How To Store Eggs For Longer Shelf Life

long-term-storage-of-eggs

The following is one way how to store fresh eggs for a long time (longer than you may think); apparently many months without issue.

Christine submitted this post awhile ago, and I’m re-posting for your information and comment – and/or your alternative methods of storing eggs for longer shelf life.


 
by Christine Coburn

 
We are a farm so of course we have chickens…

Currently I am using fresh eggs that are from 4 months ago !

How do I do it?

First I bring in my fresh eggs and wash them carefully with antibacterial soap. Then I dry them.

Next I coat them with mineral oil. You can buy it in the pharmacy section of any store, it is sold as a laxative.

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I write the date on the carton.

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Then I store them in the fridge of my travel trailer, which I have set to the warmest temp to save electricity.

When I bring fresh eggs out to storage, I only use the oldest eggs to cook. First in first out…

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I always break my eggs in a cup or a bowl first before I put them in anything because there can be a micro fracture in the shell which you may not see, but is big enough for bacteria to get in the egg and spoil it.

This egg is perfectly fine.

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I usually have 1 egg out of 12 that is bad.

 
Christine’s website (not sure if she still keeps it up, but the credit is hers)

http://flamingphoenixfamilyfarm.blogspot.com/

 
What’s your experience with keeping fresh eggs longer?

17 Comments

  1. I have read on several articles, that an old fashioned way to store eggs, nearly “indefinitely” (no idea how long really)

    take clean eggs, do NOT wash, as there are natural preservatives on the egg.

    put a layer of salt in a container, put eggs in, with space in between. cover with salt. if room in container, repeat. put lid on.

    any one try this?

    1. I tried layering eggs in salt in a sealed plastic bucket in a kitchen cabinet. The salt hardened over a period of 6 months, and I couldn’t get the eggs out without breaking them. One egg exploded as I was trying to chisel it out. At that point I gave up and threw the whole bucket full of salt and eggs in the trash.

      1. Paul,
        thank you for the info. Not that I was planning to do this, but was always interested. Sounds like it may not work.

        1. Ryan
          for sure a good idea. bet it would work with the eggs.

          sometimes put rice in salt shaker for same reason.

  2. That’s a new one I new heard about before. I was aware of the bloom on the egg protecting it. I just never heard about using salt.

  3. The ‘fresh’ eggs you get at the grocery store can be up to 6 months old and still labeled fresh. But those are scrubbed and bleached and who knows what all to keep them edible.

    I’ve had chickens all my life, not saying I know everything there is to know, but eggs are pretty simple. The shell is porous, it’s covered in ‘bloom’ which seals it against bacteria entering the egg. If the egg shell is clean (not washed,just clean from the nest) and has no damage it should be good for at least 6 months simply stored at room temperature. In hot weather they should be used within 3 months and in cold weather they will last 9 months.

    They don’t need refrigeration.

    People have eaten eggs for thousands of years, and refrigerators are a recent invention.

    I don’t wash my eggs, messy ones are cracked and given back to the chickens as I’m gathering them. I have an egg cellar, but I keep my eggs on a shelf in my kitchen pantry.

    As to coating eggs with mineral oil–to each his own, but I don’t knowingly put petroleum byproducts on my food.

  4. Tammy,
    pretty sure you are correct about clean eggs (with bloom on) keeping for months and months. have heard that often.

    here’s something I found online, mentions salt and other stuff. at the end, it suggests some have kept eggs this way for two years.

    •You can use an oil as well, but the oil can go rancid… not exactly what I would want on my eggs.

    •Store the eggs in a finely ground preservative such as salt, bran, or an equal mix of finely ground charcoal and dry bran or finely ground oats. You can also store them in finely ground plaster of Paris, but that’s not exactly something that I plan on having on hand regularly. You can store the eggs layer upon layer, so long as you they don’t touch each other, metal, or wood. Be sure you have enough finely ground preservative to pack them in. (You can feed the salt and bran to the cattle afterwards.)

    •Store the eggs small side down.

    •Store the eggs in a covered container and keep in a cool, dry place. You don’t want to store them in freezing temperatures.

    •Eggs will keep “fresh” for up to 9 months. In fact, some countries are known to have stored their eggs like this for up to 2 years.

  5. here is another interesting bit on eggs, and whether to wash them (we did not YEARS ago on the farm) — just a thought, but maybe the smaller European farms are much cleaner than the North American “factories” which churn out “fresh” eggs?

    Why American Eggs Would Be Illegal In A British Supermarket, And Vice Versa

    Believe it or not, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) graded eggs would be illegal if sold in the UK, or indeed anywhere in the European Union (EU). It’s all to do with the fact that commercial American eggs are federally required to be washed and sanitized before they reach the consumer. EU egg marketing laws, on the other hand, state that Class A eggs – those found on supermarkets shelves, must not be washed, or cleaned in any way.

    “In Europe, the understanding is that this mandate actually encourages good husbandry on farms. It’s in the farmers’ best interests then to produce to cleanest eggs possible, as no one is going to buy their eggs if they’re dirty, ” explained Mark Williams, Chief Executive, British Egg Industry Council in a phone interview.

    According to the USDA, despite how conscientious and thorough modern day farm-management practices might be, there will still be a small percentage of “dirty eggs” produced. Dirt almost always equates to chicken manure and, if the eggs are produced in a free-range system, other raw agricultural commodities that hens might pick up from roaming freely.

  6. who wants to keep eggs for months anyway? I mean really! I get 6 fresh eggs a day from my chooks. I dont wash them or oil them or salt them. I simply take them from the chooks an put them straight into spare egg cartons [with bloom] an leave them in my kitchen at room temperature. Each week or two i give the excess out to my neighbours.[ who in return sometimes bake me and my daughters cakes and biscuits etc…] however I do understand everyone lives different and some people may need to store eggs. My eggs dont often sit around much longer than a few weeks as we eat heaps, so i cant say ive stored eggs for longer than a month[ish] at a time. Never had a bad egg yet though i must admit. Interesting posts though. Thanks everyone.

  7. 1 egg out of 12 bad sounds like a terrible ratio to me. I can’t remember the last time I had a bad egg. I do not wash them. I write their date on the egg and pop them into the fridge when I get around to it. I wash immediately before using them only. This works for us, even in the hot climate of the South.

  8. I read a pretty good study on various long-term storage techniques this morning. Best method – just store them as-is in a sealed container in 35-40 degree environment. Leaving them on the counter-top is also good.

    Here is the linked article:
    motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-zmaz77ndzgoe

  9. All – For what it’s worth, this is an update to my storage of eggs in lime water (calcium hydroxide). Back on Nov 16/20 I put a couple dozen eggs in a calcium hydroxide solution. Between Feb 11 and Mar 4/21 I ate those eggs. The whites were just slightly runny. I couldn’t tell the difference between these lime eggs and eggs from the refrigerator eggs. On Mar 4/21 I reused the liquid by adding 3 dozen more eggs to the water and put them back into storage. KITCHEN NOTE : Every 2 months or so I used a turkey baster to redistribute the lime water in the container. On Jan 15/22 (after 10 months in storage) I made an omelette. The yolks were a little darker than normal, the whites were like water and they only needed to be whisked for about 3 seconds to combine. These are my results from medium term storage of eggs in reused lime water. Hope my observations help someone decide what to do with their extra eggs.

  10. Holy crap Sarge, you just reminded me…. Another good reason to keep your preps in your mind. I added 3 Dozen eggs into the Pickling lime solution back in November of 2020 to test this out and see how a year in storage would be. I lightly agitated the jars to move the solution around every once in a while. I haven’t thought about them in about 2 months. With the storm hitting this afternoon I guess I’ll have something to look into.

    1. DoubleTap – Let us know what your thoughts and observations are after you test out those eggs. I also tried sunny-side up (for a dipping egg) but I wasn’t overly impressed with the set of the yolk so I flipped it over and cooked it through.

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