I was at Trader Joe’s today. I rarely shop in the dairy case there, but today I was wasting time so I wandered by. I noticed that TJs is now stocking bags of peeled hard-boiled eggs.
10 eggs for about $3.50, I remember correctly. I think that is about twice the price of normal uncooked eggs.
I paused for a minute and thought about buying them. It would be easy to just chuck one into M’s lunch in the morning, but then I thought about it some more.
Have I really reached the point where I am so lazy I can’t even take the time to boil and peel an egg?
On the other hand, each egg would only cost 35 cents. For an easy lunch item, that is a steal.
In the end, I decided I was kind of grossed out by a big bag of already peeled eggs, so I didn’t buy them. But I am still wondering if they taste ok and if they would be worth the additional expense.
Yes, I am grappling with the big questions today. Heh.
(Can I also say how thankful I am that my life is so completely drama-free that I have brain space and apparently so much (too much!) spare time to devote to the Trader Joe’s egg conundrum. Yay me!)
I’m kind of grossed out by the thought of pre-peeled eggs, too. Thankfully, I just boiled a whole bunch today! I do love me some Trader Joe’s, though.
I would never in my life eat a cold hard-boiled egg. They must be hot-hot-hot! and just out of the boiling water, or I can’t cope.
Unless they were deviled, of course!
I just bought this awesome crazy microwave egg boiler on Amazon (for less than $5!) and it makes a totally perfect boiled egg every single time.
But I would never eat them cold. Brrrrrrrr.
OMG they’re PEELED, too?? That’s like… I don’t know. WAY too personal for me. I need to peel my own eggs, please. You mean somebody else’s FINGERPRINTS are on those eggs? Shudder!!!
There has to be a machine doing the peeling, don’t you think? Something like those cylinders that peel off garlic skins?
And yet,I feel a little ooked out at the idea of buying pre-peeled eggs, myself. Why? I buy deli foods all the time.
There probably is an argument for paying $1.75 to save the time and hassle of peeling 12 eggs. I mean, how much is your time worth? How long does it take to peel the eggs? What else could you be doing instead?
We buy local organic eggs, though (raised in one of those chicken mobiles that Michael Pollan loves so much), so we already pay more than $3.50 a dozen.
hard-boiled eggs just kind of creep me out in general.
Peeled boiled eggs from a bag? Erm, ew. Absolutely not, its gross.
I have no problem paying extra for convenience foods, but definitely add me to the chorus of people who are grossed out by the thought of eating pre-peeled hard boiled eggs from a bag. Icky!!
I wouldn’t buy them either, but mainly because it’s just too easy to boil my own.
I do find it funny that so many are squeamish about pre-peeled eggs. If you ever buy egg salad or have a salad with egg slices, then someone had to peel them.
On the other hand, I have plenty of my own food quirks, too.
We’ve been buying pre-boiled, pre-peeled eggs for almost a year now.
Love ‘em.
Also, a cinch to make deviled eggs.
Alas, it’s cheaper than buying good (free-range and/or organic) uncooked eggs here in the Bay Area.
I don’t think I’d buy cooked & peeled eggs. I like me some protective covering on my eggs. That, and I think they’d get slimy.
Interesting–I would be tempted, too. But I think I’ll pass.
I don’t like eggs so my opinion doesn’t count, but when I need hard boiled eggs for a recipe, it takes me FOREVER to peel them! Small Sun just started preschool and so I was thinking about sending hard boiled eggs for a snack…but I can’t because a child there has an egg allergy. No more nuts, no nutella, no eggs…packing lunches is a challenge for me and I welcome any little thing to help me get it out of the way faster (as long as it’s not plastic cheese or something!).
This is off topic, but I was just helping my daughter address her valentines for her school party and was laughing out loud at remembering your post last year of helping M address hers…with all the name confusion and mispronunciations of her classmates’ names. Lord that post was funny!
They’re fabulous. I use them all the time when I’m in a hurry for some egg salad and an easy dinner.
I love the pre-peeled eggs, too. The Trader Joe’s eggs are cage-free. Great protein shot in the morning and saves the time and energy it takes to boil and peel them myself. I’ll bet the eggs are fresher than the uncooked ones purchased in the store – sort of like “fresh” vs. “frozen” vegetables. I think these must be machine-peeled. Hand peeling would be prohibitively expensive.