the number that follows to get the price you're paying per pound, or per gram of protein.

US- Dozen	$/egg	$/lb raw	$/lb whole	$/lb boiled	$/lb fried	$/gr protein
Medium	Price * 0.083	Price * 0.653	Price *0.758	Price * 0.73	Price * 0.885	Price * 0.014
Large	Price * 0.083	Price * 0.581	Price * 0.658	Price * 0.73	Price * 0.735	Price * 0.014
Extra Large	Price * 0.083	Price * 0.538	Price * 0.581	Price * 0.588	Price * 0.667	Price * 0.012

I asked around to find out the price in the US for these different sized eggs and the prices varied so tremendously from place to place.

Just as an example, one person said that at her local Fareway in Iowa, medium eggs were $0.50 per dozen, large were $0.99 per dozen, and extra large were $1.09 per dozen.

At those prices here's how much she'd be paying per pound of egg:

Egg Size	$/dozen	$/egg	$/lb raw	$/lb whole	$/lb boiled	$/lb fried	Cents/gr protein
Medium	$0.50	$0.04	$0.33	$0.38	$0.36	$0.44	0.7 cents
Large	$0.99	$0.08	$0.56	$0.65	$0.66	$0.73	1.4 cents
Extra Large	$1.09	$0.09	$0.59	$0.63	$0.64	$0.73	1.31 cents

And now compare that to this pricing from someone else, elsewhere in the US- $2.99 for a dozen medium, $3.29 for a dozen large, and $4.29 for a dozen extra large.

US- Dozen	$/dozen	$/egg	$/lb whole	$/lb raw	$/lb boiled	$/lb fried	Cents/gr protein
Medium	$2.99	$0.249	$1.95	$2.26	$2.21	$2.66	4.2 cents
Large	$3.29	$0.274	$1.92	$2.16	$2.21	$2.43	4.6 cents
Extra Large	$4.29	$0.376	$2.42	$2.63	$2.65	$3.01	5.4 cents

Essentially, there is no one answer as to whether eggs are actually a cheaper meal than another animal protein, or which type of eggs are cheapest per pound or per amount of protein.

To find that out, you'll have to just plug in your local costs and figure out what the best buy is where you live.

Now as to whether or not it is a cheap protein for us? 

Lets compare eggs bought on sale to chicken wings bought on sale for 90 cents a pound. Using this chart, I see that they'd be $1.83 per pound of meat, once you factor in the bones. That is cheaper than the cheapest eggs I can get, large eggs would cost me $2.00 per pound bought on sale.

Wings not on sale? $1.29 per pound, with a real cost of $2.61 per pound of meat, factoring in the bones. That's more expensive than eggs bought on sale but cheaper per pound than all sizes of eggs not on sale made into scrambled eggs.

Chicken breast on sale? I recently bought some for $1.93 per pound. That's $2.12 per pound, more expensive than all sizes of eggs bought on sale and made into hard boiled eggs but cheaper than all sizes of eggs bought on sale and made into scrambled eggs, let alone eggs bought not on sale.

Chicken breast not on sale and bought at $3.24 per pound, $3.57 real price? Eggs obviously are the winner.

Chicken necks bought for $0.77 per pound, $2.03 per pound of meat? Practically the same price as eggs bought on sale and hard boiled, and cheaper than sale eggs made into scrambled eggs.

Chicken or turkey gizzards bought at $1.30 per pound, with a real cost of $1.93? Cheaper than all types of eggs, bought on sale or not.

Salmon heads bought at 95 cents each or $0.57 per pound, working out to be $1.50 per pound of salmon head meat? Cheaper per pound than all the types of eggs, on sale or not.

For me, eggs certainly are not the cheapest protein, especially if I don't buy them on sale.

They're quick, they're easy, and they still are relatively cheap, but I'll keep in mind that chicken breast is also easy and when bought on sale is cheaper than eggs not on sale.

But it is much more complicated than just what is cheapest per pound or per gram of protein, because satiation plays a big key as well... but that will have to be for another chart and another series of calculatons that I am in the middle of working on.

But for now, at least you know how to figure out which are the cheapest types of eggs for you to buy, and if they're even such a cheap protein after all.

How much do eggs cost where you live? How does that compare to the cost of other proteins? Do you think eggs are a cheaper protein? If you did the calculations provided, do you still think they're the cheapest option?