Comment by n8cpdx | Hacker News Reader

Comment by n8cpdx | Hacker News Reader

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Eggs have traditionally been an extremely cheap protein staple.

A typical pattern might be to have two eggs for breakfast (a whopping 120 calories), boiled eggs for lunch/snack (another 60-120 calories), and of course baking, but I will pretend that people don’t bake.

A more typical serving for an adult breakfast might be 3 eggs if not supplemented.

For mom and dad and the little one, you’re now at 35 (2+2+1+2)x5 eggs per week. When your cost goes from $6 (2x18 @3) to $16 (2x18@8) per week, you notice.

Obviously the political discourse around this was not healthy. But eggs suddenly becoming a cost you have to notice is a big deal, and a symbol for all of the other grocery prices that went up simultaneously.

If you’re a typical HN user in the US you might be out of touch with the reality that costs going up $10/week can be a real hardship when you’re raising a family on limited income.

The peak was actually closer to $8/dozen, my math has been conservative at every step, the situation is worse than I describe.

Parents in the US don't feed their kids eggs for breakfast, it's majority cereal or breakfast bars. Maybe some yogurt but that's almost always upper middle class or above.

"If you’re a typical HN user in the US you might be out of touch with the reality that costs going up $10/week can be a real hardship when you’re raising a family on limited income.".

Skill issue. Oatmeal is very cheap and filling. The aforementioned yogurt. Nothing, yeah nothing, because the average person is obese here and nothing is exactly what they need for breakfast. A piece of fruit like the perennial classic banana for breakfast. Complaining about egg prices comes from the camp of "I tried nothing and nothing worked".

I agree, but for some reason there's huge mental inertia to the foods we eat day to day.

Paying more for staples that you've eaten your whole life (especially in a boiled frog way) is much more time/energy/mentally cheaper than experimenting with how you and your kids might like a bowl of oatmeal prepared.

That said, if you're having trouble making ends meet and you have kids, you don't have much of a choice.

The quintessential out of touch HN comment.

I have friends with kids, have siblings with kids, and indeed did grow up in the US. Ate cereal growing up with maybe some eggs on the weekend. My siblings feed their kids exactly what I described. My friends feed their kids the same. I have no idea how that is out of touch, but I grew up lower-middle class and that's my lived experience.

It's more how you said it than what you said.

I grew up similarly but regularly had eggs for breakfast, at least some of the time. Usually on toast. When eggs are cheap, that is competitive with cereal or pop tarts.

I would have hoped that better access to nutrition information would have led to parents making better choices. Absolutely insane that they’re still choosing desserts for breakfast every day instead of high quality Whole Foods like eggs.

> Whole Foods like eggs.

I think I see why you think eggs went up to $8 a dozen now

I was looking at this chart: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eggs-us

iPhone capitalizes Whole Foods for some reason.

Aside from yoghurt, you’ve only listed carbs. Sure oatmeal has protein (and fiber), but not as much as eggs.

> Complaining about egg prices comes from the camp of "I tried nothing and nothing worked".

Eggs are one of the highest protein-per-calorie, nutrient dense foods you can purchase. Up until recently it was cheaper than almost any other staple. When I was growing up (admittedly during a time everything was relatively cheap) my family ate a lot of eggs. We had spreads, we had eggs for breakfast, and eggs were incorporated into dinners in one way or another. I'm not the only one. I don't know anyone born in my cohort that didn't eat eggs regularly.

> Oatmeal is very cheap and filling

Also completely devoid of the same level of nutrition as eggs and requires supplementation.

> it's majority cereal or breakfast bars.

While true this is an education issue not a cost issue. We still have at least 3 generations of people having children that were raised in the "eggs are horrible for you" times, including myself.

> Nothing, yeah nothing, because the average person is obese here and nothing is exactly what they need for breakfast.

The average person is obese because of the relative ease of cheap, high calorie, fillers and good options being more expensive. The price of eggs increasing compounds this. However, I would wager most adults are obese because of the high calorie starbucks, fast food, and snacks. Not because of cereal for breakfast.

> A piece of fruit like the perennial classic banana for breakfast.

Demonstrably worse for you than both cereal and eggs. Once again, defeating your point and STILL demonstrating more expensive eggs makes nutritionally worse options the only option.

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