I Want Expensive Eggs
I’ve seen how the cheap eggs get processed.
I’m standing in the grocery store dairy section faced with a simple decision.
Do I get the cheap 89-cent store-brand eggs? Or do I get the organic free-range eggs, which cost 3–5 times as much?
Fifteen years ago, I vowed to never buy the cheap eggs after spending a day on a factory farm. But then life happened. The expenses of a family with two kids and a dog added up to an accumulation of debt.
This was the year my wife and I decided to get our debt under control. We’ve aggressively cut costs, sold old items on Craigslist, took on more work, and stuck to a strict budget. We’re tired of throwing away interest to credit card companies. We want to be in control of our future.
But the one place we kept going over budget was the grocery store. That’s bound to happen when you stop going to restaurants and your 6-year-old and 3-year-old are both going through growth spurts.
I wanted to get out from under our debt. But I also wanted those eggs. Which would it be?
One summer during college, my friend Jesse told me we could make some quick cash by working on this farm he knew. This didn’t sound that unusual to me. I grew up on a small farm with goats, and many of my relatives still work on…
