Commercially Produced v. Free Range v. Organic v. Mutant v. Candy v. Sasha Eggs

Picture this:

You're at the grocery store, and you want to buy some eggs.  So, you meander over to the egg section of the dairy aisle with your cart full of groceries, watching out for unsupervised young children and people who are in a world of their own.  Finally, you make it to the egg section.  

What do you see?  

Way too many options.  Omega-3 enhanced, commercial, free-range, organic...it's a lot.  Now, if you want to buy the cheapest eggs, your best (and only) bet is usually the commercially produced ones.  

However, if you were wondering "Ok, what's the difference between all of these, and why the hell would I want to spend $5 on a dozen eggs?!" this little bit o' info is for you:

- According to MSNBC and Mother Earth News Magazine, Free-range and organic eggs contain 

1.) 1/3 less cholesterol

2.) 1/4 less saturated fat

3.) 2/3 more vitamin A

4.) 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids

5.) 3 times more vitamin E

6.) 7 times more beta carotene

7.) more humane conditions for the chickens, blah blah blah

With conventionally produced chickens and eggs, the toxins from the grains fed to the chickens, such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers, are all stored in the fat of the chickens (a reason to not buy conventional chickens).   Because of the lack of exercise due to being confined in small cages at all times, conventional chickens not only do not lose their fat accumulated (with all that fun toxic stuff), but they are pumped full of antibiotics to be kept healthy-ish.  So, when you eat their eggs...you're eating all of that other fun stuff too. 

BUT, this does not explain the differences between free range and organic!  According to trusted.md:

Organic chickens are fed organic grains and are medication-free, so when you eat the eggs, you aren't eating all of the other toxic stuff with it.  HOWEVER, "organic" does not mean exercise, nor does it specifically tell you what the chickens were fed other than "organic" material.  

Enter in free-range.  The free-range chickens are allowed to run around outside in a pen (exercise), and will generally eat things found in the outdoor pen that they are supposed to eat, such as grass, bugs, etc (ie not other chickens or grain). 

Therefore, IF you have the money for it, you should buy the organic, free-range eggs.  However, if you had to pick one of three, your best bet is probably just free-range.