With egg prices still high, the potato industry is looking to scramble up Easter traditions with a budget-friendly alternative: Easter potatoes.
Why it matters: Potato producers are taking advantage of the fact that the price of eggs was up 55.4% in February compared to a year earlier while potato prices only increased 13.5% year over year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.
The big picture: The idea of painting or dyeing spuds this Easter started circulating in January as memes about high egg prices took over the internet, including:
- “Due to egg prices on the rise … Children will have to hunt potatoes this Easter!”
- “Dyeing Easter eggs is so 2022. In 2023, we paint Easter potatoes!”
- “Yeah, I think it’s safe to just go ahead and cancel this year’s Easter egg hunt,” one meme said with photos of high egg prices.
What they’re saying: Bloggers Stacey Garska Rodriguez of The Soccer Mom Blog and Brittanie Pyper from Simplistically Living also were inspired by the memes to write posts with directions on how to best dye and paint potatoes.
- “For people who are still being very concise of their food budget due to inflated costs on nearly everything, I think potatoes will be a really viable option for the Easter holiday,” Pyper said.
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