Your Essential Guide To Buying Organic Eggs At The Grocery Store

Eggs are one of the most important foods stocked in the fridge. They make a quick, easy (and affordable) meal — and can be cooked in dozens of tasty ways. Eggs are also a nutritional powerhouse, filled with protein and loads of other essential vitamins and nutrients, making them perfect for helping to keep our bodies healthy. And if all that weren't enough, they're an essential ingredient in so many other foods we make at home, from baked goods to meatballs to crispy, golden veggies fried in an egg-based breading.

In fact, eggs are such a beloved part of our culinary landscape that farmers produce more than 100 billion eggs in the United States annually.  Even more remarkable: The average American eats an estimated 280-plus eggs each year. That's a lot of omelets. But despite that popularity, it's worth noting that all eggs are not created equal. Whether you're concerned about animal welfare and chickens living in the most humane conditions possible or you believe in supporting sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming practices, there are many reasons to opt for organic eggs when shopping.

As an added bonus, organic eggs aren't just better for the planet and the chickens that lay them — they can also sometimes pack significantly more nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids as well, making them a win-win all around. Ready to learn more? Here's how to buy the best organic eggs on your next grocery run.

In addition to the USDA Organic seal, spend a couple seconds looking at what else is printed on the egg carton before committing to buy. One additional logo you might see is the "Certified Humane" seal which is awarded by Humane Farm Animal Care, an international nonprofit organization committed to "improving the lives of farm animals," as they note on their website. In addition to tracking what the chickens on a farm are fed and what chemicals they may or may not be exposed to, Humane Farm Animal Care is especially concerned with the life of the chickens laying our eggs. According to their guidelines, in order to be awarded a "Certified Humane" seal, "Animals are never kept in cages, crates, or tie stalls. Animals must be free to do what comes naturally. For example, chickens must be able to flap their wings and dust bathe, and pigs must have space to move around and root."

The guidelines are updated regularly as needed and were created by the organization's governing body — a 40 member committee made up of scientists and veterinarians from the United States, Europe, Canada, and South America. The seal is used on approved organic egg packaging in all of these regions.

Once you've found all the seals and information explaining how your organic eggs were produced and what kind of conditions the chickens laying them live in, the last thing you need to check is the freshness of the eggs themselves. Examine the carton for some words and numbers that have been stamped onto it — nothing that was printed on the box in advance. This is the data you need to work with. The most notable part of this stamp, and the information that's the easiest to understand, is the "sell by" date. The date is included for retailers so they can monitor their stock and inventory and make sure they actually sell their fresh organic eggs by the date listed.

In addition to a "sell by" or "use by" date, you will also see an additional set of data — typically a three-digit number followed by a few additional letters or numbers. The three-digit number is what's called a Julian date. This number represents the day of the year when the eggs were packaged. Each day of the calendar year is assigned a number. January 1 is 1, February 1 is 32 — because it's day 32 of the calendar year — and December 31 is 365. Following this number, the next bit of information is the code for the farm where your eggs were produced, which can be very useful data for health officials tracking outbreaks or other potential medical scares.

While a "USDA Organic" or "Certified Humane" seal might clue you in that the eggs you're buying don't come from a chicken that is forced to spend its entire life in a cage, you still won't know exactly what that chicken's life is like until you do some digging around. Most egg providers detail their birds' living conditions in some way on their egg carton packaging, but those definitions can vary widely.

For instance, you might see "cage-free" printed on the carton. However, this doesn't mean the chickens are running around the farm having a great time. In reality, "cage-free" eggs typically come from chickens housed in large indoor sheds and barns. They have freedom to move around, perch, and lay eggs in nests but their access to outdoors is usually severely limited. In contrast, "free-range" eggs typically come from chickens with some combination of indoor and outdoor access — usually an open yard-like space but also sometimes a grassy area.

Chickens that are living their best life tend to be "pasture-raised." This means that they have the greatest access to outdoor areas and are able to roam and forage as desired, enjoying ample access to natural sunlight and fresh air. That said, keep in mind these definitions vary by farmer and region, so there is some inherent fluidity in terms of how your specific carton of eggs was likely produced.

Part of the beauty of buying organic eggs is that it opens you up to a much wider variety of egg providers. Instead of giant, mass market farms that supply eggs to countless locations, you might instead be patronizing a smaller, local family-owned farm. And that might also mean you get to start buying a rainbow of different colored eggs — not just white or even brown but also tan or even light green or blue in some cases. The options can be truly beautiful at times — like Easter without the food coloring!

All this natural variety in egg shell color is due to a fact that many people aren't aware of: Different breeds of chickens actually lay different colored eggs. While white eggs tend to be the variety most commonly sold (because the chickens producing them — white leghorns — are small, hardy, and prolific layers), there's a rainbow of different colored eggs out there to sample and explore. 

In addition to varying shell colors, organically grown eggs tend to have thicker, higher quality shells. And the color of those egg shells can also be impacted by the birds' diet. Chickens eating marigold petals might lay more yellowish eggs while chickens that eat beet root on the farm will lay eggs with a purple tint. Older chickens also tend to lay more darker colored eggs than a younger chicken's eggs — another benefit of organic farming since organically-raised chickens tend to live longer.

As we've all seen, egg prices can be pretty volatile. They go way up sometimes and then they can drop back down just as quickly. But while the price of regular eggs is frequently shifting, it's always safe to assume that you're going to have to pay more for organic eggs. In general, that price can be about 50 percent higher to twice the price of a standard dozen. But with the added benefits you're getting from organic eggs — increased flavor, better quality, and a happier life for the chickens that are laying them — that small bump in price is worth it for some people. 

It's also important to note that the extra price for organic eggs isn't price gouging. It generally does cost more to get a chicken to lay organic eggs. There's the added expense of the outside land the chickens get to roam and its maintenance, plus the cost of high-quality organic chicken feed. It's also more expensive and requires more labor to harvest organically raised eggs, and the farmers operating the farms also have to pay for certifications and inspections which make these farms more expensive to operate that traditional non-organic chicken farms.

But whether you're just scrambling a few eggs, poaching or deviling your eggs, or you're making Silky Egg Drop Soup or a Sri Lankan Egg Hopper, the price of buying organic is easy to justify — especially when you're making an egg-based meal that truly shines!