Full Disclosure: I received these eggs for free through the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program. Even though they paid for them, these are completely my own opinions.
I’m not a big meat eater. Sure, occasionally I have a delicious steak or chicken sandwich while out to eat, but I almost never keep meat in the refrigerator at home. This means that in order to get plenty of protein, I have to concentrate on other sources. I’m a fan of tofu, and I know there is protein in other non-meaty things as well, but those often take a pretty good effort to cook – pressing, slicing and then cooking tofu often seems like a daunting task after a long day of work. Something that I know is an option for protein, that I don’t always remember to consider, is eggs.
Eggs are a good source for for many vitamins and nutrients, as well as protein. They are also quick to cook, and can be used to a large variety of things – breakfasts to breads to baked goods. When Foodbuzz offered to send me coupons to sample Land O’ Lakes All Natural Eggs through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s program, I took it as a challenge to use them to add more protein into my diet. I was also curious about the “All Natural” tagline that they used.
How did I use the eggs? So far, I’ve used them mostly in egg and cheese sandwiches, as a part of french toast…..and in delicious desserts. I generally always have eggs on hand anyways – although they are mostly used for dessert making – but knowing I needed to blog about my experience with these eggs encouraged me to use them for more than just cookies….because this blog is about pushing me out of my food comfort zone. No, egg sandwiches and french toast aren’t really out of my comfort zone either, but thinking about using eggs as a main part of a meal on a regular basis definitely is.
What is the deal with “all natural” eggs? Here is the thing. As far as I know, there is not a solid government regulation with rules about what qualifies something as “natural.” This is different than being organic – there is a certification and specifications for that. (If I am wrong about this, please let me know!) For these particular eggs, according to Land O’ Lakes, “natural” means that the chickens are fed a premium vegetarian whole grain diet consisting of primarily whole ground corn and soybean meal. There are no antibiotics added to the feed ration. No animal fats or by-products are added to boost energy intake. (This is all according to the Land O’ Lakes website.) As with most farmed products right now, diet is a big concern for many people. Land O’ Lakes claims that feeding these chickens a vegetarian diet makes the eggs more nutritious and delicious. I’m not sure about those claims, but I do like knowing that the chickens were fed what chickens normally eat – not some manufactured concoction to make them produce jumbo extra special eggs.
Other than the diet, though, I don’t really think that these eggs are all that different than the eggs I normally buy. Well, other than the fact that they are about 3 times the cost. 🙂 I don’t think I could really tell a difference in taste. So the question is, ethically, which eggs do I prefer? “Natural” or just regular ole eggs? Well, in an ideal world of course I would go for the eggs that were produced from happy, vegetarian fed chickens – ideally from a local vendor. However, these eggs are generally quite a bit more expensive than generic “normal” eggs, and for someone who doesn’t have an unlimited food budget, and counts on eggs as a pretty significant source of protein, I just am not sure the splurge is worth it.
Taste: A, of course eggs are delicious, however these really tasted no different than the eggs that I normally buy.
Cost: B, these eggs were almost 3 times as expensive as the kind I normally buy! Not to mention that they don’t actually sell them at the grocery store that I normally shop at, so I had to make a special trip to get them. They do have ethical reasons going for them, but it is hard to for me to justify the price jump!
Would I buy them again? I’m not sure. Doing this review definitely made me consider the source of my eggs, but I’m just not sure that they are worth the increase in cost – and a special trip to the grocery store. I think if I did end up spending money fancy eggs, they would probably be local, natural, organic eggs.
What kind of eggs to you buy?
Which is more important to you: price or how your eggs were produced?
Filed under: Product Review Tagged: | eggs, Product Review
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