What buying eggs at a wholesaler looks like

My usual day to hit up Cash & Carry for their twice-monthly specials is Friday. However, this week, I really wanted one particular item. It wasn't in their Hot Sheet, or other weekly specials. every Monday, when I check the Hot Sheet online, I also do a "search" on a couple of items on which I'm watching the price, lately milk, canned pumpkin, and eggs. This week, until Nov. 1, the 15 dozen case of eggs are price-reduced to $26.95, or about $1.79 per dozen.

After seeing this price reduction, I immediately went to the USDA egg report for the week. (Yes, a super-geek like me reads the USDA egg report.) Wholesale egg prices in the US have steadily dropped since their high in August. If the bird flu turns out to be a non-issue this fall and winter, then we can expect egg prices, retail, to follow this drop in price. However, historically, egg prices climb again towards the first of the year, peaking in December/January. That doesn't mean we can't see loss-leader sales on eggs nearer the holidays. that can certainly still happen, but will likely have "limits" imposed.

So, at $1.79 per dozen, I am wanting to stock up on enough eggs, as I can, to tide us through the holidays, and at least util February, possibly into March. Easter in 2016 is March 27. The week before Easter, eggs are often a loss-leader at a few of my local stores, this last year at Walgreen's and Target. If I can buy and freeze eggs now, while the price is low,\ for me, I can avoid having to buy eggs at peak prices later.

That was my thought process earlier this week. I have noticed that I am not the only shopper at Cash & Carry watching prices closely, this fall. I have missed a couple of really good deals because I went too late in the week (and they don't do rain checks). With this knowledge, I got everything together to do my shopping there a couple of days earlier -- Wednesday morning, instead of Friday.

As is my usual practice when there is a great deal on an item in a store, that I want to make sure I get, I made a beeline to the dairy walk-in. Sure enough, 1 case of these eggs left.  Glad I went on Wednesday.

A case of 15 dozen eggs is often called "loose pack". Contrary to how that sounds, that doesn't mean that a bunch of eggs are loose, rolling around in the bottom of a cardboard box. Eggs are place in egg trays, 2  1/2 dozen per layer (like when you buy a 5-dozen pack of eggs at the supermarket), 6 layers deeps in a cardboard box way too big to fit on any of my refrigerator shelves.

To handle all of these eggs, I get out my supply of used egg cartons.

And begin transferring eggs to cartons, one at a time. I mark the sell-by date on one of these cartons, as I'll be disposing of the large box when I'm done, here.

The sell-by date on these eggs is Nov. 5. However, the USDA assures us that eggs are still safe to eat weeks beyond the sell-by date. They just won't be as fresh, which matters most with dishes like poached eggs, as the whites thin and don't hold their mound shape in simmering water as neatly. But the eggs are still edible, still delicious, still function as eggs should in cooking and baking.

Plus, you all know that I freeze eggs, to use months later. From my last batch of frozen eggs (around Easter) I recently found a container in the freezer containing 6 beaten eggs. I used those in a quiche last week, and they were still fine. That's 6 months of storage in the freezer, and still good.

I'll begin working on freezing these eggs some time next week.

Preparations

It's nearing the end of October and I know what is just around he corner. A lot of very good things happen in November. We have a couple of celebrations in November. But in my mind's eye, what I see is buckets of rain pouring out of the sky, for weeks on end, beginning in November.

We had, what seemed like, the longest summer ever here. I had myself convinced that it truly never would end. That we could go on eating from our garden through the holidays, into the new year and right up through the blooming of the tulips. Silly me.

When it rains here, the skies remain dark gray, from sun up to sun down, for several days on end. Then on that final day of a storm, the clouds begin to part and blue sky emerges, framed by puffy white clouds, for about 1 or 2 days, and then the dark skies, and cold and damp returns.

Knowing what we will have, soon, has made me absolutely force myself to be outside all that I can this month. One daughter and I rearranged the deck furniture just for this purpose. We placed the table and chairs right where the low angle of the sun will descend during the lunch hour for this month. She's home on Tuesdays and Thursdays this quarter. So, the two of us have our lunch on the deck, when the weather cooperates. I've been watching a spider spin his web this past month. He's preparing for winter, too.

In addition, the garden has needed my attention, love and hard work.

dill seeds for baking dilly bread this winter

I've been collecting seeds (for planting and cooking).

I have harvested and stored away many of the food stuffs from our little garden.

I had hoped to find prettier pots for the rosemary, but these will do for winter

I dug and potted two young rosemary bushes. I brought these inside for winter this year. I lost my rosemary two years ago due to freezing. Decided it would be better not to take any chances this year, with such young plants.

My potted mint is ready to move into the garage when it goes dormant. It sits on the deck, up against the house for now. I've cut and dried most of what's left, to use in tea this winter.

geranium cuttings to make baby plants

I've taken cuttings off of my favorite geraniums, to root for planting next spring.

my pink geraniums, two pots worth, to overwinter in the living room window

I've brought all of the lovely flowering pots that I can, into the indoor warmth of my house. Some of these I brought in just so I can prolong the feeling of summer a few weeks longer. Others I brought into the house, to overwinter, so they can cheat death and bloom another summer.

my Mother's Day dahlia tubers, kept dry, in the garage, until spring planting

And I dug the tubers from some beautiful flowers, to be held in darkness through winter, until the soil has warmed enough for replanting.

And now I wait. All is done. What needed to be, is now under cover. I can rest, knowing I have done what I can to prepare my garden for the coming rain and gray.