There are probably a few readers who remember the days of rationing (ration stamps) during World War II. Although I was a little girl in those days, I remember how my mother planned buying groceries and the complaints about not being able to get enough coffee and sugar, especially. At local historical societies, curators treasure donations of old ration books, adding them to their collections of war time artifacts.

I don’t remember if eggs were rationed – we always had chickens so we had plenty of eggs for cooking. Fast forward several decades and it’s a different story. A few years ago, there was a flurry of news items about people wanting to build henhouses and keep a few chickens, almost as though they were pets. I haven’t heard much lately as to how that worked out, but I remember clearly the old hen house and chicken-wire fenced in pen up back of the house. One of the chores assigned to us kids was gathering the eggs.

It would be a wonderful thing to gather some eggs as easily today as it was in the 1940s, but little signs are pasted in the egg cooler at local supermarkets explaining why the price of eggs is so high. The price jump is related to an avian influenza outbreak, which has limited the supply of egg products, a USDA spokesperson told MarketWatch.

I never thought I’d be buying six eggs at a time, but at almost 30 cents each, it might be time to start rationing eggs – again. We’re going to investigate using liquid eggs before the price for them escalates.

Two things on almost everyone’s grocery list – eggs and ground beef – are among the most pricey. When some kinds of beef and/or steak are less per pound than hamburg, it’s tempting to purchase a good meat grinder and have some really good steakburgers. If we could control the droughts, when less cattle are raised, we might get back to inexpensive burger. Solving the egg shortage issue is more difficult. Chickens cost more than a meat grinder and there’s no guarantee they’ll lay eggs when you want/need them. Plus you would need a chicken pen and shelter – especially in the winter.

We’re sure there’s an eggless cookbook out there somewhere – we have several recipes for eggless cakes and cookies, but what can you substitute for eggs over easy?

Kay Soldier welcomes reader ideas for column topics of interest to seniors. She can be reached by email at kso48@aol.com, or write to 114 Tandberg Trail, Windham, ME 04062.