With Easter this Sunday and egg prices still high, the potato industry is suggesting a budget-friendly alternative to a beloved holiday tradition: Easter potatoes. It started as a joke and some memes, like “Dyeing Easter eggs is so 2022. In 2023, we paint Easter potatoes!!” And those memes sparked Potatoes USA, the national marketing and promotion board representing U.S. growers and importers to join the trend, according to Bonnie Johnson, their director of nutrition and industry relations.
Sure, it sounds a little strange, but potato producers are trying to get a boost from the fact that the price of eggs was up 55.4% in February compared to a year earlier, while potato prices only went up 13.52% year over year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index. Now potatoes USA is sharing tips on painting spuds and asking those who try it to use the hashtag #easterpotatoes on social media.
Bloggers Stacey Garska Rodriguez of The Soccer Mom Blog and Brittanie Pyper from Simplistically Living are also sharing directions for the best ways to dye and paint potatoes. Pyper says she thinks potatoes “will be a really viable option for the Easter holiday” for families who are really watching their food budgets. And even though she’s sharing tips for dyeing eggs like potatoes on her blog, Garska Rodriguez says she thinks most folks will stick with eggs since their prices have dropped from their record high in January.
Source: Axios