For months now at my local grocery store, Eggland's best have been the same or cheaper than the store brand. Currently they are $3.49 vs $4.99, but the difference has been >$2. A family member told me they are also cheaper in their store, but the Eggland's are usually sold out. People in my store must not care about the price because the small shelves of Eggland's never seem to sell out there.
The high price of commodity eggs has definitely made me more inclined to spend what is now not all that much more for the organic/cage-free/local/etc eggs. I don't mind paying an extra dollar or so for 'premium' eggs now, but I had a harder time paying several dollars more when the commodity eggs were cheap. I don't notice any difference in the eggs, buying them just makes me feel better. I'll be interested to see how much the fresh eggs are when my local farm stand re-opens this spring though. They are usually much more expensive and not as uniformly sized (mostly smaller). They don't taste any better to me either though so perhaps I have an unrefined palette.
