A fellow farmer recently posted on Facebook that a customer complained that she was selling eggs for $4 a dozen. Four dollars was too much to ask, the customer said—the farmer should sell them for less.
Less than $4??
It amazes me that many Americans still expect that all our food should be dirt cheap.
Instead of asking why food is so expensive, I think the real question is why anyone would think that twelve, high-protein, high-nutrient eggs would cost less than $4. That is only .30 cents a dang egg.
There are a host of great reasons why you should consider paying more for your food, not less. Cheaper is not always, or even usually, better. And unless having enough money to feed your family is a pervasive problem in your household, paying more might turn out to be a better investment for you and your family in the long run.
Five reasons why paying more for your food is a good thing.
1. Your health.
Not all eggs or carrots or steaks are created equally.
Data now shows that buying the less expensive item often means you are getting less.
Take our beef for example. Our farm is involved in a large-scale beef study analyzing the way our animals are raised, the quality of our soil and forage, and the nutrient density of the beef itself. The study reveals that grass-finished beef, raised on pasture its whole life, is far more nutrient-dense than grain-raised products of the same kind. “Far more” as in six to eight times (a lower ratio is better).
As you can see from this graph, the omega 3:6 ratio—one of the main nutrient components in beef—is almost eight times better than the equivalent feedlot-raised beef. Omega-3s lower inflammation in the body, whereas omega-6s include polyunsaturated fatty acids, and increase inflammation—and who doesn’t have an issue with inflammation?
This means that although you may pay more (which actually might not be the case) you are in fact getting much more for your dollar. The same is true for other nutrients in the beef too.
Plus, the findings are not exclusive to beef. The Bionutrient Institute is finding that the better raised the beef or carrots or broccoli (which coincidently does not seem to correlate with the label “organic”), the higher the nutritional density of the food you eat.
2. Your community
Rural communities in Iowa are struggling. According to US government data:
The number of jobs in rural areas has still not fully recovered from the shock of the 2008 financial crash and job growth in rural areas has been less than a third of the rate of job growth in urban areas. Rural wages are lower , and rural poverty rates are higher than in non-rural areas and the gap is growing. Increasing corporate consolidation across the economy has hit rural areas particularly hard, suppressing wages and leaving rural people with fewer employment options . In addition, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural populations have been severe, with significant negative impacts on unemployment and the economic outlook .
Spending money on eggs or apples grown nearby means that you are investing in the local economy—even if it is a few more dollars or cents for the local product. Money spent in the community stays there longer and is not immediately siphoned off by offices and CEOs of companies based far away (most often in cities).
The extra you spend also creates more interesting job opportunities in rural areas, expanding the number and types of farming jobs available. And of course, this can impact the literal overall health of a town, by making more nutritious foods available.
3. Your wallet
A quick gander at the products the average household purchases reveals that a $.30 egg is small potatoes when compared to a lot of the unnecessary and often frivolous purchases most of us make.
My phone bill for example is $180 a month or roughly $6 a day—the equivalent of a dozen and a half eggs each day. Cable TV—full of worthless channels and nonstop political ads—is costly. And next time you are shopping in Walmart or Costco—take note of the things you added to your cart that you did not intend to buy but did so because it was in front of you. It is a difficult thing to enter either store and spend less than $100.
And let’s look at all of the plentiful, “cheap” food out there many Iowans spend money on. A 6-pack of 24-ounce Mountain Dew is $6.28 and is made up of not a single ingredient needed for humans to survive. Likewise, a party size of Doritos is $5.94, and Cocoa Krispies—with 15 grams of sugar per serving and a paltry 2 grams of protein—is $4.98. Even a Big Mac is not “cheap;” the average price in the summer of 2024 was $5.29.
Now who is complaining about $4 eggs?
4. Your taste buds.
Taste has become a highly underrated thing in our society, particularly here in Iowa, where size and cost reign supreme.
Simply put, taste brings joy. Good flavors have been proven to improve one’s mood, and often memories are sparked by the taste of food.
And while many people will say they “love” the taste of a Mountain Dew, consuming high levels of sugar means we then need even more sugar to taste sweet flavors. Plus many additives sabotage your taste buds. Artificial sweeteners are made to convince your brain that foods are sweet when they don’t contain sugar, and flavor enhancers bring out specific flavors without allowing your body to taste a deeper nuance in foods. Too much sodium blasts out all the other flavors and can stimulate an urge to eat more.
And if sweet, fat, and salt are the overarching, dominant flavors in the state, we are limiting the potential of our tastebuds.
The 2000-5000 tastebuds on our tongues can sense more flavors than we can even imagine. An orange might be made up of sweet and sour elements, but we know it is an orange and not a lemon immediately. And the combinations a good chef comes up with, combining flavors we never thought would pair together, is magic.
Just like limiting our vision to a monochrome world of only one or two colors, limiting our flavor profiles limits our engagement with life.
It is true that costly food is not always tastier. But much of the more “expensive” food carries a steeper price tag because it is often produced in smaller batches, by humans, with eons of experience. And those products are delicious.
5. Your family
It’s estimated that 70% of what kids eat and 60% of the foods adults consume are ultra-processed foods (which, I detailed above, are often costly too).
I don’t have the data to back this claim up, but I am willing to bet that many of these frozen pizzas and ramen noodles, bags of Cheetos and chicken nuggets are eaten alone. And, I wager, more expensive food tends to be meals people share. In my estimation, it is unlikely most people buy an expensive chicken or a filet mignon to eat alone unless they live alone. (Although this theory, of course, does not apply to chocolate.).
Paying more for food is an investment in those you love—not just their health but also their (and your) well-being. Your relationships with others matter, and enjoying each other over a delicious home-cooked meal is a tried and true recipe for improved relationships.
Want to learn more about cooking with fresh products? We are holding a series of cooking classes and other fun events at the farm—check out the list at iowa-farm.com/classesevents.
I am still—after a year of writing this blog—thrilled to be a part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative! Thanks for all the support of the great writers in our group.
Thank you Beth! When I shop I find it very difficult to look at people’s shopping carts. Usually they look nothing like mine. Often they have the 6-pack of soda pop hanging off the sides for more room in the cart for frozen food and bags of chips. I wish I could change their eating habits but it is so difficult. Articles like this give me resources to build my case.
Your description and graph of Omega 6:3 ratio night have benefitted from a bit more detail: Omega 6 fatty acids are generally not so good for you; Omega 3 fatty acids generally are better for you. It's usually accepted that less of the former (Omega 6) and/or more of the latter (Omega 3) is more healthy. A ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 is a worthwhile goal. That Whippoorwill Beef is less than 2:1, as compared with grain-fed beef that's 8:1 is so commendable! Thanks for your efforts to make healthy food available.