No Eggs, No Problem

It seems that a certain amount of luck is needed to get yourself a carton of eggs at the supermarket at the moment, if you time it well you might get lucky, otherwise more often than not you’ll find the egg shelves bare. If you rely on eggs for baking, snacks or meals then this is a fantastic opportunity to experiment with plant based egg substitutes which can offer healthier, tastier and often cheaper options.

Read on to get more information from The Vegan Society including ideas for nutritious egg substitutes and a link to their website where you can find recipes for vegan versions of omelette, fried eggs, and more.

No Eggs, No Problem

The national egg shortage is set to continue for a few months yet, so what is Aotearoa to do? This is not the first time the nation has been short on eggs, during both World Wars, rationing was in order and eggs were often off the ration books. Somehow Kiwis survived, using oil, or even vinegar and baking soda mixture in place of eggs. Fortunately, this is not a time of war, and there is no shortage of plants to help combat the egg shortage.

Vegans have been creating plant solutions to using eggs for many years and now you can replace eggs with flax or chia seeds, applesauce, mashed banana, tofu, aquafaba, peanut butter, and agar agar – as well as commercial products. There are so many options for plant-based “eggs” and these common replacements can be used in almost all recipes where eggs are used. There are even recipes for vegan hard-boiled eggs, fried eggs, omelettes, fritattas, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, quiches, you name it, there is a vegan recipe for it.

There are microplastics in eggs, with more in the yolk than the white, but either way, with eggs and most animals and their products there are microplastics in them, which means we too will be consuming them. It is uncertain at this stage how many of the plants we consume are contaminated in the same way. Plants are cheaper, healthier, contain no cholesterol, can be with or without protein and are available now! No barns required.

The Vegan Society of Aotearoa has all the information on alternatives to using eggs here: https://vegansociety.org.nz/egg-alternatives/