Some Families Are Painting Easter Potatoes Because No One Can Afford Eggs Anymore

If you’ve noticed a steep climb in the price of eggs, you are not alone. Like so many other grocery staples, eggs have gotten more and more expensive in many states. Bad news if you are a breakfast person, or a baker, or especially right now, someone who loves to decorate an Easter egg. We are at that time of year when dying eggs in the pastel shades of spring really gives the heart a lovely little Easter lift. But if you can’t afford to take out a second mortgage for a dozen eggs, what do you do? Apparently you can just paint a potato. Problem solved.

While a second mortgage might not yet be necessary to purchase eggs, CNBC does report a 70% increase in the price of this staple over the past year. Many might find this added cost a shade too dear to be just using up eggs as decoration instead of actual nourishment, which could put a bit of a wrench in all of those fun Easter egg painting/dyeing/hiding plans for the weekend. Fortunately there is a solution. A colorful basket of painted Easter potatoes. They’re cheap, unique, and afterwards you can peel them to make mashed potatoes. The perfect solution.

So where did this idea come from? According to Axios, back in January there were memes circulating about switching the traditional Easter egg painting tradition to potatoes to save money. It’s an idea that could well have started as a bit of a joke but has now turned into something else entirely. An actual alternative to Easter egg painting. So says mom blogger Brittanie Pyper from Simplistically Living, who told Axios, “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.”

There are a whole host of reasons why painting potatoes makes more sense than painting eggs. First of all, if you drop a potato during a painting session you can just wash it off, no big deal. They’re very sturdy. Also you can leave them hanging around on the counter as a nice Easter display and no one will get food poisoning. And finally, if you use edible food dye you can cook them and eat them. The ultimate recyclable holiday decoration.

The trend has taken off, with people sharing their beautifully painted Easter potatoes on TikTok.

Pyper from Simplistically Living shared a video of her tiny painted potatoes on YouTube.

And the official TikTok for Idaho Potatoes are jumped on the trend and shared a video of peeled painted potatoes...

Potatoes really are the perfect solution to the pricey egg crisis. From meme to reality.