eggs

Hello @Laconic !

As no one have yet had the possibility to answer, I'll give a highly personal preference. I'd go for the free range, as the hens in this case at least to some degree are able to eat, what a hen is supposed to eat. This is, as long as the hens are free range. If I remember rightly, there is a difference between eggs and the hens themselves, in this case - forgive me, if my memory is not to trust here...
Home here in Finland, I buy free range, but now and then I have the opportunity to get eggs from hens, that really can enjoy life outside, in the nature...

Edited to correct a few spelling mistakes

the difference would be the quality and flavour I would say.....all be it subtle

I say free range, only because the hens have a better life

Laconic said:

Top food for diabetics but is there any difference free range, organic, economy price.
I get Sainsburys Basic £1.25 for 15 I get through 30 a week.

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Here in the Netherlands you have the "Beter Leven Keurmerk", which basically awards up to three stars for the kind of life the animal in question has/had. It's on egg cartons, milk bottles, packaged meats.... I used to buy free range, until I saw that organic had the full 3 stars. I do notice a difference in flavor and colour, and in my wallet... They're certainly more expensive, but the better flavor and knowing it comes from happy chickens makes it worth it for me. (I go through 15 to 30 eggs per week, thereabouts). Guess it's personal preference for the most part. In the US I'd be a little more concerned as it seems every kind of farm animal there gets genetically manipulated soy for feed, which ends up having an effect on the quality of the eggs, but in Europe...? Not that worried about it.

I don't care for eggs much, so eat a few fairly regularly in the form of baked goods, e.g. low carb muffins, or pastry-less quiche, and I'll always choose cheap free range ones, as I do care about the hens that lay them. (I have fond memories of the few hens we kept for a while when I was a small child... )

I buy free range. If the only choice on the shelf is from caged birds, I walk away.

Eggs are amazing. Especially duck eggs, but they're comparatively expensive.

And just to add...I don't know if you have noticed, but it's not only the taste. A free range hen, lays eggs, that crack in a normal way, where all the caged poor hens, lays eggs that crack like there was glue in the shell...

I go for free range, but the best eggs I have ever tasted were from farm's and from a guy who lived in a nearby village and had 6 chickens in his large back garden, he would put the boxed eggs out, in his front garden, @£1.50.
The money went to the local cancer hospice.

Jim Lahey said:

Eggs are amazing. Especially duck eggs, but they're comparatively expensive.

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I love duck eggs but they are not easy to get Tesco always had them but not anymore. The last ones I got were from a farm shop

I am lucky as the farm opposite me keep a few chickens, and sell them in the village. The hens are so free range that they come and visit sometime

Eating organic makes a difference if you don't eat meat - research done years ago showed organic free range eggs had more B12.
And while I do sometimes eat the cheap eggs when eating out, I'd worry about the levels of antibiotics and nasty additive chemicals as I eat a lot more egg than I used to.
I also think they taste better.

TriciaWs said:

Eating organic makes a difference if you don't eat meat - research done years ago showed organic free range eggs had more B12.
And while I do sometimes eat the cheap eggs when eating out, I'd worry about the levels of antibiotics and nasty additive chemicals as I eat a lot more egg than I used to.
I also think they taste better.

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The b12 is due to the chickens eating insects, worms, slugs and snails etc while outside, not due to the organic feed.

13 Feb 2020 from Super market websites

SHOP EGG-DESCR PRICE FAT,PROTEIN/egg
Tesco #Free range = 18, Organic = 1, #other type = 6
Tesco 12 Large Free Range £1.95 £0.14/egg 5.3g, 7.4g
Tesco 12 Medium Free Range £1.69 £0.16/egg 4.6g, 6.4g
Tesco 15 small? £1.19 £0.08/egg 4.2g, 5.9g
Tesco 6 Organic £1.80 £0.30/egg 4.2g, 5.9g
Happy Egg 12 Large Free Range £2.70 £0.23/egg 5.3g, 7.5g


Asda #Free range = 20, Organic = 2, #other type = 3
ASDA 12 Large Free Range £1.70 £0.14/egg 5.4g, 7.5g
ASDA 12 Medium Free Range £1.48 £0.12/egg 4.6g, 6.4g
ASDA 10 Organic Free Range £2.30 £0.23/egg 4.2g, 5.9g
ASDA 6 Organic Mixed £1.45 £0.24/egg 4.2g, 5.9g
Happy Egg 15 Mixed Free Range £2.40 £0.16/egg 3.9g, 5.5g
Happy Egg 10 Large Free Range £2.25 £0.22/egg 5.3g, 7.5g

Sainsburys #Free range = 17, Organic = 2, #other type = 4
Woodland 12 Large Free Range £2.20 £0.18/egg 5.7g, 8.3g
Woodland 12 Medium Free Range £1.90 £0.16/egg 4.8g, 7.1g
Sainsbury's Barn Eggs, Basics £1.30 £0.09/egg 4.5g, 6.6g
Woodland 6 Large Org Free Rnge £2.20 £0.37/egg 5.7g, 8.3g
Happy Egg 10 Large Free Range £2.75 £0.28/egg 5.3g, 7.5g

Other
Our corner shop 15 Large ?? £1.99 £0.13/egg ??g, ??g
?? = no online website at corner shop; will read food
label next time we buy and update this

Free range eggs totally dominate in the super markets. Tesco offers 18 free range, 1 organic and 6 'other' choices of eggs.
Tesco and Sainsburys also offer 'economy' eggs.

Fat and protein contens are similar for the eggs above and vitamins are not listed. The eggs are probably about the same nutritionally. As for taste, depends on personal likes/dislikes and cooking method, probably not so much on super market purchase price.

Links
Read link below for an eye-opening account of 'free range'.
https://www.marksdailyapple.com/egg-purchasing-guide/
for UK
https://www.egginfo.co.uk/

I got some Heron eggs. Won't do that again soon. Heron, the shop, not the fishing bird. The shells were paper thin. Poor hens must have a terrible diet.

I go through four dozen eggs a fortnight, I buy caged eggs as they are cheaper, and they taste the same as so free range and / or organic ones to me.

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/339091/simply-eggs-12-extra-large-caged-eggs

Counterintuitively the brighter the yolk, the more likely it is that the hen has eaten insects etc. rather than just orgnaic feed. That is what they have beaks and claws for as far as I know. However you are really lucky if you've got acess to that kind of egg. Most eggs seem at least to be free raage so if it doesn't say that on the carton I'd assume it was battery farmed and not buy them.
Had 2 poached from my local greasy spoon cafe. I choose not to think about where their eggs come from.

I think organic and free range are simply lifestyle choices that people make believing the hens are happier that way. That's fair enough.

As for taste. I will happily eat any hens eggs as the taste to me is virtually indistinguishable.

Inchindown said:

I think organic and free range are simply lifestyle choices that people make believing the hens are happier that way. That's fair enough.

As for taste. I will happily eat any hens eggs as the taste to me is virtually indistinguishable.

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Hens really are happier wandering around, eating bugs, and chatting together. I can hear them making all sorts of different noises, and gathering in various groups. They have individual personalities. Just like sheep and cattle do.