Paying for good eggs is probably worth it, but whether organic eggs are good is up for debate, it's going to vary from source to source.

Good eggs are raised on nutritious food, with access to grass, bugs, sunlight, as free from stress as possible and ideally without any chemical pesticides/antibiotics/hormones in their diet. Organic will guarantee the last facet of the above, but it needn't have any impact on the others. It's entirely possible (indeed this applies for the organic eggs in my supermarket) to feed chickens on organic corn or soy, it's difficult to imagine that this would bring that much benefit.

This is borne out by this study: organic eggs contained slightly less omega 3 than conventional eggs (1.34 versus 1.36) at a ratio of 1.34:15 (!) omega 3:6 (admittedly a better ratio than conventional though). Eggs might be nutritious in lots of ways, but if you're after balancing your omega 3 levels then you'd better look to fish. Omega 3 eggs (likely fed on flax or seaweed) conversely, contained 6.57g omega-3 (about 5 times more) at a ratio of 6.57:14.8.

The benefits of pastured eggs have been shown here, they contained 0.66g omega-3 per 100g compared to 0.22 for conventional eggs. They also contained 4-5 times more vitamin D and about 50% more vitamin A.

On the question of eggs in general, even the cheaper ones aren't good value for fat/protein compared to cheaper cuts of meat (but then I never buy grass-fed), I eat them for the various nutrients that you get from yolks that you don't really get from muscle meat: choline, K2, vitamin D and 'precursor molecules'.

$4.50 for at least two nutritionally dense satiating and tasty paleo meals is about as inexpensive as you can get. Seriously.

There's a reason why the regular eggs are cheap (mass market eggs). The question you want to ask yourself is if you really want to be eating something from chickens treated that way.

This question has already been dealt with here.

Basic CAFO eggs have little to no nutritional content. I suggest that you buy Organic Omega-3 eggs or, even better, find a source of PASTURED eggs.

I buy three dozen eggs / week for myself and my husband. I spend $4.50 / dozen. I'm okay doing this because it's my breakfast! It's the fatty/protein foundation on which I build my day. Yes. Worth it. Our budget is tight; but I make it work.

This About.com article has a little more information about what all the labels mean.

YES, a big YES. If you never had a fresh farm egg, you never had a real egg. The yolks are rich in color and Omega3s. Even my kids won't touch a supermarket egg any more which is at least 3 weeks old BEFORE they make it to the shelves and 'dated.' My eggs are about a day old when I buy them.

The skinny- Range free chickens are chickens that are allowed to leave their coop through a small door but rarely do and still eat mostly grain. That small door makes for good copy on the box and little else.

You want chickens that have a diet of bugs and grasses picked found outdoors. They still have a grain diet but the bug and grass food makes all the difference. I'm lucky to live close to farms and even friends in the 'burbs who raise a few in their yard. Look for them and really enjoy an Egg.

If you can, take a step further and go free range/barn laid too, it's better for the hen as well. YMMV, but I find paying extra for animal welfare is worth it, not to mention I think they taste better.

i am confused

• organic store bought : pale
• battery: rich in color (yes, yolk looks VERY dark orange, at least in my country)
• free range (pastured) : rich in color, but not as dark as battery

So the battery eggs and pasture eggs look almost the same, but taste different?

I got my eggs free from my in-laws..so I haven't had a thought to switch to organic/free range/farm raised eggs..Gotta do what I gotta do to stay within my budget. At least I invest on Kerrygold butter to make my own ghee.

I pay something like $5.39 for a dozen pastured, organic eggs. The taste is incredible, the yolks are a deep orange with that "muscle tone" that Joel Salatin speaks of and I'm certain that the grass and bugs in their diet (varies with the season) increases the nutritional value. Worth every penny.