economicmultipliers_171

Economic Multipliers (171)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

Eggs are an economic multiplier.

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If a person ever writes about poverty (No. 170), it’s worthy to write about eggs.

Recently (July, 2016) I purchased a dozen extra large eggs for 75¢. Eggs many times are on sale. These weren’t. The price has dropped dramatically. When egg prices rose, consumers and food manufacturers started substituting other things and now it appears that there is an oversupply.

Although an egg is one of the most complete forms of protein you can eat, I usually think that it’s more likely that a U.S. parent would offer their child a candy bar (which costs much more) than a hard-boiled egg. If they did make stove top eggs for a small child, I’d expect them to scramble them and give the child more than one egg at a meal when one is probably enough. I’d still consider it great that they took time to spend time with their child while teaching them (even indirectly) how to cook.

I wish fast food restaurants had hard-boiled eggs on their menus. I don’t eat out enough to ask ‘an industry’ for that. Most mid-high priced restaurants would boil an egg for a customer if they were asked.

Since you can top eggs with pizza sauce or salsa or horseradish or pepper (avoid salt as a habit) or just about anything else you like and vegetables and fruits are easily served within eggs or on the side, eggs are particularly versatile if you want to keep food costs under control.

Recently, I threw some sliced strawberries that were starting to get mushy but were still good (after cutting a couple areas away) into an egg. I’ll be doing it again – nice flavor. Leftover veggies also work well.

If I’m paying less than $2.40 a dozen, I always think I’m paying too little for eggs. Of course, if you’re feeding 6 people and expect all of them to eat the equivalent of 3 eggs (2 max. really is preferable unless you’re an extreme athlete), $3.60 can seem a bit pricey for the ‘meat’ portion of a meal.

I must admit that I’m writing this article because I believe the people who produce eggs need more business right now. I value the work that they do and do not believe they can adequately survive on 75¢ a dozen eggs.

If you and/or your family happen to get a bit of nutrition along the way … well … that’s OK too.

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P.S. Supposedly it’s good to pull the inner liner out of the egg and cook it with the egg for joint health (Should I say – if you’re 55 or older? – Who thinks about joint health when they are young?).

If you start eggs in cold water (1/2 inch of water over all the eggs), bring them to a boil with a cover on, turn off the stove and let them sit 10 minutes with the cover still on, they will be cooked. Safely drain before touching.

If you peel eggs in cold water (after they are cooked), the shells fall to the pan bottom and your fingers don’t get burned. If you let them cool and then peel them, a small bowl of cold water is still good to clean off any small pieces of shell.

If the shells stick to the eggs when you’re peeling them, check out all the ‘prevention’ strategies online or in an old cookbook (I haven’t tested them all and usually just use ‘older eggs’).

And, I haven't tried them yet but it's possible to buy pickled eggs.