If you’ve been to the grocery store recently, you’ve probably noticed that some of these prices are getting out of hand!
It turns out that, per CBS News, the price of eggs in particular has recently risen by nearly 60%. Butter also saw a major bump in price, so the inflation is definitely a widespread phenomenon.
We need to talk about how the price of eggs is up 59.9% from a year ago and 11.1% in December alone. Price of butter is up 31.4% too
— Sarah Ewall-Wice (@EwallWice) January 12, 2023
Social Media Cuts Up About How Expensive Eggs Have Become
In response to this situation, people have been popping off online about how the grocery store’s putting a dent in their wallets—with particular emphasis on how expensive eggs have become.
if you’re eating eggs rn i KNOW you got money 😭
— kim (@lunakimm) January 11, 2023
https://twitter.com/Longjacket2/status/1613316337412997122?s=20&t=NPsnfZn5f7egyarI4ZVNbg
With the price of eggs, things hadda happen pic.twitter.com/I2cqotLAjA
— Stef (@CarlellTT) January 10, 2023
Y’all wanna breed frenchies instead of chickens and now eggs cost $100
— 💻 (@traderxel) January 11, 2023
Going to law school vs. Selling eggs pic.twitter.com/6ZAy3IIcdW
— Alex Su (@heyitsalexsu) January 12, 2023
Eggs are so expensive nowadays that I have been following my neighbor's chickens around, now I just need another neighbor to get pigs so I can have bacon.
— Forward March (@RunOldMan) January 8, 2023
Makes no sense for eggs to be this expensive unless velociraptors are hatching from them
— Trey (@treydayway) January 5, 2023
Farmer Blames Cost Increase On Supermarkets Rather Than Avian Flu
Aside from cutting up with memes, people were genuinely curious about what was going on with egg costs.
One explanation that caught traction blamed the situation on the avian flu.
https://twitter.com/Manglehaft/status/1612953828818653190?s=20&t=9BrSPBodTxUeUPw43Tai9Q
However, a Welsh farmer named Ioan Humphreys took to social media to share a different explanation way back in November. While he acknowledged that there are “a lot of cases of avian flu,” the real reason for the high egg prices is that the supermarkets aren’t “won’t pay the farmers [a fair price] for the eggs.”
Specifically, Ioan says markets “haven’t filtered the price increase” on eggs down to the farmers, causing production costs to grow more expensive.
“Our cost of producing these eggs has skyrocketed…But our price of eggs has stayed the same. So we physically can’t afford to produce these eggs. So, currently, there’s been 8 million less free-range hens ordered for last year’s flocks. So that’s just under 8 million eggs every day that we’re not gonna be producing.”
Share this far and wide.. Avian Flu is not the main reason we’re in an egg shortage. Supermarkets doing as they please again. #eggshortage #backbritishfarming pic.twitter.com/k0rr1Q3Tsa
— Ioan Humphreys 🐑🐄🐓 (@ThatWelshFarmer) November 8, 2022
Is $20 Ground Turkey Going To Be The New Normal?
Eggs aren’t the only grocery item being impacted, as cost of all sorts of provisions seems to to be skyrocketing. One viral TikTok specifically honed in on the cost of groceries in New York City, and the $20 ground turkey and $9 cereal hit particularly hard.
Grocery prices in NYC… 😰#Inflation is hitting hard 🔥 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dRhi0Ri9tO
— The Bitcoin Conference (@TheBitcoinConf) January 6, 2023
All in all, people agreed that the overall cost of groceries has begun to get out of control.
Me looking at the price of strawberries pic.twitter.com/vpWlVUls5L
— Anthony Moore (@AllThatandMoore) January 8, 2023
Went to the grocery and realize the only option I have at this point is to stop eating cause wtffffff are those prices 😭
— Raemona B (@RaemonaB) January 4, 2023
grocery store prices are too high even with my self-checkout discount😪
— 🏌🏾 (@lordjaam) December 30, 2022
https://twitter.com/IamBobbyAshley/status/1610470202264719361?s=20&t=MfgbE91eBGi0D9yhN69xSg
Roomies, what do you think about the soaring cost of groceries lately? Also, do you think it’s a bad sign of what’s to come in the future?