For those who know me, you are probably doing a double-take at the title of this blog entry. For those of you who don't know me, DD1 is allergic to eggs, so I never have them in the house.
Well, almost never. See, DH and I have a little secret. We eat eggs when DD1 is away.
DH loves when the kids have a sleepover at the grandparents', because this means he can have eggs for breakfast every morning. I got thinking about our ethical choices last weekend, when the kids went to my parents for a one night visit.
Part of our date night ritual is to stop at the grocery store and buy fixings for breakfast. Eggs, bacon or sausages, special treats (danishes, etc.) and lovely fruit. This time, I decided to try buy a more environmentally-, or at least animal-friendly, choice. And discovered, to my dismay, that there aren't many options at the local big chain store.
The links below take you to websites that explain the difference between caged chickens and more cruelty-free choices.
http://www.humanefood.ca/pdf%20links/cage-free-eggs-new-logo-v4.pdf
http://www.choosecagefree.ca/index.html
Although I watched "Food, Inc." and I've read several of Michael Pollan's books, the impact of factory farming shocks me every time I research ways to not support the system.
We ended up purchasing "free range, nest laid eggs", but after reading the definitions from the above websites, I'm still not convinced we made the best choice.
Our next date night will involve a trip to the local health food store, to see if we can get Canada Organic, BC SPCA certified or Certified Local Sustainable eggs.
Yeah, finding "less cruel" eggs was on my list also. Some of the health stores have Organic Meadow eggs "hand picked on small family farms" but still not sure what it all means.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links! I have a draft post on trying to find eggs also and will tell you when I get it online.
started buying "certified humane" only a few mos. ago when I learned "cage free" might still mean the chickens are wing to wing. At first, I could only find certified eggs at Wal-mart, but recently found them at our Kroger store (less controversial). These certified humane, organic eggs have the hardest shells ever...not sure what that's about, but they taste good and I feel good about spending the extra money. :)
ReplyDeleteFind a small farm. Find an individual that has eggs in the back yard, like me. My three hens are in the yard right now, roaming who knows where. They are happy and healthy, living as naturally as they can in a small town.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your posts. Urban Girl - let me know when you get your post online, I'd love to read it. Dmarie, I will check out Walmart (who knew?) as well as our local health food store. Pratical Parsimony - you don't happen to live in the Ottawa area do you?
ReplyDeleteHere's the post:
ReplyDeletehttp://greeneststuff.blogspot.com/2011/01/farm-fresh-eggs.html
I'm trying to check a couple of other stores and some of the other farmer's markets to see what they carry. The Ottawa Organic Farmer's Market might be a good place to check out:
http://www.oofmarket.ca
So glad to see others who care. Wasn't sure what I'd get when I googled Less Cruel Eggs but was pleasantly surprised. Looks like I need to do some research.
ReplyDeleteGood luck Anonymous. It takes some time, but it definitely worth doing.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting the link to the choosecagefree.ca site. The shopping guide within is super helpful. I hope all of you who show so much concern over the choices of eggs are vegetarian as well.
ReplyDeleteHi friendly neighbour - thanks for your post. I'm working on being a part-time vegetarian. I have some food sensitivities, so a lot of the alternate protein sources, such as nuts, dairy and eggs, I am not longer able to eat. I'm working on making the meat choices I do eat from small, sustainable farms in our area.
ReplyDelete