The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: carole h on March 15, 2009, 07:19:03 pm

Title: convenience eggs!
Post by: carole h on March 15, 2009, 07:19:03 pm
Will you, like me, be dashing out to buy the latest convenience food - liquid eggs! Cartons of raw egg ....  ???
How can anything be more convenient than that wonder of nature - a beautiful fresh egg!? Is it me?
What worries me most is that people are willing to pay more to have the shells taken off their eggs - the world has truely gone mad.
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sandy on March 15, 2009, 07:25:41 pm
I thought the same...WHY???? how easy is it to crack an egg?
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: carole h on March 15, 2009, 07:37:05 pm
People are already very distanced from the reality of where our food comes from - this certainly won't help improve the situation.
I teach in a fairly rural area, but even here some of the kids don't have a clue about the animal/meat relationship!Bring back rural studies!
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: Crofter on March 15, 2009, 09:45:42 pm
I've come upon this product in the catering world a few years ago.  You'll find it is made with all the "reject eggs"  thin shell, cracked, too large or small for ordinary sales etc.

I think we'll be sticking with the usual packaging too!

Dave
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: Hilarysmum on March 16, 2009, 08:49:10 am
For sponge cakes I weigh the eggs in their shells, then use the same weight for each of the other ingredients.  How would you do this with carton eggs.  How would you judge the amount of liquid for 1 egg.  Useless for mayonaise and merangues.  I'll stick to the really convenient single packaged kind straight from the hen.
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sandy on March 16, 2009, 08:56:23 am
I do the same and how odd to suddenly ADD packageing!! eggs are a handy size and what else comes in it's own protective pack that you can cook it in? In some ways a pack would be more inconvenient, if you want some for scrambled eggs or cake etc, do you reseal the pack only for it to spill out or get contaminated...now dried egg would  be a bit more convenient I suppose, but it's just another marketing ploy, whatever next?
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sellickbhoy on March 16, 2009, 10:20:18 am
For sponge cakes I weigh the eggs in their shells, then use the same weight for each of the other ingredients.  How would you do this with carton eggs.  How would you judge the amount of liquid for 1 egg.  Useless for mayonaise and merangues.  I'll stick to the really convenient single packaged kind straight from the hen.

OK, so there is the new "pampered Chef" must have gadget - a liquid egg weigher!!! Of course, if anyone releases one of these now i'll sue on copyright infringement grounds!!! :-)

In a way, i despair at this being sold in shops. It's like washed/chopped/diced/per packed veg being sold - is anyones life THAT busy they can't prep their own veg? But this is how the supermarkets "add value" and therefore cost and profits to a pretty basic product.

I see supermarkets are now able to sell "ugly" fruit and veg - i.e. the fruit and veg they previously rejected as it didn't conform to THEIR standards of "beauty" and they lobbied to have EU laws preventing the sale os this food - leading to wastage rates of 20-30% on farms.

Now this "ugly" stuff is on sale again, and i'm sure we'll see it packaged as "natural" or "organic" etc. but it might be offered as a budget range - with standard fruit and veg now being PREMIUM ranges

I guess the fact that less is being wasted by teh farmers is a good idea, and in the same way, if more eggs can be used instead of wasted from teh farms by selling them this way - then that's good too.

But i know that this will just lead to more hype and packaging and a way to squeeze more money out of the average punter.

still, it's not a development that'll change my world in any way at all. So i'll not lose too much sleep about it

(oh, and what if you want to make merangues? how do you separate the whites????!!!!)
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sandy on March 16, 2009, 10:50:52 am
I always grimaced about frozen mash, ready prepped and chopped veg and grated cheese but then I thought how great for someone with weakness in their hands, how man of us has grappled with tough root veg!!!! my hands begin to ache after peeling tons of potatoes!!! I thought about the prep ed stuff as well as I thought there would be less veg peelings if you  lived in a bed sit and no garden and also, for the elderly...anyway, I am an ugly veg supporter, let's face it, in a PC world they are just non conformist fruit and veg like me..Ha Ha Ha ::)
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sellickbhoy on March 16, 2009, 11:14:48 am
Sandy, have you just described yourself as a non-conformist fruit? hmmmmm  ;D

As for peeling spuds - why???? that's the best bit!! No room for nudist tatties in my household!!

you have a point on the convenience factor for people with weakness etc - that might explain why there are so many disabled parking spots in a supermarket now. I didn't realise the problem was so widespread. Though if that WAS the intention of the supermarket - to help these people out - why not put all the nice, chopped, washed, prepacked, prep'd food in one easy to access section, low shelving, maybe a few shop assistants (remember them) nearby to help out?

Also, why are all the prepacked/processed things in such large packs? I thought i got through a reasonable amount of veg, but one of those bags of carrots would turn me orange if i ate it before they went off!

Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: Hilarysmum on March 16, 2009, 01:18:30 pm
"Also, why are all the prepacked/processed things in such large packs? I thought i got through a reasonable amount of veg, but one of those bags of carrots would turn me orange if i ate it before they went off!"
Thats why god invented pigs

Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sandy on March 16, 2009, 03:03:40 pm
Yep, a BIG fruit ;D
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: Rumpleteazer on March 17, 2009, 03:21:51 pm
Sometimes it feels like there are some companies out there determined to provide solutions to problems we didn't know we had. I like browsing through gadget catalogues to laugh at some of the ridiculous things they come up with. Like an egg slicer for instance - is it that hard to slice an egg? Well these little things keep me amused anyway!  :D
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: sandy on March 17, 2009, 04:02:15 pm
I find those catalogues  more interesting than most of the articles, my brother used to "play" the egg slice until it snapped, he's 60, we also had one of those chop mastic th ingy's, after a few chops it mashed things to a pulp due to the blades being dull, one Christmas edition catalogue had everything to dress a Christmas table in, Chair backs, napkins, runners, table cloth, cutlery, plates etc and what I found funny was the little bootie style feet covers for your table and chairs..I would have loved to have seen someone with the whole themed tabled!!!
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: northfifeduckling on March 17, 2009, 05:21:08 pm
years ago I thought I needed an onion chopper - what rubbish! I returned it after one go as it didn't do the job. Nothing better than a sharp knife! What "appliances" do we really need? A mixer, a blender and a chopper for nuts and herbs. Best if it all comes as one machine...Ah, the bread maker, nearly forgot that one. :&>
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: Hilarysmum on March 17, 2009, 06:24:00 pm
Isnt it odd what we consider necessities and others consider to be a luxury.  I could not cook without my food processor, ten years old, falling apart, still used at least once a day.  I make bread daily but dont have the patience for a breadmaker.  Looking at my sore thumb I can understand the reason for an egg slicer (caught it with sharp knife whilst slicing an egg).  Booties for the table though thats going to far, although I do understand the need for plates.
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: northfifeduckling on March 17, 2009, 06:29:19 pm
Food processor -that's the one! My last cut was with one of those really sharp knives, slicing a breakfast roll...Took weeks to heal but I'm sure I'd manage to cut myself with any gadget! With a bread slicer the finger would be off, lol:&>
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: northfifeduckling on March 17, 2009, 09:42:17 pm
My kids reaction to the eggs in carton:
1. Laughter
2. Suppose there are plenty of people who don't know how to crack an egg!
Probably, probably true...:&>
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: ballingall on March 17, 2009, 10:43:41 pm
you have a point on the convenience factor for people with weakness etc - that might explain why there are so many disabled parking spots in a supermarket now. I didn't realise the problem was so widespread. Though if that WAS the intention of the supermarket - to help these people out - why not put all the nice, chopped, washed, prepacked, prep'd food in one easy to access section, low shelving, maybe a few shop assistants (remember them) nearby to help out?

You all have a point with the prepared veg. My aunt is a doctor (retired) but when she first retired, she got a part time job going round Dundee  assessing people who had applied for disability living allowance. One of the questions she had to ask them was how they got on preparing veg, ie peeling, chopping etc. She was shocked at how many people just buy the ready prepared stuff! She could never use that as a reason for them getting the allowance, cause none of them bothered to peel their own!

Ridiculous!

Beth
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: carole h on March 19, 2009, 07:37:23 pm
I confess to having just bought a bread maker .... :)
We had a house full of young people at the weekend (late teens early 20's) so I decided pizza dough was a good plan - fab (and pretty much foolproof in the bread maker) - plenty of nice toppings and, hey presto, good, cheap
food that always goes down well.
Being able to just shove the ingredients in and leave it to do it's thing for an hour and a half meant that I could spend my morning potting on in the greenhouse - much nicer than cooking!
All I need to do now is get on and build the pizza oven (I've got the clay!) - THAT'S what I call convenience food! :)
Title: Re: convenience eggs!
Post by: Hilarysmum on March 19, 2009, 07:40:40 pm
Moving to France meant, never having to eat convenience food again.  Not that we could afford it anyway.