Hippity, hoppity, Easter’s on its way, but people in the U.S. may have to think outside the basket this year.
Eggs tend to be a staple for Easter celebrations, whether they’re being decorated with bright paints, rolled across the lawn of the White House, deviled and displayed on a platter, or baked into quiches and served with brunch.
But with U.S. egg prices still stubbornly high amid an outbreak of bird flu in laying hens that led to a severe egg shortage, many Americans are looking for alternatives to some of their favourite traditions. Last month, U.S. egg prices increased again to reach a new record-high average of $6.23 US per dozen, or $8.73 Cdn.
Luckily, influencers have stepped up to the challenge when it comes to decorating eggs, dyeing everything from marshmallows to potatoes.
One popular TikTok video by lifestyle and home design site The Spruce offers five alternatives to decorating real eggs, including painting pasta shells, painting potatoes, and painting clay.Â
In other videos that bemoan the current price of eggs, influencers decorate egg-shaped brownies, they dye marshmallows, and they paint rocks.
“Small potatoes or baby potatoes have sort of an egg shape and and they’re a lot of fun to look at! So let’s colour potatoes for Easter!” writes Rose Atwater on her website Rose Bakes.
“Eggs are way too expensive right now,” explain the food bloggers behind Crowded Kitchen in a video for peanut butter eggs with more than one million likes on Instagram.
“I actually enjoyed dyeing marshmallows more than eggs,” wrote influencer Rachel Anderson in a viral Instagram video where she dips jumbo marshmallows in food colouring before displaying them on a platter.
Record high prices
With Easter just days away, the U.S.’s most recent egg price increase comes at a tough time. The March record of $6.23 US per dozen is up from about $5.90 US per dozen in February, and about $4.95 in January.
By comparison, Canada’s average retail price for a dozen eggs in February was $4.91 (or around $3.50 US), according to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada — roughly 40 per cent cheaper than if you bought them south of the border.Â
The U.S. increase was reported last Thursday in the consumer price index. Overall, the index for food increased 0.4 per cent in March, which includes a 5.9 per cent increase in the index for eggs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the last 12 months, the index for eggs increased by 60.4 per cent.
And while there is evidence that wholesale prices are falling, those haven’t necessarily reached store shelves yet.
“Even though shell egg demand is improving into the final marketing week ahead of Easter weekend, it continues to lag behind current expectations and past Easter trends,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture wrote in its most recent weekly egg markets overview.
“Retail grocers are largely opting out of running their usual annual holiday shell egg promotions this year as supplies have only recently recovered sufficiently to maintain a consistent offering; (it’s) a situation few are willing to jeopardize through feature incentives.”
Potatoes prove popular
Still, it seems you can’t stop some traditions, even if it means getting creative.
Craft retailer Michaels told The Associated Press their craft egg kits are flying off the shelves, with sales of two of the kits up 20 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Walmart, the U.S.’s largest retailer, declined to comment on sales of dyeable plastic eggs and other alternatives, but said it wasn’t the first year it carried them. Among some options for shoppers: a carton of 12 plastic eggs that include four liquid dye packets and four egg-dyeing bags and Play-Doh Easter eggs.
Paas, a supplier of egg dyeing kits, shared an Instagram video earlier this month demonstrating how to dye marshmallows that give “major spring vibes …Â no eggs required.”
And of course, some people are finding their own solutions online, where potatoes seem particularly popular.
“Are potatoes the answer?” writes Orlando news site WESH 2.
“Skip those expensive eggs and dye potatoes for Easter instead!” writes The Craft Patch on Facebook.
And in a TikTok video set to It’s the Hard Knock Life from the musical Annie, a mom heaves a bag of potatoes in her grocery cart, then shows her children colouring them with markers.Â
“With egg prices, we might be dyeing Easter potatoes again,” she wrote.
You could say that eggs are having their moment in the sun. With Trump’s tariffs increasing the cost of most staples in shoppers’ grocery carts, B.C. eggs are one of the few proteins that won’t take a serious hit. Shelley Joyce reports from Kamloops.
