Eggs : Room Temperature with Feathers Please
I have been known to speak with grocery store managers about the egg selection in the United States. Martin either rolls his eyes and thinks, “There she goes again.” Or he joins me. I do not like supporting businesses that only offer styrofoam containers.
Gosh, I’m realizing I have spoken with a lot of managers about using styrofoam… hotel managers about the continental breakfast, the auto repair shop with free coffee, small town restaurants I love, the deacon of my hometown church. Yikes! They’re probably glad I’m thousands of miles away. ”Here goes that Katie girl again, off to ask us to switch our practices.”
I guess I feel like it’s important to speak up. I just read that Ford Motor Company wasn’t hearing mothers demand something like the minivan, so the company actually fired Hal Sperlich – the man who began developing the idea. So he took his idea to Chrysler; the company sold half a million minivans per year.
The lesson? Well obviously Ford learned its lesson and lost a lot of money. I learned a different one – companies often don’t know, don’t care, or don’t realize something is important to their consumers until YOU SPEAK UP.
All this is to say that I don’t complain about my local grocery store’s egg situation. Okay, there’s the whole speaking German dilemma. But even more – I can’t think of a single reason to complain about this:
An entire corner of our grocery store is beautiful stacks of eggs.
They are not refrigerated.
Sometimes you’ll find a feather stuck to one.
At my grocery store next to all those eggs are empty cardboard egg cartons for six eggs. You hand select your eggs. If you only need two, you only buy two.
We obviously consume more than two – probably because I follow more of an American grocery schedule (going once a week) instead of several times a week like most Germans. I have no idea how my eggs all make it home with me. (I’m biking over a lot of cobblestone.) But so far, so good.
They’re home, safe and sound. They’re also whispering to one another, “Is she seriously going to put us in the fridge?! Brr. What a weirdo.”
*An egg can be stored at room temperature. One day at room temperature = one week in the fridge in terms of aging. We chose to refrigerate our eggs like Americans.
My favorite part of picking our own eggs is that I can bring my egg cartons back and reuse them over and over. (My gosh – I’m a hippy!) A lot of other people seem to be doing the same. Now the question is:
Do you think those grocery stores using styrofoam cartons in the US would be up for an open egg display so we can stop tossing so many cartons? Maybe a few feathers?
Would you?
April 28th, 2010 at 6:50 am
Hmmm. Here in Maryland and generally go to three grocery stores:
Whole Foods – very responsible to environment and has awesome healthy, local food
Trader Joe’s – mostly responsible to environment and has the creative ingredients we crave
Superfresh – crap-shoot, but has great sales on other items, like spices and deli cheese
Yet all of these stores, where I live, use the closed “mulched” paper cartons shown in your pictures, Katie. Although, Superfresh does also carry a fussy name-brand egg supplier that uses styrofoam. (Booooo!)
I will say the big difference I could see in the open egg container idea is the difference in children. Having lived in both countries, I can honestly say that my memory of German children is that of well behaved children in public. Not repressed, Victorian children who are seen and not heard, but polite and curious children who have an awareness of sharing sound and space in public.
That said, I can’t count the number of times I have seen American kids-gone-wild in running, screaming down the aisles in stores while their parents look the other way. Who hasn’t seen this in a grocery store, American readers? I’m not saying all American kids are out of control, far from, but there are always a few wild ones who spoil the shopping experience for everyone. I can only imagine what those kids could do with loose eggs. Yikes! “Clean up on aisles 3, 4, 7, 12, 13…”
April 28th, 2010 at 6:59 am
haha! Great points, Cathryn. I have only seen one spill in a German grocery store. The cartons are smaller, so that makes them a whole lot easier to handle, too.
You crack me up.
(wow – there’s a pun for ya)
Katie
April 28th, 2010 at 7:41 am
Our eggs are sold at room temperature too (I think they have been in every country we have been to outside the US). If we buy them at the street market, they are piled (gently, I assume) in big baskets, and you pick what you want–they are then put into a little bag for you to carry home, or you can bring your own bag (which most people do). I have to be very careful carting them home (they can’t go in the bike basket!) or they will bump against each other too much and crack. If we buy them at the supermarket, they usually come in plastic containers in packs of 10, but at least the plastic is 100% recyclable (and recycling is required by law). Come to think of it, I have never seen styrofoam anything here–maybe it’s illegal? Not sure.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:05 am
I remember the first time I saw all those eggs stacked up at Aldi, just like the boxes of cereal or containers of juice, I turned to my boyfriend with a question in my eyes. He just gave me a look and said, “Silly, they don’t come out of the chicken at room temperature!”
Oh, duh. Americans. :)
April 28th, 2010 at 8:34 am
I believe I’ve heard that the reason eggs are refrigerated in the US is that eggs are washed before they go to market and washing removes a natural protective coating. I rarely buy eggs at the store, I get them from my friends happy free ranging hens! Some of the egg cartons are several years old so they’re being reused over and over again.
For those in the US I’d recommend offering your egg cartons for free on Craig’s List, this helps out the environment and the local egg producers. Or they can go into the compost bin.
April 28th, 2010 at 8:38 am
I will have to say on a recent trip to Spain my husband got food poisoning, one other fellow who was staying at the same little hotel also got food poisoning. Common food eaten– they both had an egg with breakfast!
April 28th, 2010 at 8:51 am
It was the same in Italy–totally threw me off the first while I was there! :)
Lately I’ve been rather annoyed at the choices I have to make–I can choose the free-range organic eggs in a (recyclable, but still) plastic container that’s been shipped across the country from who knows where, or I can choose the local(ish) eggs in a cardboard container, but the chickens are packed into tiny spaces and fed who knows what and pumped full of hormones. So I have to choose if I want to eat healthier eggs or do better by the environment. A LOT of my purchases lately feel like this. :(
April 28th, 2010 at 9:09 am
You are so very right, Cameron. Why are so many choices coming down to what’s healthier for us or better for the environment? I would love to see a combination. Hence the constant commenting I seem to do to managers!
Katie
April 28th, 2010 at 9:12 am
I agree with Diana- once the eggs are washed they have to be in the fridge. As for Cameron’s dilemma- that’s a tough call. Luckily- living in CA we get the almost the best of all worlds- local, organic, in compostable containers. The Mister wants us to move to Berkeley where they let you have your own chickens. But honestly, we don’t eat eggs very often to do that.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:51 am
We buy our eggs at Aldi and they are not refrigerated, though I put them in once I get them home. Aldi does pre-carton their eggs, so I can’t take it back to reuse, but I do recycle them. Dh thinks it must be a requirement for at least one egg to have a feather stuck to it, because I’ve never brought home a carton that didn’t have a feather.
April 28th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Great post!! I wish they only made cardboard containers, I HATE having to throw out styrofoam ones. I love it when one friend of mine gives me farm fresh eggs, the yolks are brighter colored, more orangy yellow then the store bought pale yellow, just by looking at them you know they are healthier=)
April 28th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I haven’t seen styrofoam egg cartons for ages, but they’re probably still out there. I see a few clear plastic ones, but they’re generally from cheap caged eggs.
We’re lucky enough to have our own chickens and ducks, and people often pass on their used cartons for me to reuse.
Eggs are sold at room temperature here in the UK, and I’d say about half of the people I know refrigerate them at home. Sometimes it’s just because they want the eggs out of the way. We have too many eggs to fit in one of the fridge egg holders, so ours are at room temperature. I find they’re better for cooking if they’re not cold, but I guess it’s what you’re used to.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
We get our eggs at the grocery store or at the farmer’s market. They are packaged in both styrofoam and cardboard. We recycle ALL egg cartons back to the farmer’s market (they used recycled ones in the first place), or we give them to the man at the end of our street that raises his own chickens; he uses recycled, exclusively, too.
They are so very grateful to have the recycled cartons. My mom sends her styrofoam egg cartons to me, and I distribute hers, too.
We used to raise chickens, and we were always so grateful to receive recycled cartons. If we can’t have cardboard cartons, at least we can get LOTS of usage out of the styrofoam kind by recycling the same ones over and over.
Kathryn Kistner in Texas
April 28th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
I’ve also read about the US-washed eggs (hence no feathers, can you imagine the outcry?!) needing to be in the fridge.
I still prefer to buy my eggs from stores that refridgerate them, though!
Laura in Ludwigsburg
April 28th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
I have my own laying hens, I keep my eggs in a beautiful blue bowl in my frig. People are always giving me stryo- egg cartons, the cardboard cartons are few and far between here but reuse the ones people give me so it takes a while before they go to the landfill… I only wash my eggs that might get alittle yucky right before I use them to keep them fresh!
April 28th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
I’ve never even seen eggs in styrofoam containers! In Australia, some supermarkets keep the eggs on the shelves, some in a cooled shelf similar to the shelf some vegetables are stored on. They are predominantly in those cardboard containers, occasionally in clear plastic.
I then take them home and keep them in the fridge because my egg use is inconsistent, and room temperature at my house is generally around 30 degrees celcius!
I’d like to know about what you then do with the small packets you bring the eggs home from the shop in. Do you then take them back next time you buy eggs and reuse them?
April 29th, 2010 at 5:56 am
Good topic! I get my eggs from three places — the grocery store, the farmer’s market, or a friend who has hens. The ones from my friend usually are the best tasting but the dirtiest. She uses recycled egg cartons. The ones from the farmer’s market are the most expensive but tasty and cleaner. They keep them in a cooler because summers in Virginia can get quite hot. I’m not sure what happens to eggs when they sit in hot temperatures. The ones I buy from the grocery are refrigerated and in cardboard boxes sold by the dozen. I think they way they sell them in Germany makes a good deal of sense.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:45 am
LOVE this post, even though i’m chiming in late. We have chickens ourselves, and so we never refrigerate the eggs–except the few dirty ones that need to be washed. The posts about the protective coating are correct. Hens secrete a clear film on the eggs that seal the eggs. Almost all of our eggs are perfectly clean, our nesting boxes are clean with nice fresh straw or dried grass in them, so there’s no need to wash them. Occasionally we find eggs laid on the floor, or in funny places, so those we wash and refrigerate, and our family eats those–we don’t share the dirty eggs at all. We actually just hatched two chicks last weekend for the first time–it was a really thrilling experience! LOVE your blog Katie, keep it coming!! :)
April 29th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
I put eggs also in the fridge and don’t feel comfortable with any other option.
April 29th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
I just started reading your blog and I love it! Eggs have been a big deal for me lately. My family is on a tight budget and I am “splurging” no trying to be healthier and eating free range organic eggs. But I would love a paper box (mine come in paper sometimes) and I think it sounds like a beautiful thing to pick however many eggs you want…they are so pretty when they are not in styro! I feel so grown up for the choice I have made for my family! keep picking your eggs!